About Find It!

What is Find It! | How Do I Use Find It! | How Does Find It! Work | Frequently Asked Questions | Which Databases Offer Find It!

What is Find It?

Find It! helps you link directly from a citation in a database to the full text for that citation. If full text is not available online, it provides other options for obtaining full text. Find It! saves you time – you no longer need to write down the citation and then check the Journal Finder, NovaCat or other databases. Find It! does it for you!

Find It! is the NSU Libraries name for our full text link resolver. For more information on the technology behind Find It! see How does Find It! work.

How do I use Find It?

Using Find It! is easy. Just log into library databases, and select one of the databases that offer Find It! When searching a database that has been set up to work with Find It!, you will see the Find It! button: or a Find It! hyperlink included with some citations in your search results.
(See also: Which Databases Offer Find It!).
 

Search result citations with Find It! buttons (EBSCOhost databases).
 

Search result citation with Find It! link (Ovid databases).

Click the Find It! button or link and a menu of options will open in a new window.
You may then:

• Link to the full text content for this citation
• Search NovaCat, the library’s online catalog, for this item
• Link to order through ILLiad, the library’s Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery service, and request the item be sent to you

  
  Find It! window with menu of options.

If the full text of the resource is available online through Find It! you will see one or more links listed. Using your mouse, hover over one of the links to the full text, and a pop up box will appear which will indicate whether or not you have access to that resource.

Click on one of the full text links, if available and you should be taken to the resource containing the full text. Depending on the resource, you may be linked directly to the full text, or to the journal or database where the full text can be found.

Since Find It! can find full text in databases outside the one you're searching, it's a good idea to NOT check options to limit your search to full text. That way you'll find full text results in other databases as well.

Off-campus users: You may be asked to login again (double authenticate) with your last name and University ID number after clicking on a full text link. After logging in again you'll be forwarded to the resource containing the full text content. You will only need to double authenticate once during a browser session.

How does Find It! work?

Find It! is the NSU Libraries branded name for a product called WebBridge. WebBridge is an example of link resolver technology.

Find It! acts as an intermediary service to create a shortcut link between a citation and the full text. When you click on the Find It! button or link, information about the article, such as the journal name, article title, and author name, is transmitted to the library’s Find It! server. The server then analyzes the information, determines if and where the full text is available, and provides a menu of options.

More information about the technology behind Find It! is available from:

• The Lure of Linking
• Thinking about Reference Linking

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is there sometimes no link to full text link in the Find It! menu? Does that mean the article is not available?

There are many reasons why there might not be a full text link. For example, there might be an error in the citation and the Find It! server does not have enough information to construct a path to the full text. If this happens, refer to the Journal Finder from the Library’s Electronic Resources page and search for the journal there. You can also call the Reference Desk at 1-800-541-6682 ext 24613 or 954-262-4613 for help.

If no full text section appears in the menu of services it is also possible that the library does not have the article available online, but may have a print subscription to the journal. It is also possible that the library does not have a print or online subscription to the journal or resource.

How do I get the article if there is no full text link in Find It! the menu?

If no full text section appears in the menu of services you will see a link to NovaCat. NovaCat, the library’s online catalog, will allow you to search by publication title to see if the library owns the resource in print. If the print copy is available there are several options:

• For NSU Local Students, Staff and Faculty: Journal articles can be photocopied for ten cents a page. Copiers are located in all the NSU Libraries. Print journals do not circulate. Copiers are located on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors of the Alvin Sherman Library.
  
• For NSU Distance Students: Resources owned in print by the Alvin Sherman Library can be requested via the Document Delivery Department. Depending on the type of resource, a physical copy may be mailed to the distance student or sent via electronic delivery. For information on how to request items via Document Delivery, see ILLiad.
  
• For Broward Patrons: Journal articles can be photocopied for ten cents a page. Print journals do not circulate. Copiers are located on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors of the Alvin Sherman Library.

When using Find It! you may also find a link to ILLiad, the library’s Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery service, in the menu of services. If the resource is not owned by NSU Libraries it may be requested via ILLiad. To request items using ILLiad click on the link to ILLiad from the Find It! menu. Follow the links to login into ILLiad. Please read the screens carefully as the type of service you need is dependent upon the type of library patron you are. Once you have logged into ILLiad, Find It! will automatically fill out the article request form for you, simply double-check your personal information and click on the submit button to request a copy of the item.

For help and questions related to Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery please view the information for NSU distance students or NSU local students, staff, and faculty and Broward Patrons.

Why are there multiple full text links?

There is some overlap among the library’s electronic journal collections and databases because we acquire them from different vendors. That’s why sometimes you will find the full text is available from more than one source. This duplication also provides a backup; if one link fails try another.

Why does the full text link sometimes take me to the journal rather than to the article?

Find It! gets you as close as it can to the full text of the article. However, some vendors will only allow Find It! to link to the list of journal issues and not the actual article. If this happens, refer back to the original citation to determine the year and journal issue in which the article was published. Then browse through the list of the journal issues they cover until you locate the one that your article is in. Once you find your issue, look for your article in that issue.

What should I do if the full text link is not working?

Use the Journal Finder. By searching here you can may be able to access the full text of an article even if Find It! is not working. If this search does not work please Ask a Librarian for assistance.

What should I do if the Find It! window is blocked by my pop-up blocker?

When you click on Find It! it automatically opens a new window in your web browser. If this new window does not appear, you may have to temporarily disable the pop-up blocker in your web browser. For further help, please contact the OIT online computing help desk.

To disable pop-up blocker in Internet Explorer, go to Tools in the bar at the top of the page, click on Pop-up Blocker, and then choose Turn Off Pop-up Blocker.

Turning off Pop-up Blocker in Internet Explorer

To disable pop-up blocker in Google toolbar, uncheck the Pop-up Blocker option.

Which databases offer the Find It! link?

At the present time, Find It! is available in databases provided by the following vendors:

• ABC-CLIO
• CSA
• EbscoHost
• FirstSearch
• Ovid
• ProQuest
• Thomson Gale
• WilsonWeb

Additional databases will be added in the future.