How to Find Resources

Be sure to sign in to the Galter Library website or the NU VPN if you are off campus.

1. Access Pubmed through the Popular Resources link on the Galter Library home page. This will ensure that you will see the Galter Full-Text Online button. LibKey Nomad buttons (with the green teardrop icon) will only appear once you have installed the LibKey Nomad browser extension. 
2. Run your search.
3. Click on an article title to view that abstract OR change the display settings to "abstract" to view the abstracts for your list of search results.
4. When full-text is available you'll see a Galter Full-Text Online button in the upper right corner and below the citation information (if viewing an individual abstract) or below the abstract (if viewing a list of results in abstract format).
5. Click on the Find It, Download PDF, or Access Options button to retrieve the article. Note: You might also see publisher links to full-text and free full-text links.

Note: We try to ensure that Galter full text buttons appear for all articles where full-text is available. However, sometimes the data contained in PubMed does not fully reflect full-text availability. If you think the library provides access to full-text of an article, but the button doesn't appear in PubMed, try searching the Galter Library website. Click the "Library Website" tab for instructions.

Be sure to sign in to the Galter Library website or the NU VPN if you are off campus.
Full-text is available in many other databases from several vendors including MEDLINE (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ebsco), Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics), and Scopus (Elsevier). The common threads to all of these are the Find it@NU button and LibKey Nomad button. Look for these within each item record and on your list of search results.

Clicking on the Find it@NU button will take you to an interim page where you'll find links to full-text (if available), links to order the article through interlibrary loan if full- text is not available, and a link to our online catalog so you can see whether we own this journal in print format.

First: Activate the Find it @NU links in Scholar Settings  and then continue with one of these options:

Option 1: Sign into the Galter Library website and access Google Scholar from there. When signed in, search for "Google Scholar" in the library website search box and click the resulting link. The address for Google Scholar should be: http://scholar.google.com.ezproxy.galter.northwestern.edu/.

Option 2: Connect via the VPN service so Google Scholar will recognize your query as originating from the university's IP range and allow access via the article title or Find it @NU link. For more details on how to connect via the VPN, see the "Connecting From Off Campus " page from NUIT. In some cases, even when signed into the Galter Library website or with the VPN enabled you may still be redirected to the Online Passport page. You will have to log in with your valid NU netID and password in order to proceed to the journal page to access the article. You must have cookies enabled on your browser for the Online Passport to work properly. See the "How NU Online Passport Works " page for more information.

1. Run your search in Google Scholar.
2. If the library subscribes to a journal within your search results, you should be able to access full-text by clicking on the article title.
3. You can also try the Find it @ NU links but you may be redirected to the Online Passport page (see above).

You can use the Galter Library website to search for journals but not within journals. If you know the journal in which the article you seek appears, you can search for that journal from the Galter Library website. Be sure to sign in to the Galter Library website or the NU VPN if you are off campus.

1. Use the search box in the banner of the Galter Library website.
2. Enter the title of the journal (or the first few words within the title).
3. The journal you seek may be available from more than one vendor. Check the availability date range to determine the appropriate access point to the journal and choose the appropriate link. Note: The results show only those resources to which the library provides access. Click "Expand my Results" to include additional resources that can be requested via Interlibrary Loan.
4. Search the journal website to locate the article you seek.

If you encounter problems retrieving full-text articles using any of these methods, please contact us or call us at 312-503-8126.

If the article you want is unavailable through our website, you can request it through our Interlibrary loan/document delivery service in one of two ways. Both methods require a Northwestern NetID.

1. While in a database, use the purple Find it @ NU or Find it @ Galter buttons to verify if the library has the item in full-text. If the record indicates that we do not, use the available "Request through Interlibrary loan" link. This method should pre-populate the request form for you. Note: If you are not given any full text or Interlibary Loan links, try logging in again by clicking in the upper right corner.
2. If you have the citation and it's not cited in a database, you can request it directly. This method requires you to complete the form with the request's citation data. Method #1 is more efficient but not everything is cited in a literature database, i.e. book chapters, so Method #2 is the way to go here.

Requests have an average 3-10 business day turnaround time, regardless of the method you use.