Find It! Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

General Questions About Find It!

1. What is Find It! and how it will help me?
2. What happens when I click the Find It! button?  
3. How does Find It! work?
4. If I have citation information from another source, can Find It! take me to the full text?
5. Does Find It! work differently for onsite and offsite patrons of the Library of Congress website?

Using the Find It! Menu

6. Tell me more about the Find It! menu.
7. Why do Find It! menu links vary from one search to another?
8. Why is full text not offered for some publications?
9. If Find It! does not offer a link to full text, does that mean that full text is not available?
10. Why doesn't Find It! link me to the full text of an ejournal or ejournal article that LC can access?
11. Why doesn't Find It! link me to the full text of an ebook that LC can access?
12. Why are multiple full text links offered for some journal articles?
13. Why did I get linked to the ejournal or ebook home page, table of contents page, or the publisher's website instead of to full text?
14. Why does Find It! link to the LC Online Catalog and the LC E-Resources Catalog when the journal issue or book is not held by the Library?
15. Can I use Find It! to save citation data, including saving the citation into reference citation software such as RefWorks (external link) or EndNote (external link)

Resolving Technical Problems

16. What should I do when I get a "bad URL" or the "Error 404: Not Found" message?
17. Why does nothing seem to happen when I click on a Find It! menu option?
18. What does the "transparent pixel" message mean?
19. Why don't I see any buttons?

More Questions?

20. Where can I go for help if this FAQ does not resolve my question or problem?

General Questions About Find It!

1. What is Find It! and how will it help me?

   Find It! is a research tool that simplifies your efforts to find full text for journal articles, ebooks, and other resources cited in your database search results. Find It!, for example, eliminates the need for you to record article citation information, then hunt for the appropriate volume and issue of a journal title in various Library of Congress databases.

   By clicking on the Find It! button, you can:

   • link to the full text of a publication accessible to the Library of Congress
   • search lists of electronic journals to see if the Library has access to the full text of an ejournal volume or ebook
   • search the LC Online Catalog to see if the Library holds the item in print
   • search the LC E-Resources Catalog to see if the Library holds a ejournal or ebook not found in Find It!
   • search web search engines or databases such as OCLC WorldCat to see if other libraries or websites provide access to the publication
   • search other databases which index and/or abstract the publication
   • save your citation data, including saving your citation into reference citation software such as RefWorks (external link) or EndNote (external link).

   Find It! is not:

   • a way to search by subject for books or journal articles. Use the LC Online Catalog to search for books by subject. The LC E-Resources Catalog will help you find abstracting and indexing databases or subject portals containing citations for journal articles, ebooks, dissertations, and other electronic resources. If you are a researcher in a Library reading room, please consult a reference librarian for database recommendations.
   • a gateway to the Library of Congress collection in digital form
   • a gateway to comprehensive full text resources and citation databases. Databases available to Library of Congress patrons are indexed and described in the LC E-Resources Catalog.
2. What happens when I click the Find It! button?  

   Clicking the Find It! button activates the Library of Congress' Find It! service. A new window opens in your browser with links to the full text or to other suggestions for locating the resource you need. Depending on the database you are searching, the Find It! button may appear in different locations. In some databases, for example, the button appears after brief citations in your search result set. In other databases, the button appears only when you display a full citation.

3. How does Find It! work?

   Find It! uses information from your citation — such as your article's author and title, the journal and volume/issue information where your article was published, or an article identifier — to build appropriate links.

   The software first tries to link you to full text. This is a two-step process. First Find It! matches information from your citation — such as your journal title and year of publication or a unique identifer for your article, journal, or book — and determines if the Library has access to the elctronic item you need. Find It! then sends a request for your items to appropriate full text databases.

   If Find It! cannot determine whether full text for the resource you need is available at the Library, you are offered other choices to find electronic or print versions through links to the LC Online Catalog, the LC E-Resources Catalog, or other web search tools. See How Find It! Works for additional information.

4. If I have citation information from another source, can Find It! take me to the full text?

   Yes. If you have a citation from a bibliography, for example, and you want to have Find It! look for full text or other web services, use Article Finder. This form will help you determine if full text for your citation is available at the Library — or help you locate other web services that may be useful to you.

   There are two ways to find a journal article. Go to the Article tab at the top of Article Finder. Enter either:

   • the journal title or its ISSN and a publication year, then click the Find It! button. The publication year is required for Find It! to determine if the Library has access to the journal issue you need. If you know the month of publication, please add that information as well. Including additional information — such as the title of your article or journal volume and issue information — will result in a better match.
   • a unique article identifier. This number may be a DOI (Digital Object Identifier, which is assigned to the article by the publisher) or a PMID (external link) (Pub Med ID, assigned to e-resources by the National Library of Medicine).

   To find a volume or issue of a journal, go to the Journal tab at the top of Article Finder. Enter your journal title or its ISSN, then click the Find It! button. Including the publication year and month (as well as the day, if appropriate) will help determine if the Library has access to the journal you need. Including journal volume and issue will improve matching.

   To find an ebook, go to the Book tab at the top of Article Finder. For the best match, enter a unique book identifier — such as an ISBN (or International Standard Book Number) or a DOI for the print or electronic edition. You may also search by title, but the Find It! knowledgebase is not a Library catalog. Searching for ebooks using unique identifiers is generally more successful than searching by author/title.

5. Does Find It! work differently for onsite and offsite patrons of the Library of Congress website?

   Yes. While Find It! is available to both onsite and offsite Library patrons, links from Find It! to subscription resources are available only to onsite researchers and staff.

   In addition, some citation sources (including full record displays in the LC Online Catalog) contain “invisible” embedded HTML code snippets (called COInS (external link), or Context Objects in Spans). COInS use source citation metadata (author, title, publisher, identifiers) to create formatted OpenURL search strings that can be used by browser plug-ins (such as LibX (external link)) and reference citation software (such as RefWorks (external link), EndNote (external link), or Mendeley (external link)) to construct OpenURLs that help you find eresources available from your local institution.

Using the Find It! Menu

6. Tell me more about the Find It! menu.

   When you click the Find It! button, you will see a new browser window open with a list of links appropriate for your citation. Clicking on a link connects you to the resource you selected.

   Find It! menu options may include:

   • links to the full text of a publication
   • links to lists of ejournals or ebooks that the Library of Congress can access
   • links to the LC Online Catalog to see if the Library holds the item in print
   • links to other library catalogs and reference sources
   • links to Web search engines — for additional information about the resource you need
   • options for saving your citation data, including saving your citation into reference citation software such as RefWorks (external link) or EndNote (external link).

   The two sample Find It! menus below illustrate what you will see when Find it! links you to full text at the Library of Congress, as well as when full text links may not be available at the Library.

   	Find It! Menu with Links to Full Text
   	Find It! Menu with No Links to Full Text

   The top section of the Find It! menu contains links to the full text of your item — or, if full text is not available at the Library, you can search for electronic or print versions in in LC Online Catalog or LC E-Resources Catalog. The More Options sections offers additional search options along with tools to help you manage your citation and a problem report form.

   
7. Why do Find It! menu links vary from one search to another?

   Find It! links are "context sensitive" — you may see different choices in your Find It! menu for different citations. If you use Find It! frequently, you will see similarities and patterns in menu options.

   To process your citation, Find It! first tries to determine whether the Library has electronic access to the ebook or ejournal title (and to the specific journal issue) you need. If Find It! is unable to link you to full text, you are presented with a variety of menu options, depending on your citation information.

   If Find It! has multiple matches in its knowledgebase for your book or journal title, you will first be asked to select a title from a search result screen before Find It! can build a menu of web services options. Ejournals and ebooks with full text links are listed first.

   
8. Why is full text not offered for some publications?

   There are several possible reasons:

   • Some publications are not currently available electronically — they are only available in print.
   • Journals may offer electronic access to recently published issues only, not to their entire publication run.
   • Some journals issued in both print and electronic form do not provide full text online for every article in their print publication — and Find It! can only determine that the Library has access to a specific journal issue, but not whether every article in that issue is online.
   • The Library of Congress may not have a licence to access the publication you need.
   • Sometimes there is a delay by the publisher or the subscription vendor in adding the most current issues of an ejournal to their service.
   • The Library of Congress may be able to access your publication electronically, but the source of your citation may not be able to send citation information to Find It! (that is, your source may not be OpenURL-enabled).
   • The ejournal you need may not have an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number). Find It! works best using unique identifiers to build successful full-text links.
   • Information in the Find It! knowledgebase may be incomplete or erroneous. Please send an email to Ask-A-Librarian, providing as much information as possible when you find a knowledgebase problem.
9. If Find It! does not offer a link to full text, does that mean that full text is not available?

   Not necessarily. There are a number of possibilities for finding full text resources at the Library of Congress:

   • Search for your journal title in the LC E-Resources Catalog to confirm whether your journal issue is available from a source not yet in the Find It! knowledgebase.
   • Check the LC Online Catalog to see if a print copy of your journal issue or ebook is in the Library's collections.
   • Follow the web search engine links in the More Options section of the Find It! menu to see if the content you need is available elsewhere on the web (an increasing number of journal articles and ebooks are now openly accessible).
   • Search in the subject-based full-text databases available through the LC E-Resources Catalog, since these databases frequently contain individual full-text articles, rather than complete journals or books.

   Please consult with Library reference staff for additional assistance.

10. Why doesn't Find It! link me to the full text of an ejournal or ejournal article that LC can access?

    There are several likely reasons:

    • The ejournal you need may not have an assigned ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) or your ejournal article may not have an assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) — identifiers that facilitate full-text linking.
    • The source of your citation may not be able to send citation information to Find It! (that is, your source may not be OpenURL-enabled).
    • Your citation may not include publication date information. Find It! requires date information to determine if the Library has access to a specific issue of an ejournal. A year of publication must be present, and month/year information is even more helpful. If the ejournal issue you need is identified by seasons (such as spring 2014), you can click on Refine this citation with Article Finder in the More Options section of the Find It! menu to add an approximate month, which helps the linking process.
    • The journal title in your citation may not match any journal title in the Find It! knowledgebase, even if your journal has been assigned an ISSN — or the ISSN in your citation may be for an earlier or later title used by the journal.
    • Library staff may not yet have activated the access to the ejournal in Find It!.
    • There may be a delay either by the publisher or subscription vendor in adding the most current issues of an ejournal to their service.

    If the Find It! menu does not link you to full text, try other options. Search for your journal title in the LC E-Resources Catalog or in the LC Online Catalog to confirm whether print or electronic copies of your journal issue are available from other resources. Researchers may also consult with the reference staff for further assistance.

11. Why doesn't Find It! link me to the full text of an ebook that LC can access?

    As with ejournals and ejournal articles, there are several likely reasons:

    • The ebook you need may not have an assigned ISBN, or DOI (Digital Object Identifier, especially if your item is an unpublished dissertation or if it was published before ISBN were first issued in 1967. Linking to book titles which do not have a unique identifier is difficult. To expand the matching process, try using the "title contains" option in the Refine this citation with Article Finder of the Find It! menu.
    • The ISBN in your citation may be associated with a book related to the item you need. Publishers assign separate ISBN to books issued in different formats (such as paperback, large print, Kindle, PDF) or issued in different editions, as well as to versions of a book published in different countries. Unfortunately, while linking by ISBN remains one of the best ways to ensure that Find It! can identify your book title you need, the knowledgebase does not always contain every ISBN associated with a title found in your citation.
    • The source of your citation may not be able to send citation information to Find It! (that is, your source may not be OpenURL-enabled).
    • Full text of the book you need may be located in a elsewhere on the web. Use the Web Search links in the More Options section of the Find It! menu to expand your search through web search engines.
    • Some books, such as conference proceedings, may contain both ISBNs and ISSNs. Try searching Find It! with both identifiers.
    • Library staff may not yet have activated the access to the ebook in Find It!

    As with ejournals, if the Find It! menu does not link you to full text, try other options. Search for your journal title in the LC E-Resources Catalog or in the LC Online Catalog to confirm whether print or electronic copies are available from other resources. Researchers may also consult with the reference staff for further assistance.

12. Why are multiple full text links offered for some journal articles?

    Some ejournals are available from more than one online journal service. Generally the content is the same regardless of which vendor provides it. Find It! will display multiple full text links in this circumstance.

    You may also find that the article you need is available electronically in both an online journal subscription service and on the Web. A print copy of your journal may also be available by searching the LC Online Catalog.

13. Why did I get linked to the ejournal or ebook home page, table of contents page, or the publisher's website instead of to full text?

    Find It! will try to link you as close to the full text as possible. Some publishers support links directly to the full text. In other cases, the best that Find It! can do is to link you to the ejournal or ebook home page or table of contents; you will have to navigate through the site yourself to get to the content you need.

    Sometimes Find It! cannot determine if the Library of Congress has access to full text for your citation. (See Why is full text not offered for some publications?). In this case, Find It! will offer you options to link to information related to your citation — such as links to a table of contents, an abstract, or a link to the publisher's website. Tables of contents or abstracts may satisfy your needs, or you may be able to purchase the full text from the publisher.

14. Why does Find It! link to the LC Online Catalog and the LC E-Resources Catalog when the journal issue or book is not held by the Library?

    When Find It! creates your menu, it does not search the LC Online Catalog or the LC E-Resources Catalog to pre-determine if a copy of the journal or book you need is held by the Library. While there is a good chance that the item you are looking for is in the Library of Congress' collections, there is no guarantee that the title — or the volume and issue you need — is currently available at the Library.

    Note that not all bibliographic records for journals in the LC Online Catalog include complete information on the Library's print holdings. Researchers may also consult with the reference staff for further assistance.

    In addition, LC Online Catalog records for books and journals contain a Find It! button that constructs OpenURL links to content available onsite at the Library. Full record displays in the LC Online Catalog also contain “invisible” embedded HTML code snippets (called COInS (external link), or Context Objects in Spans). COInS use Catalog record citation metadata (author, title, publisher, identifiers) to create formatted OpenURL search strings that can be used by browser plug-ins (such as LibX (external link)) and reference citation software (such as RefWorks (external link), EndNote (external link), or Mendeley (external link)) to construct OpenURLs that help you find eresources available from your local institution.

15. Can I use Find It! to save citation data, including saving the citation into reference citation software such as RefWorks (external link) or EndNote (external link)?

    Yes. If you simply want to cut and past your citation into a document or email, click on the link Save your citation in the More Options section of the Find It! menu.

    If you have access to the reference citation software RefWorks, just open RefWorks and click on the link Save your citations in RefWorks in the More Options section of the Find It! menu.

    To save a version of your citation information for use with bibliographic reference management software such as Endnote, click on the link Save your citation in the More Options section of the Find It! menu.

Resolving Technical Problems

16. What should I do when I get a "bad URL" or the "Error 404: Not Found" message?

    These error messages occur when:

    • the Find It! menu option contains an incorrect link or URL
    • a server is down at the Library or at the site targeted by your menu option
    • Find It! is experiencing system problems

    Researchers should consult with the reference staff for further assistance. You can also report problems by clicking on the link Having trouble? Email Find It! in the More Options section of the Find It! menu. Include the text of the error message you receive, as well as your name and email address.

17. Why does nothing seem to happen when I click on a Find It! menu option?

    If you have several windows open on your desktop or in your browser, the Find It! menu — or the target you have selected from the menu — may be hidden behind other open windows. To see Find It! responses more easily, close or minimize windows that you don't immediately need.

18. What does the "transparent pixel" message mean?

    Occasionally a "transparent pixel" message may appear in your browser's location bar while Find It! links to the target you selected from the menu. This text should quickly be replaced with the URL of your target. If your screen does not resolve to a Find It! menu, please consult with reference staff for further assistance. You can also report this problem by clicking on the link Having trouble? Email Find It! in the More Options section of the Find It! menu.

19. Why don't I see any buttons?

    Sometimes the Find It! button will not appear if you have JavaScript disabled in your browser. Re-enable your browser's JavaScript configuration settings and the buttons should work correctly.

More Questions?

20. Where can I go for help if this FAQ does not resolve my question or problem?

    If you are a researcher onsite in a Library reading room, please ask a reference librarian for help.

    You may also report problems specific to your Find It! menu by clicking on the link Having trouble? Email Find It! in the More Options section of the Find It! menu. Type your questions into the feedback form, and make sure to include your name and email address.

    For general Find It! questions or problems, send an email to Ask-A-Librarian.