Find It @MU Arrives
September 2006--The Libraries announce Find It @MU, a new feature in electronic resources that will expand access and improve linking to the Libraries' rich collection of digital resources. While most of the 18,000 digital journals licensed by MU are cataloged in MARQCAT, users now will be able to connect to available full text from within the database they are using.
The primary value of Find It @MU is that digital holdings Marquette licenses from a wide range of publishers are more visible. It allows, for example, a user to find an article citation in one database, then link directly to the full text of the article, even when the text resides with another publisher. When fully implemented, Find It @MU will break down barriers traditionally encountered when working with commercial databases.
Marquette users of research databases will see the following graphic embedded in many databases:
This indicates that the item may be available elsewhere. Clicking on the icon launches a new window that will list options including: link(s) to the actual item; a link to check MARQCAT (if needed); or a link to Interlibrary Loan, if the item is not available.
Find It @MU is based on three components:
- OpenURL, an international standard in which the URL for a particular article contains the specific title, ISSN, issue, author, pages, etc. This allows the identifying information to be easily transmitted between publishers and libraries.
- MU Coverage Database, a locally-created listing of all digital holdings for all vendors and publishers, including start and end dates for individual titles.
- Link Resolver, software that receives the OpenURL references, interprets the issue information, and compares it to the Coverage Database to determine if MU holds the issue or article from any vendor, and then presents these options back as a link to the researcher.
The task of defining the wide range of resources to enable Find It @MU is a significant undertaking and is not complete. Because of the tremendous advance for researchers, Find It is being made available for major and heavily used databases such as EBSCO, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, LION, and ProQuest as soon as practical. Researchers should be advised that linking to digital journals is a moving target and although standards-based, there are varying levels of support for OpenURL, so the exact precision of linking will vary between publishers. While most major publishers support OpenURL to some degree, a few do not. Also, continual changes in the publishing industry and in the library collection will require ongoing maintenance of the coverage database and the link resolver.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) are available to provide more information on the complex issues associated with Find It @ MU. Users are encouraged to contact the Information Desk with questions: AskUs! in person, by phone, by e-mail, or by virtual (chat) reference.
