.ISU LIBRARY BASICS: Finding Full-Text

If you have a citation and you need the full-text of the article

1. Check to see if the ISU Library has an online subscription to your journal
2. If not, check to see if the ISU Library has a print subscription to your journal
3. If not, order the article using the Interlibrary Loan service

​Interlibrary Loan (ILL) offers a service where ILL staff will find and obtain the full-text of your article and send it to you via the ILL software. However, they cannot promise when your requested material will arrive from the other library. Your article may arrive the same day you requested it or it may arrive two weeks later. You should plan for this when obtaining the most appropriate materials for your projects.

To find out if we have electronic access to a journal, check the ISU Library's gold-colored E-journals/E-newspapers database of online journals.

1. Go to the ISU Library homepage at https://library.indianastate.edu/
2. At the top of the webpage, click Services.
3. Click Electronic Resources.
4. Under Find e-journals, eBooks, and media by title or ISSN/ISBN: and to the right of Title begins with, enter the title of the journal, NOT the title of the article. Click Search.
5. A list of results appears with your words in the title of the journal. Scroll the list for your journal. When you find it, click the database name which contains the appropriate year for your journal article. The database will open in a new window. Browse to the appropriate year and article.

Different databases will do this differently. Some take you directly to the article; some to the webpage for the journal. Another opens the correct database but you have to search for the article you want.

To search for specific ISU print and electronic journal, magazine, or newspaper subscriptions, we recommend the following:

1. Go to the ISU Library homepage at https://library.indianastate.edu/
2. At the top of the webpage, click Searches
3. Click Classic Catalog. The Catalog window opens. Click Advanced Search
4. Search for the journal/magazine/newspaper title as a Title and the term "periodicals" as a Subject.
   
   Title: new york times
   AND
   Subject: periodicals
    
5. Examine all retrieved records for your journal, magazine, or newspaper. Read more detail about a journal by clicking on the title of the record. Look at the information under "Holdings" to see if ISU has the date you need.
6. Write down the Call Number and the Location (Periodicals, Gov Docs, Stacks, etc.).
7. In the ISU Library building, go to the shelving location and use the call number to find the correct journal. "Current Periodicals" are on the First Floor. All other print library journals and magazines are located in the library Basement.
8. Photocopy or scan the article using the (free) scanners or (fee) copiers on the First Floor.

​Students taking all distance learning classes (and, therefore, are assumed to not have easy access to ISU's campus) can request that Interlibrary Loan send them physical materials owned by ISU's Cunningham Memorial Library. Some materials, such as DVDs and reference materials, do not qualify.

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

If ISU does not have either an electronic subscription, ScienceDirect access, or a print subscription that includes your article, go to Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

1. Go to the ISU Library homepage at https://library.indianastate.edu/
2. At the top of the webpage, click Services.
3. Click Interlibrary Loan.
4. Enter your ISU Username and Password, if asked.
   • If you have never used ILL before, you will be asked to register.
   • After you register, you may login to the ILLiad software system.
5. Under the heading New Request, select Article/Chapter.
6. Fill in the information and click Submit Request.
7. You will receive an e-mail when your article arrives. It will tell you to log into your ILL Account. Then click Electronically Received Articles.

360Link is a software program that connects ISU databases together to allow access to full text. ISU uses the link Check For Availability or Check For Full Text. If full text is not available in your current database search, click Check For Availability to see if it is full text within another ISU database. A new window will open on your computer. If possible, you will be linked directly to the full text article, but sometimes you are linked to the journal page and you have to browse to the appropriate date, volume, issue, and page numbers.

DO NOT BUY THE ARTICLE. If you are given an option to buy an article, don’t! Use our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service to get the article for free. ILL costs are covered by your tuition.

Some older issues of journals are available on Microform or Microfilm in the ISU Library. This is when the journal pages have been placed on pages or reels of film. A Microfilm Reader can digitize pages from the Microfilm.

1. To view Microfilm or Microform item, Go to the ISU Library homepage at http://library.indstate.edu/
2. At the top of the ISU Library homepage, click the Find
3. Click Classic Catalog. The Catalog window opens. Click Advanced Search
4. Search for the journal/magazine/newspaper title as a Title and the term "periodicals" as a Subject.
5. Examine all retrieved records for your journal, magazine, or newspaper. Read more detail about a journal by clicking on the title of the record. Look at the "Holdings" to see if ISU has the date you need.
6. Write down the Call Number and the shelving Location (Microfilm).
7. Go to the Basement and find the Microfilm using the journal title and the call number.
8. Take the Microfilm back to the Microfilm Readers located in the Computer Cluster on the First Floor.
9. Using the instructions next to the Microfilm Readers, view the Microfilm and navigate to your article. Ask library staff for help, if needed.
10. Print, e-mail, or save the article.

The Library has had electronic resources for many years. Many people use our electronic reference books; the interface for those depends upon the publisher/vendor. We have also been growing our 'regular' e-book inventory lately. If you are linked to an e-book from a Fusion (online catalog) record, or find one by searching via the Electronic Resources portal, you will likely be connected to a book from either the Ebrary or Ebscohost vendor. You can open the book online and read it. For more on additional features, including download instructions, connect to our E-books handout below.