Information Seeking: Locating the materials

The search results in a database are references, which

• describe the content
• help to locate the material

Most databases include only the reference information while some also include the full-text (the document itself, usually in a HTML or PDF format). A search usually covers the reference information, which is why you can use the information of relevant search results/references in other searches.

A reference includes the bibliographic data of the source:

• author and publication information
• ISBN (books) or ISSN (journals) number
• plate number (sheet music), catalogue number (records)
• keywords, classification number, abstract

Some databases include just the reference information (= citation database) whereas some are full-text databases with the articles etc. in HTML or PDF format. You need to find out the availability of references in citation databases: is it available in your library, elsewhere in Finland, online, or internationally. Databases can also include a separate link service (Check for Uniarts fulltext), with which you can quickly check the availability on other databases available at Uniarts.

A full-text link tells you whether the article is available. If there's e.g. a PDF Full Text icon/link below the reference, the full text opens by clickink the icon/link.

If the article is not available as a full-text, you need to locate the journal or edited book in which it appears from the library. Use Arsca's basic search to find and locate the printed journal. In similar fashion, you can search for journal titles in the Finna.fi service.

1) See in which journal and volume the article in question has been published in:

2) Search the journal title in Arsca's basic search:

3) Check the detailed availability information:

Most of scientific literature has been published in paywalled journals and books. Here you can find alternative ways to find and access articles which are not included in Uniarts Helsinki library collections, journal subscriptions or databases.

Check first if the article is available in Arsca

If you are looking for a specific article that was published in an international scientific journal, follow these instructions:

• Check if the article is available via Arsca by using the International e-materials search function.
• Remember that not all articles in e.g. EBSCO can be found using the article search in Arsca.
• If you cannot find the article using the International e-materials search function, but you know the name or parts of the name of the journal, you can also search the journal itself in Arsca's basic search.

Also take note of the following:

• The material that you are looking for may be available in services provided by publishers after an embargo period.
• You cannot necessarily find the most recent articles using the search if they are available via the publishers’ own services.
• The references are updated in the search index later on, which can mean anything from days to months.
• Arsca finds references to publications that aren’t available at Uniarts.

Check if the article is available elsewhere

Paywalled articles may be openly available somewhere else, e.g. self-archived in university publication archives or repositories. Also, Finnish higher education institutions' libraries are open to everyone, so you can for example searhc the material from the national Finna.fi service: if the material is available from another university, you can visit their library and access or borrow the material from there.

• Unpaywall is a browser (Firefox, Chrome) add-on, which checks whether a paywalled article is openly available e.g. in repositories. It directs youto the Open Access version with a single click. Unpaywall includes over 40 million Open Access articles harvested legally from repositories and various library systems. The add-on is permissible and highly recommended.
• Open Access archives, such as CORE, BASE and DOAJ include hundreds of millions Open Access publications.
• Check the article or journal availability from University of Helsinki's Helka database. If it's included in UH subscriptions, you can access it locally at UH libraries for free.
• See the national Finna.fi search service for articles' publication information and see if the journal is available in another library near you, electronically or in print format.
• It's also possible to access articles through Google Scholar in cases where they are available in services such ResearchGate - please note that e.g. ResearchGate includes a lot of publications uploaded there without permission, and there are no guarantees that they will remain there.
• It's a common practice among scholars to request a copy of an article directly from the corresponding author via e-mail.

Read more about the subject from FinELib's Alternative Access page, and University of Helsinki blog post "Testing Alternative Access – some other ways to reach research articles" (2019-02-14).

See the video below to find out how to add Uniarts library links to Google Scholar search results.

Interlibrary loan

If the article you need is not available in Arsca, the Helka database or it cannot be found e.g. in the journal’s online archive for free, the library will provide interlibrary loan service if you so request by borrowing the material from another library.

The interlibrary loan service is available only to Uniarts Helsinki’s researchers, students and staff members. You will receive the article after submitting the interlibrary request form in Arsca. See also the interlibrary loan service charges.

Before placing an interlibrary loan request, we recommend that you search the article by following the instructions above.