Biomedical & Life Sciences

This guide is designed to connect you to biological research resources available to you through the library. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or would like to schedule a research consultation.

• 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 (three horizontal bars)
  • Click Settings
  • Then Library Links
  • Search for Brown, and check the box next to "Brown University - Find It @ Brown Full Text"
  • Click Save.

If you want to connect to full text no matter where you are online, you can install the LibKey browser extension. LibKey Nomad provides one-click article access to library subscriptions. The same "Download PDF" button shows across different platforms - from subscription library databases like JSTOR, to open databases like PubMed and Google Scholar, publisher journal pages, and even Wikipedia references. 

Since it's connected to your browser, you don't have to go through the library website or be logged in to Brown's network to be linked back to our subscriptions. If we don't have the PDF, it will bring you to a page to request an interlibrary loan of the article.

It doesn't require a user account, does not cache user credentials, and does not sell or share user data.

To install:

• Visit www.LibKeyNomad.com
• Click "Add to Chrome"
• Select Brown from the drop down menu.