Literature Search

Google Scholar is a search engine which can be used to look up references from scientific literature of multiple disciplines.
Its advantages are its large database and an algorithm leading to a useful hit list.

The disadvantages are a poor filtering functionality and a lack of quality assessment regarding the listed items. It is difficult to narrow down search results to a specific academic discipline.

The hit list is generated automatically, using formal criteria only.

The academic search engine Google Scholar presents you articles from e-journals and printed media, both with and without a need to pay for access.
Through the linking service SFX, search results from Google Scholar are linked with licensed electronically available media from the University Library Erlangen-Nürnberg (UB), as well as printed media.

Google Scholar has to be set up and personalized for your use:
Access the subpoint „Settings“ via the menu symbol.
There, click on „Library links“.
Enter „Erlangen“ into the textbox.
Select „Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg SFX@UB_FAU“, then „save“ the selection.

• With articles from journals that the library has a license for, clicking the SFX button leads directly to the full text. This also works from home if you’ve identified yourself as a member of FAU via VPN.
• With books, clicking the SFX button (which can be hard to find at first) will lead directly to the catalogue of the UB.

Usually, the catalogue presents you links leading directly to the webpages of the books‘ publishers. If you as user are allowed to view the text, is determined through your IP address. This means you have to be within the University Network to access e-books.
As a member of Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), you can do so using a VPN client. After logging onto the VPN you can access the full text by clicking the link from the catalogue.

Alternatively, you can use the Database Information System (DBIS) to look for e-books. At DIBS, you can access e-books from outside the University Network by clicking the link written next to Weitere lizensierte Zugänge (Other licensed access). Log in using your UB-ID or library card number and your password.

The catalogue lists the media available at the University Library of Erlangen-Nürnberg (UB).

Primo Discovery

• offers a way to look for scientific papers, monographies, and other scientific resources, at times with access to electronic full texts.
• contains different sources of data besides UB-licensed databases and electronic media.

Primo Discovery is suited for searching publications that are offered at the UB with full-text access to.

For a specific and thematic literature research, we recommend researching the catalogue, databases, and bibliographies.

Databases offer the possibility to look for information independently of the stack available at the University Library of Erlangen-Nürnberg (UB).
Depending on the database, you will find books, articles, and essays on different fields of study, when indicated also with access to the electronic full text.
If you look for books or journals available at the UB, it is best to use the catalogue.
If you look for literature concerning a certain topic independently of its availablity at a library, use a database.

If you know the title and/or the author of a work, enter these key words into their respective fields (Title Words and/or Author).

Hint: If you don’t need a specific edition, leave out the year of publication when entering your key words. By doing this, you will increase the probability to find suitable hits.

At the catalogue, specific literature research is possible using title and/or keyword search.

Using the field Free search, you can look for title and subject headings at the same time, without determining if you meant the title of the work or its concerning topic (Subject Heading).

• A Title Word is a word that has to be included in the book’s title, meaning it is written in its respective language and grammatically correct form.
  Abbreviations can also be used marked with the truncation mark *, for example automat* can be used to find hits such as automat, automatic, automatisch …
• A Subject Heading is a normed term (mostly in German and in singular form) that descibes the content of the medium, independently of its title.
  For example: Using the subject heading “tropischer Regenwald”, you will find a book called “Brazil and climate change”.

Each hit in the catalogue will show you what options you have for loaning and ordering. The most important options are:

• available for loan: This is for media that you can pick up from the shelves by yourself. After picking up, you can lend them at a circulation desk.
• for order: This is for media that are stored at a stack or are currently at other locations. To obtain them, you have to order them at first. They will then – after a certain amount of time that will be displayed to you during ordering – be ready for you to pick them up at the location you chose. Please mind the notes regarding Intralibrary Loan.
• not for loan: This is for media that has to be present at the library at all times, and thus cannot be borrowed by anyone. These media can only be read within the reading room. If you would like to, it may be possible for you to copy some pages out of them.
• available for loan, see in which branch via “copies” in detailed view: This is for media that is neither available at the location you have chosen nor possible to be ordered to your location. Therefore, you have to visit the location of the medium by yourself.

The shelfmark indicates the exact location of a book within the library collection. It consists of letters and/or numbers, and is usually generated following this rule:
Location (separated from the rest by a slash /) + book-specific part
The first „location“ part shows you at which library you can find the medium.

Examples for shelfmarks at the University Library Erlangen-Nürnberg (UB):
H00/2007 A 1236 (Location: Main Library, Stack)
T35/2000-54 (Location: Science and Technology Branch Library, Dissertations)
10GB/WT 1004 B959 (Location: Biology Departmental Library)

For information on all the locations at the UB and where to find them, please refer to Locations & Opening Hours.

The shelfmark is usually applied to the back of the book.

If searching our catalogue did not offer a satisfactory result to you, you have the possibility of expanding your search to supraregional catalogues, such as Gateway Bayern, the union catalogue of the Bavarian Library Network. If looking there gives you a good result, you can request a interlibrary loan. A detailed manual on this can be found on the help pages of Gateway Bayern.
You can expand your search via these regional and national catalogues.

If you are looking for subject-specific information on a particular topic, we recommend using the database information system DBIS.

• In the catalogue, you will find articles from many electronic ressources licensed by the library, as well as others. Access the tab Primo Discovery after having entered search terms into the catalogue.
• If you are looking for articles on a specific topic, we recommend to first start looking in databases and bibliographies.
  In case you have not researched in a database that provides full texts, you can look afterwards if a paper of a certain journal is available at the catalogue, or at the Electronic Journals Library (EZB). If the University Library (UB) owns a license to the respective journal, you should be able to access it from there.
• Are you looking for a certain paper from a certain journal and want to know if it is available at the UB?
  Start by looking at the catalogue or at the Electronic Journals Library (EZB) using the title of the journal to see if the UB owns the volume in question or has it licensed.

Using the following link: Databases – Database Information System (DBIS)
There you can find all the databases with descriptions, annotations for using and how to access them.

Often, databases do not provide full texts to read. Therefore, look for the respective medium in our catalogue afterwards or in the Electronic Journal Library (EZB).
Many databases are directly connected to the catalogue through the SFX button.

SFX is a linking service that connects databases for literature research to databases that offer full texts of media, tables of content, bibliographic data and else.
Thus, SFX offers possibilities for further literature research, for example links to other search engines, research services of other catalogues, or links to fee-based document delivery services, such as Subito.
For more information, please consult the SFX page. If you have questions, please contact the team at SFX.

E-journals are listed in the catalogue of the University Library (UB) and the Electronic Journal Library (EZB).

Researching the catalogue has the advantage of possibly also finding printed editions available at the UB as well. Only fully available e-journals at the UB are listed in the catalogue, the EZB also lists journals that are only partly accessable or not accessable. Oftentimes, you then can find a table of contents or an abstract.
Please keep in mind that in the catalogue, there are more than one URL listed. For ease of use, simply click on the button Volltext to access a journal.

The Electronic Journal Library (EZB) offers quick, structured and uniform access to scientific full text journals. To what degree you have access to the journals is marked through a system of traffic light symbols.
Titles the UB has a license for are marked yellow. Please also consult the respective readme in such a case. It will inform you how to access the electronic full texts.
Licensed journals are mostly only available within the network of the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg.

If you have questions or problems accessing a specific journal, ask a librarian.

For seminars, lectures, and such, the University Library reserves and compiles a set of media for the lecturer. This is called a Semesterapparat. They are usually available at the departmental library that the lecturer is from, for example a lecturer for pedagogy orders a Semesterapparat at the Departmental Library Educational Science, Philosophy, Psychology.

Usually, Semesterapparate are available for the course of a semester. Its books are not for loan and are marked accordingly in the catalogue as well.

For further information, please consult a librarian.