How to Locate Articles: Using the Find Text Button

When searching library databases, look for the Find Text button to begin the process of locating an article.

When you click the Find Text button, the system will look for an electronic copy of the article. The results will pop-up in another tab. 

If the text is found, you will see a screen like this:

Click on the Go button to access the text.  Depending on the amount of information passed from the database and the functionality of the provider of the text, the Go button may take you directly to the article, a table of contents for the issue, or the search box for the text provider.

If the text is not found, the next step is to click the Go button next to FRANCIS to search the library's online catalog to see whether we have a print subscription.

If a match is found in FRANCIS, you will see a list of matching records.

Note: There may be a record for an online version of the journal. If the holdings of the online version had matched your citation, it should have been found in the first step. Thus, you should look at the FRANCIS record that does not say (Online) in the title to  look at the record for our print subscription.

Note: this first display only shows the three oldest issues of the journal.  Click on the journal title to see more information about the journal.

After choosing the record for the print journal, you will need to match the year from your citation to the years available at Williams.

Pay particular attention to the "Library Has" information. Does the year in your citation fit in the time period listed? Further down the screen you will see more details about our print holdings. Issues from the current year are listed under the "Latest Received" link. Older volumes are listed next with the oldest 10 volumes listed. To see more volumes, click the "View additional copies button."

For this example, we are looking for 1995, volume 23.  We have it, so you would write down the call number HQ1101 .W68 and the volume, issue, and page numbers  (1995, vol. 23, p. 162) and retrieve the volume on the third floor to get the article.

If you are still curious whether you could get the article online, go back to the list of records and click on the record for the online subscription.

Look in the Connect To box to see the years we have available online. In this case, the years do not match the year in the citation (1995), so you would need to get the article through the print copy.

If the article is not available online or in print, the next step is clicking the Williams ILL button.

The request will go to our partners in the NExpress consortium. Indicate that you are from Williams.

Enter your name and barcode. The barcode is the 14-digit number on the back of your Williams ID beginning with 20001.

Once logged in, the information from the article database will be entered automatically into the request form.

Click the submit button for the request to be sent to the NExpress libraries. If one of the libraries has the article, they will scan it and send it to us. You will get an e-mail with a link to the text when we receive it. If the article is not available in NExpress, it will go into the larger interlibrary loan system. It usually takes 2-4 days to receive an article.