Getting Started
New to Brown University Library? Here are the basics.
Electronic Resource Access
On Campus
- Use Brown's secure wireless network (not Brown-Guest). Log in with your Brown username and password when prompted.
Off Campus
- Most of our resources are accessible through a proxy link. This means that the authentication process is embedded in the link you'll click from the library website (you may have to enter your Brown username and ID, and follow the Shibboleth login process).
- If you are working off-campus, you may want to log in to Brown's VPN. This will enable you to access resources that explicitly do not authenticate with our proxy link (such as Sci Finder, or CRC Handbook). This should also enable you to access full text subscription by IP, for instance, if you go directly to a journal article that we subscribe to.
Linking to Full Text from Research Databases
- You should see a Find It! button in most databases which will connect you to subscription access to full text (if we have it), or a way to request a copy or loan (if we don't have it).
- If you aren't seeing this icon, you may not be authenticated to the database via Brown. For example, PubMed is freely accessible to all. However, if you simply go to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed, you won't see the Find It button. You would need to access Brown's URL for PubMed, which is linked from our website, or at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?myncbishare=brownu.
- Although there are slight variations in color/size/placement between databases, the icon looks like this:
- If you use Google Scholar, it is possible to configure your account to show the Find It link next to search results, no matter where you are. To do so:
- Log into your Google Scholar account
- Click the options menu in the top left hand corner:
- Click Settings
- Then Library Links
- Search for Brown, and check the box next to "Brown University - Find It @ Brown Full Text"
- Click Save.
Requesting Copies or Loans
Articles
- The most simple way of requesting a copy of an article is to find the article in a Brown database (like PubMed, or Web of Science), and then use the Find It button to submit a request.
- If you can't link to an article via Find It, use ILLiad to submit a request.
Books
- Use EasyBorrow to search and request from a worldwide catalog of books.
