VT ENGL1106 course template: Information - Accessing

Some databases contain lots of full-text articles, other contain only citations for these articles.

When full text is not available in your databnase, look for the Get VText icon:

Get VText will show what, if any, access we have to the article, whether online, in print, or through interlibrary loan. Remember, the presence of the Get VText icon does not guarantee online acces.

If that doesn't work, don't hesitate to contact your librarian for help accessing the full text of an article.

The easiest way to find books on your topic is to use Addison.  You can search Addison by author, title, subject or keywords.  

Here are some tutorials:

• Searching Addison
• Keyword vs. subject searching

Once you have found the book you need, use the call number to find the book on the shelf.  Newman Library uses the Library of Congress classification system rather than Dewey which is used in most public libraries and high schools.  Here is some information on LC and how to find books in our library.

If you know the name of the database, you can search for it under the Database tab in the search box. You can also search for recommended subject specific databases by using the Subject Guides.

General interest databases can be used for almost any research topic. If you are looking for biographical information try the Gale Biography in Context.

You have two options for searching for books through VT's University Libraries.  Addison will be your best bet for searching for physical (hard copy) book, but Summon basically acts like the Google of the library--it searches across e-books, books, articles, and other resources.  I recommend searching both of them for a complete search!

A few additional browsing suggesitons include:

• Call number areas: QA 1-939 (4th floor), with a focus on QA 20-77
• Subject terms: Mathematicians--Biography; Mathematics--History

When you have a citation for an article that you're trying to find, there are a couple of different ways you can try to track down the article.

1.  Use Summon.  Summon can link you directly to articles.  Simply type in the full title of the article (such as, W. G. Sebald:  The Pleasure and Pain of Beauty").  If we have access to the article, Summon will link you to it.

2.  Check the journal subscription.  If using Summon to find the article doesn't work, then you'll want to check and see if we subscribe to the journal that the article is from.  In the example above, the journal title is German Life and Letters.  In order to see if we have access to that journal, I will use the journal search on the library website:

3.  Contact your librarian!