Should I pay for Journal Articles?
Like all academic libraries, the University of Iowa Libraries buys access to online journals, research databases and other collections of online articles (and other content). Often, the subscriptions we pay are based on the number of students who will have access and we need to ensure that only our students/staff/faculty have access to the articles. The providers of online articles know that any computer coming from our range of internet (IP) addresses is on the UIowa campus and should have access. Off-campus, though, isn’t so easy.
All our links to something we pay for go through a proxy server – sort of a gate-keeper that asks your HawkID and password and then lets anyone who should have access through to the resource. That only works if you start somewhere on the University of Iowa Libraries websites (http://www.lib.uiowa.edu) though. If you google the journal article and find it on a publisher website, for example, or follow a link to an article from someone else’s website, no one will know you’re part of the UIowa and they’ll probably want some money up front.
Here are some strategies to help.
- Start your research at the library – http://www.lib.uiowa.edu.
- Configure Google Scholar’s Library Links to use the University of Iowa – http://scholar.google.com/scholar_preferences or just log into Google Scholar through us.
- Use the Article Locator to find out if we have articles someone else is linking to.
Share your secrets for getting library materials in the comments.
Dan the Librarian
