Finding Full Text: SPU and Beyond (Fall 2020 version)

To Search for the full text or an electronic version of a known book in the SPU Library's discovery system, click on Advanced search below the search bars:

Screenshot of SPU discovery system search bars with Advanced search link highlighted.

The Advanced Search gives several dropdown menus to the right side of the search boxes. The top dropdown menu, Material Types, allows you to specify only eBooks for your search, as in the example below:

Screenshot of Advanced search screen with top search box including book title "theology: the basic readings" and material type dropdown with eBooks selection highlighted.

If SPU owns a copy of the title as an eBook, the results list will include a link reading "Online Access" below the title and author information. Click on the link and sign in using your SPU credentials to access the electronic version of the book. 

Screenshot of search result with book title and author information and Online access link highlighted.

For more information on accessing and using eBooks, see the eBook subject guide.

Search for a journal (for example, the journal containing your article) by accessing the Advanced Search area of the Library's discovery system:

Screenshot of SPU library discovery system search boxes with Search Scope: Articles, Books, and More; Title: contains: "virtuous decision making for business ethics" search box; and Material type: articles dropdown highlighted. Below the search boxes is a search result: the article "Virtuous Decision Making for Business Ethics" with article information and Full text available link below. 

Then

• Place its (the journal's, not the article's) name in the Title field,
• Set Material Type to Journals, and
• Limit the Search Scope: to SPU Library:

Screenshot of SPU library discovery system search boxes with Search Scope: SPU Library; Title: contains: "theological studies" search box; and Material type: journals dropdown highlighted. Below the search boxes is a results list with the top three results including the journal names and publishers, and their access status: Available at Seattle Pacific University Periodicals; Check holdings at Seattle Pacific University Microfilm; and Online access.

• The version in print is on the lower level of the library building. To request a scan of a particular article that is not already available online, use this Search Request Form.
• A scan of your article in the version on microfilm can be solicited via Search Request Form.
• The version online can be procured via the link to Online access, which will require that you Log in.  For the subsequent steps in this process see under 2) Skip stright to the online version, below.

If you would rather skip straight to the online version of the journal you are interested in, then place the title of your journal in the EJOURNAL SEARCH sector of the Advanced Search area of the Library's discovery system as follows.

Screenshot of SPU library e-journal search page, with E-Journal Search link at top and search box, changed to journal search, highlighted. In the journal search box is the title "theological studies." Below the search box is the top result, including the journal information and an online access link at the bottom.

Then

• click on Online access and the link to an online version, for example Sage Premier 2015 (Signing in in the process), and
• browse your way to the volume/year and issue you need. Look carefully at the database options: below each link is the date range covered. Be sure your article lies within the date range of the database you choose:

Screenshot of the "Theological Studies" journal page in the SPU discovery system. Below the journal information is a list of the databases in which the journal is available, including links to the databases and available dates, e.g.: "Available from 1995 until 2013." and "Most recent 2 year(s) available."

Search for an article in the Library's discovery system directly by accessing the latter's Advanced Search area. Then:

• Place the article's (not the journal's) title in the Title field,
• Set Material Type to Articles, and
• Select Search Scope:  Articles, Books, and More:

Screenshot of SPU library discovery system search boxes with Search Scope: Articles, Books, and More; Title: contains: "virtuous decision making for business ethics" search box; and Material type: Articles dropdown highlighted. Below the search boxes is a results list with the top result. The result includes the article and journal names and publisher, and its access status: Full text available.

To uncover open access materials, set Search Scope: to Articles, Books, and More.  Here is a simple Author-Title "known item" search, though you can search this Scope by the Subject or the Any field as well:

Screenshot of SPU library discovery system search boxes with Search Scope: Articles, Books, and More and Author/creator: contains: "Wilson"  and Title: contains: "Gelasian sacramentary" search boxes highlighted. Below the search boxes is a results list with the top result. The result includes the eBook title and author information, with an open access icon and a Full text available link.

Note that if I had not reset the Search Scope:, I would have come up empty. A search in SPU Library+Summit returns no results.

Screenshot of SPU library discovery system search boxes with Search Scope: SPU Library + Summit highlighted. Below the search boxes is a highlighted error message: No records found.

If your searches are returning "no records found," consider trying another of the strategies in this guide, or contact a librarian for assistance.