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Online resources

Databases

  • A library database is a collection of searchable, high quality academic literature.
  • Databases can be used to find journal articles, conference papers, newspaper articles and other types of publication.
  • City, University of London may not subscribe to everything you find in a database.
  • There are several ways to find databases for your subject.

Looking up a database on CityLibrary Search

  • Type the database name in the CityLibrary Search search field
  • From the results retrieved, select the database title link and log in with your City login details.  
  • You can then search the database for articles. 
  • Different databases will have different interfaces, but usually provide help pages so you can learn to navigate and search for articles effectively. 

Accessing articles from databases

  • The image below shows the results of a simple keyword search in EBSCOhost.
  • I am given a list of relevant articles which I can browse.
  • If you see the PDF symbol and the text PDF Full Text you can follow the link straight through to the full text of the article.

  • If there is no full text link provided with an article, it means we do not have access to the article through the database you are searching. 
  • However, it may be available through another database we subscribe to. 
  • Some databases will show an 'is it @CityLibrary' link. (In the image above the is it @CityLibrary? link shows that we do not have access to the article through EBSCOhost.)
  • If you follow the link it will search the Library Catalogue so you can see if the article is available through any of our other databases.
  • You will be taken to a new screen showing the results of the search.

Is it @CityLibrary

The image below shows that we have the full text of the article available through another database.

  • Select the button labeled Article to be taken to the full text of the article
  • Select the button labeled Journal to be taken to the online journal in which the article is published.

Some databases will not show the 'is it @CityLibrary' link. If this is the case, you can check if we have the article in another database by searching for it in CityLibrary Search

The is it @CityLibrary? page shows the article reference prefixed by "Your are looking for". It tells us Content is available via the article and journal links.

Articles not available through CityLibrary

Sometimes an article will not be available through the library in an electronic format and you will be directed to a screen with the following message: "Sorry we couldn't find this article. Try the links below for more options."

If you still require the article. Other options are:

  • The Search for this title in the Library catalogue link. This link will search the Library Catalogue for the journal title to see if we have it available in print.
  • The Request a copy link. If we do not have the article at all, you can order it from another library as an interlibrary loan using this link. 

Online resource access problems

If you are experiencing problems accessing:

  • a journal
  • a database
  • an e-book

please complete the login-problem report form.