OSU Libraries

Don't let Google Scholar lead you astray!

Google Scholar is a great place to scan across a lot of sources at once, but if it doesn't know that you have rights to access online articles and other sources from a library, it might send you to a page like this - which asks you to pay for the article you want:

 

 

The journal in this example is in the OSU Libraries' collection, and OSU students, staff and faculty have the right to access it (and articles in lots of other journals) from any computer with an Internet connection.  With a few adjustments to your preferences, you can tell Google Scholar to point you to the resources that the library provides for the OSU community.

 

Start your search in Google Scholar (google.scholar.com).  A typical results screen looks like this one.  The first result on this list is the one that led to the pay-per-view screen example above.

 

 

To find out which of your results are available from the OSU Libraries, go to the Scholar Preferences link, just to the right of the search box:

 

 

In the middle of the Scholar Preferences page, there is a section called Library Links.  Students, faculty and staff at OSU should search for Oregon State because they can access content from OSU online.

 

 

Click the boxes next to both OSU options:  Find it at OSU, and Get This Item at OSU.

 

Now, when you do a search, your result list will look like this.  Notice the new links to the right of each title:

 

 

There are also some new options like Get This Item at OSU, or Get This in Print at OSU in the list of links at the bottom of each entry on the result list.

Clicking on these new links will now take you to the library's collections.  If you are in the library, or at an IP address recognized as an OSU address, this process will be immediate.  If you are not on campus, you will need to prove that you have access to the sources the library has paid for.  You do this by entering your ONID login and password at this screen:

 

 

This process works well, but it doesn't work perfectly.  If there is an article you want, and you can't get it this way, ask a librarian how you can get it.

Good luck!  If you have questions, contact me or leave a comment.