FAQ

1) Why can I find journals in Orbis, but not the articles I need?
2) How far back do the journal archives go?
3) I'm looking for a specific journal, but when I search for it, the journal is not listed. Do you not carry it?
4) I need a specific journal, but you don't subscribe to it. Can the library order it for me?
5) Currently, not all journals appear on the electronic indexes. Will they all eventually be available in this search mode?
6) When will online full-text be fully available? Will it cover all of your journal holdings?
7) Some of the online documents are available in Adobe Acrobat form. How can I view them?
8) I performed a search and found what I am looking for, but it is not in the Periodical Reading Room. Are journal articles located in more than one area in the library?

1) Why can I find journals in Orbis, but not the articles that I need? Orbis, like most catalogs, doesn't include information on the articles included in journals; it only includes information about Yale's holdings of the journals themselves. To identify specific articles that deal with the subject you're interested in, search an index, abstract, or bibliography dealing with the general discipline you're interested in (e.g. history, biology, or political science). For help identifying indexes, see Step 2.

2) How far back do the journal archives go? The older issues of a specific journal:

• May exist in printed, electronic, and microform format at Yale
• May exist in only one format or the other at Yale
• May exist in more than one format at Yale, but each for varying periods of time
• May not be held at Yale.

3) I'm looking for a specific journal, but when I search for it, the journal is not listed. Do you not carry it? Yale doesn't subscribe to every journal, so it's possible that we don't own the title you're looking for. Before deciding this is the case, however, e-mail a reference question, or ask in person at the Reference Desk in any Yale library for assistance with searching Orbis.

4) I need a specific journal, but you don't subscribe to it. Can the library order it for me? Yes. Yale offers an interlibrary loan service through many of its libraries. Register online here to use this service the first time.
Look for Yale Links in database search results to link to interlibrary loan services.You'll need to supply information about the specific article you want.

5) Why don't all journals appear on the electronic indexes? You're right! Not all journals are currently indexed by electronic indexes. The decision to index a specific journal is a decision made by the producer of a particular index, so it's entirely possible that a given journal isn't indexed in a particular index. In fact, a particular journal title may not be indexed at all. Note that this isn't the same question as "Is the full-text of this journal available?"

6) When will online full-text be fully available? Will it cover all of your journal holdings? This is a difficult question to answer since it depends on several things. First, whether the journal publisher wants to make full-text electronic text available and whether it's economically feasible for them to do so. Second, over what period it's feasible for them to make it available. And finally, whether the cost to Yale to provide access in that format makes it economical for us to subscribe in that format.

7) Some of the online documents are available in Adobe Acrobat form. How can I view them? To view these documents on your own computer, you'll need to download the free Adobe Acrobat reader from the Adobe website <http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html>. This reader is already installed on all Library workstations and will be opened automatically when you access a Portable Document Format (PDF) article.

8) I performed a search and found what I am looking for, but it is not in the Periodical Reading Room. Are journal articles located in more than one area in the library? Yes, journal articles may be found in many areas of the library.

If the title is located in Sterling:

• Both the current (i.e. unbound) issues and the bound volumes of the journal may be in the Periodical Reading Room (see Newsweek, Current Issues and Library Has)
• The current issues may be in the Periodical Reading Room, but the bound volumes shelve in the Sterling stacks (see Business Week,Current Issues and Library Has)
• The current issues may be in the Periodical Reading Room, but the most recent bound volumes shelve in one of Sterling's specialized reading rooms, such as the Philosophy Study (see the American Philosophical Quarterly, Library Has)
• We may no longer subscribe to the journal or the journal may have ceased publication, so there are no current issues, and the bound volumes shelve in the Sterling stacks, LSF (Library Shelving Facility) and/or are available on microfilm
• There may be second, third, or fourth copies of some bound volumes available in one of Sterling's specialized reading rooms, such as the Andrews Study (see the American Historical Review)
• The journal may not be found in Sterling and may be found in more than one library on campus (see Molecular Cell)