About Find It!

SFX button changed to "Find It!"

In an effort to make using our fulltext linking software more intuitive for the campus community, we've changed the label on the linking button from SFX to Find It!
If you are accustomed to clicking on the button, please look for the new button instead.

What is Find It! ?

Find It! provides direct links from a database citation to the full text of the article (if available) and other supporting resources. When you find a record in a database or periodical index, click on the Find It! button to:

See if the full text of the article is available online for immediate access;
Check the University Library catalog to see if the journal or book is in the library;
Order from Document Delivery if full text is not available and the Library does not have the journal or book.
Do a Web search using words from the article's titles.
Get assistance from a librarian.

Why is the full text not always available?

The full text option appears only when the Library owns that item. We don't subscribe to all titles, and not all titles are available online.

Can I use the Find It! service from home?

Yes, any Cal Poly Pomona student, faculty or staff member can use the Find It! service from off-campus, via the proxy server. Remember that you will need a Library PIN/Password.

Why don't I see any Find It! buttons?

Sometimes you need to click on the actual database record in order to see the Find It! button.

Why are there multiple windows when I'm using Find It! ?

When you click on the Find It! button, it opens a new browser window that displays the menu of services. Selecting a service from the menu then opens a third window. Generally, you will not have more than three or four windows open at a time. Remember that you can resize the windows to suit your viewing preferences. Sometimes windows are hidden behind other windows.

When I click to get full text, sometimes I end up on the journal's home page or table of contents. Can't I go directly to the article?

The journal publisher controls whether we are able to link directly to the article. We are asking publishers to provide direct access to their articles. In the meantime, you may have to navigate through the publisher's web site to get to the article you're looking for. Because the database record is still visible in its own window, it is easy to see what volume and issue is needed.

Why are there multiple links to full text?

Sometimes an article is available in more than one database, such as Academic Search Elite (EBSCOhost) or ABI/INFORM, so we link to both. You can choose which version you want to access. If one is temporarily not working, it helps to have a backup choice.

When I click to get the full text, my article isn't there. Why not?

Possible reasons why the article is missing:

Sometimes the article citation appears in a database before the publisher has made the full text available. Use Ask a librarian on the Find It! menu to have us confirm this.
The publisher or author withheld the full text of this article. Please email Library Systems to let us know about any missing articles . Then, search Cal Poly Pomona Catalog from the Find It! menu to see if the library has the paper version.
Find It! uses the citation information (volume, issue, and page number) to attempt to link directly to the article. If there is a typographical error in the citation, Find It! cannot find the article. In many cases, you can use the publisher's site to search for article title or author(s) to locate the correct citation.

If there's no full text service listed in the Find It! window, does that mean the article isn't available online?

Not always. There is a chance that Find It! is not aware that the full text is available online. Search Cal Poly Pomona Catalog from the Find It! menu to see if there is a link to full text. Please let us know if you discover there is full text access but it does not show up in Find It!.

What if my question isn't answered here?

Use Ask a librarian, and we'll try to answer you directly within a day.