Frequently Asked Questions about Article Linker What is Article Linker? Article Linker connects you from citations to the full-text of articles available through St. Louis Community College Libraries. Article Linker is a “link resolver,” a service that uses information from journal indexes to connect you to full-text articles. Article Linker is not a search engine.

How do I use Article Linker?

Say you are searching an index (for example, Applied Science and Technology) and you find a citation to a journal article that you would like to read. The citation includes the article title, journal title, publication date, and other details. Librarians call this information “metadata.” When you click on (the Article Linker icon), Article Linker uses this metadata to locate the full text of the article if possible.

What am I seeing on the Search Results screen?

Depending on whether the St. Louis Community College Library subscribes to the

journal you’re looking for, you could see

• A link to the full text of the article. • A link to search the St. Louis Community College Library Catalog for a print copy of the journal. • A link to order the article through Interlibrary Loan if it is unavailable at SLCC.

Why do multiple windows open when I use Article Linker?

When you click on the Article Linker icon or link, a new browser window opens that displays the Article Linker page. If you click on a journal link, a third window opens which will direct you to the journal article. Once you are done reading or printing, you will need to close both the Article Linker page and the article windows to resume your search.

Why are there multiple links to an article?

Sometimes an article is available from more than one database provider. Why isn't there a link to the full-text of the article I want?

If the article link is not present on the results page it could be due to one of the following reasons:

• Indexes and databases help you identify citations to articles you need, but in many cases St. Louis Community College does not have access to the electronic version of the cited journal. We have access to over 25,000 electronic journal titles, but the indexes and databases provided by the library also include citations to articles from many more journals. • Some journals are published only in print, and do not offer full-text electronic versions. • The database you are searching does not support link resolving.

Why is there an article link present yet the full-text is not available?

This can occur for these reasons:

• Sometimes there may be a publisher delay in providing links to recently published journal issues. • Sometimes the coverage dates supplied by the database provider are incorrect because of changes in coverage.

When I click to get an article, sometimes I end up at the journal’s home page or table of contents. Why can’t I go directly to the article?

The journal publisher determines whether libraries can link directly to the article. You can still access the article if you make a note of the volume, issue, and pages found in the menu window. To open the article, you will have to navigate through the online table of contents or the journal's list of volumes and issues.

What do I do when I get a "bad URL," an "Error 404" or some other "not found" message?

Article Linker is updated monthly. Sometimes there may be a publisher delay in providing links to recently published journal issues. At other times, links may become out-of-date when publishers make changes to their web sites. Please let us know about problems so we can correct them. Send an e-mail to the LS Webmaster at [email protected].

Additional Questions?

If you have additional questions about Article Linker, please contact a Reference Librarian.