Discovery Search: Accessing Discovery Search

A guide to using VT Libraries' Discovery Search.

What Is Discovery Search?

Discovery Search includes records for most of the library’s resources: our physical collections, our journal and ebook subscriptions, streaming videos, reports, government publications, and much more. You can use limiters to narrow your search results by the format, date of publication, peer-reviewed, and availability online. 

Locating Discovery Search

Find Discovery Search on the library's homepage, right at the top of the page. 

Screenshot of search box on main library homepage

Do I need to sign in?

You do not need to be signed in to any VT login services in order to search in Discovery Search. To access the full text of an article or ebook, click on the link, and if you need to be authenticated as a member of the VT community, you'll be prompted to sign in using 2-factor authentication after you try to access the full text. 

When you're looking at the page of results, you may notice a link at the top right corner of the page that says "Sign in":

Discovery Search sign in link circled

You can choose to create an optional account with OCLC, the company that produces Discovery Search. Click the sign in button, and then choose the option to create an account. Your OCLC account is not connected in any way to your VT account, so if you've never created an account with OCLC, you'll need to do so: 

Screenshot of login screen

Once you've created an account and signed in, you can save searches and save items to a list:

  Discovery Search My Account options

 

Note that when you save an item using the star icon on the bottom right of the item, the item is saved to a temporary list that you then must transfer to a personal list to save for another time: 

Screenshot of saved list

Creating an account with OCLC is completely optional; you do not need to sign in or create an account in order to search Discovery Search.