On Tuesday, September 14, 2021, the Library’s main web page changed, significantly affecting the search box and the features after your search returns results.
The following three explanations will help you better navigate these updates:
- changes in the main search box
- changes after clicking the tab “Articles and Databases”
- changes after you do a Search Everything (formally Quick Search) search and as you review your results
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email Dave Harmeyer dharmeyer@apu.edu (for general issues, like clarifying a step) or Denise Gehring dgehring@apu.edu (for technical issues, like a link doesn’t work).
1) Changes in the main search box.
This is what it looks like now:
As a default (when you first come to the Library’s main web page at https://www.apu.edu/library/), “Quick Search” is now called "Search Everything." There is a new tab called "Research Guides" - which lets you more quickly search all our LibGuides. There is a Keyword drop down menu where you can change to Title or Author.
And there are three new choices under the search box:
- Available @ APU - only materials immediately accessible as full text will be in your results).
- Peer reviewed (scholarly) only – same as checking this after receiving results but now you have the option to do it before results are shown.
- Catalog only - same results as if you had clicked Books and Media. So, results will only be for our print books, ebooks, journal titles, and media collections.
2) Changes after clicking the tab Articles and Databases.
This is what the new box looks like:
After clicking the tab “Articles and Databases,” when clicking in the box “Browse by Subject,” you will get a drop up (or drop down) menu giving you 65 subject categories to choose from. For example, what was a single subject of Medicine / Nursing / Physical Therapy is now: Health Sciences, Nursing, Physical Therapy, Kinesiology, Athletic Training, Physical Education, and Public Health. So, scroll through the list to find your area of interest and click it.
In order to go to the A-Z Database page you now click the phrase "All Databases by Subject or Name" under the “Browse by Subject” box.
There is a new link to “Article Finder” (under the “Browse by Subject” box). Article Finder is an online form you fill out to find articles you have citation information for and need the full text.
3) Changes after you do a Search Everything search (formerly Quick Search) and review your results page.
The results for “vaccine hesitancy” as a keyword search, looks like this:
On the left (in red), is your EBSCO account login. You can create an account, then login with your email and password or sign in with Google. This account allows you to save your searches, save your results, and other features.
After you do a search, the first item will usually be a "Research Starter," a general article about your topic from an encyclopedia-type source.
Below this, sorted by relevance, will be what you would expect in past results . . . except now, narrowing (limiting your results) is done by clicking on the buttons at the top. The "All filters" button allows you to narrow all possible ways at one time. A list of choices opens on the right.
To access full text, you now click on the "Access Now" drop down menu found at the bottom of each record. Some of the "Access Now" choices include: PDF full text, Full text finder, Online full text, Linked full text, and others.
Clicking the Full Text Finder link will take you to a Full Text Finder Results page. As before, you can access full text in three possible ways: a) first, try clicking any links at the top area of the page, b) second, under “Article Browse” try clicking a link with “Google Scholar” in it; in Google Scholar clicking links to the right of the record can bring up full text, c) finally, if a and b do not work - return to the Full Text Finder Results page and click on "Request free copy of this article through ArticleReach." This takes you to a form filled out with the article’s information. Scroll to the bottom and, on the left, click Submit. The full text article should be sent to your APU or LAPU email in 48 hours or less.