The Library Portal - Frequently Asked Questions

If you do not find the answer to your question, please Ask A Librarian

What is The Library Portal?
Who can use The Library Portal?
Can I use the Portal off-campus?
What browser should I use?
How many sources can I search at once?
How do I limit searches by year? I want articles from 1990-2000.
What's the truncation symbol?
How do I get to the full-text of an article?
Does MetaLib work with EndNote or other citation managers?

What is SFX?
How do I use SFX?
Why does the number of options in the SFX window vary?
Why didn't I get a full text link for my article?
Why did I go to the journal home page when I clicked on full text and not to the article?

What is The Library Portal?

The Library Portal is a search interface which allows you to search up to eight databases or library catalogues at the same time, and to link from your search to full text resources and other services. Additional features include the ability to select favourite resources and ejournals, save searches and records, and set up email alerts.

The Portal is available to all Murdoch University staff and students.

Yes. Login using your Murdoch Username and Password.

Recommended Browsers for a PC:
Internet Explorer 5.5 or later
Netscape 6.2.3, Netscape 7 or later
Mozilla 1.6 or1.7

Recommended Browsers for a Mac:
With OS 10.3 - Safari 1.2.3
Netscape 7 or later
Opera

Yes. Click on the save icon within a full record to save the record to you computer. Select Citation Manager as the Record Format from the drop-down menu. You can also save records from your e-shelf. Check the boxes next to the records and then click on Selected. Then click on Save and select Citation Manager as the record format. If EndNote is installed on your computer, it will automatically open.  You will be prompted to choose a Reference Library (.enl file) to save the records in.

How many sources can I search at once?

Up to ten sources may be searched at the same time in MetaSearch.

How do I limit searches by year? I want articles from 1990-2000.

Using Advanced search, select Year from the drop-down menu. The hyphen is not recognized by the Portal. To search for multiple years, combine them with OR. For example: 1990 or 1991 or 1992. . .

What's the truncation symbol?

A question mark [?] is used for truncation.  Other truncation symbols may appear to work (depending upon the resources selected) but will not give you complete or accurate search results.

How do I get to the full-text of an article?

In the search results, click on the button to see all the options for a specific citation. If the article is available in full-text format, it will be listed first on the SFX menu.

What is SFX?

SFX allows you to link from a citation in a database within the Library Portal to a list of services for that item.
Click on the SFX button to:

• View the full text of an article online
• Check the Murdoch Library Catalogue to see if we own the item
• Check other library catalogues to see if another WA library owns the item
• Search the Web for the title of an article
• Request help from our Ask a Librarian Service

Different options will be offered, depending upon the citation you select.

How do I use SFX?

SFX is available via the Library Portal.

• Search any database within the Library Portal
• After searching, click on the SFX button. The button will appear on the search results screen, and within individual records. A window will appear listing all the options available for that article.
• Choose the option that interests you by clicking on the icon.

SFX is also available from within a number of databases outside of the Library Portal, including Proquest, Inspec, Web of Science, CSA databases, Webspirs databases, ScienceDirect and Wiley Interscience. Look for the SFX button in your search results.

Why does the number of options in the SFX window vary?

When you click on the SFX button, the system runs through the SFX database to see what services are available for that item. Only those services which are available for that particular item will be displayed.

Why didn't I get a full text link for my article?

There are three possible reasons:

• There is no full-text version available (either for that journal or for specific [usually older] volumes of it).
• Murdoch Library does not own a subscription to that journal in an online format. Check the Murdoch Library Catalogue to see if we own the journal in a different format.
• The database may not be sending SFX the information it needs to find the article. This is a problem with some newspaper titles in some databases.

Why did I go to the journal home page when I clicked on full text and not to the article?

SFX will try to get you as close to the full text as it can. Sometimes the best SFX can do is take you to the table of contents or the journal's home page because of the way a particular publisher has structured its Web site. Essentially a full-text link in SFX means that the full-text is available, but you may have to do some of the work of getting to it yourself.