Do patrons who are not affiliated to the University but are Massachusetts residents have access to online books or e-journals from their home?

No, patrons must be either a current student, staff or faculty of the University. Basically anyone with a valid IT account which they will need to enter when they are trying to access these materials remotely. State borrowers can only take out print materials. They would have to use Library computers to view on line material. 

How do I find e-journals? I sent them to the Lower Level Desk...is this the right place for that?

Yes! We should send any inquiries about e-journals to the LC Desk for Reference help. We should send most questions regarding what items we have to the LC Desk. The only questions that we should be answering is if people have a specific book in mind. Even then if you get stuck or have a question do not hesitate to send patrons for further assistance downstairs. The catalog can sometimes be tricky and time consuming, send them to the professionals.

What is the difference between the library database and e-journals?

Databases are just a collection of data that is easily searched. It basically lets you know of articles that exist in the world but does not mean we have them. They are just a collection of information on articles. You would use these if you had a particular subject you need to look up.

E-Journals are actual electronic subscriptions that we have for different magazines and journals. Just like we have the paper version of Time magazine we may have the Journal of Awesomeness (not a real journal) for the last 5 years. You can usually search within a particular journal for articles on a particular subject.

Better explanations and instructions can be given by the staff at the LC Desk.

What do I do if someone is looking for an article or journal online?

If anyone has a question regarding articles they really need to be sent to the LC Desk for Reference and Research Assistance. Reading the records for databases and e-journals can be tricky and difficult to read. Send them to the professionals.

Everytime I search for a journal online, it never says if it is available or not. How do I check?

It is hard to answer this without knowing exactly how you are going about looking for online journals. But I can tell you one way. If you click on "e-journals" from the Library home page. Type in the title of the journal you are looking for and click "go." If we carry that journal it should come up. Then you can either click on the journal name or UMLinks button. It should tell you who carries it and what they have available. If you click on the link that follows something like, "Full text available from" you can then access the journal.

You really should send anyone looking for journals online to the LC Desk.