Find it Fast! How to use Primo Ewan Grant and Janet Mackay Information Advisers 2015/16
In the next hour you will Find out what the Libraries at UoA contain Find out what Primo is and why you should use it Find out why you cannot just use Google Find out how Primo is arranged Find specific books and journal articles Find books and some journal articles on a subject Find e-books Find and link to academic databases and understand why you should
University Libraries explained Quality academic collections in paper and online Physical items in our buildings and stores Online items bought from publishers of high-quality academic e-resources Different ways to search different types of material Primo is the 1 st place to start searching Google cannot search these items. It just can t.
What is Primo? Web-based tool to search our physical and online library collections The 1st place to begin your searching at UoA Primo SEARCHES what we have TELLS you WHERE it is Then LINKS you to it Primo has limitations which we will tell you about in this workshop Primo available from our website /library Primo Guide available from our collection of online Library Guides /library/support/guides
Where is Primo? 1. Go to /library 2. Scroll down 3. Can Search Our Collections here very basic We Recommend selecting Advanced Search to allow you to make use of all of Primo s features
What does Primo actually search? PRIMO can search Physical Collections Books Journals Over 500 years of collecting books Online Collections > 200 Academic Databases SDRL Taylor Medical Special Collections Centre, Archives & Museums e-books e-journals Off campus book stores Other e-resources
Primo helps you find things faster
Primo helps you choose the best online collections for the subjects you are studying
However - Primo does not search this range of materials completely. More on this soon
But - importantly...
You will NOT find all you need If you only use Google. You need to use Primo to find the books on the shelves and link out to online collections
Why Google is not good enough Physical Collections Google does not search our physical collections Google does not search the vast majority of our online collections Google has very limited search features Online Collections University Libraries and Academic Databases guarantee high quality of contents Google does not guarantee the quality of webpages and leaves you to do that evaluation do you have the time?
Primo Simple Search Screen explained Search area arranged into 4 different tabs for different types of material Important you select the tab most appropriate to what you are looking for
Primo Advanced Search Screens explained The different tabs in Primo have slightly different Advanced Search screens. Each has different ways in which you can focus your search
Using the correct tab will help you find things faster
Infographic Helps Explain The Tabs
All Collections
Broad search but with limited usefulness GOOD if you are starting a general search GOOD if you have a specific Book or Ebook to search for GOOD if you have a specific Journal Title or Journal Article to search for Finds so many results it can be hard to find what you want NOT GOOD if you are doing a comprehensive search of all literature on a subject You will NOT really find everything we have at UoA searching from here need to link out to Academic Databases Still NOT searching across full-text
All Collections is not always the fastest way to find what you need
Books+
Primo searches via: o Title of book, Ebook or Journal o Author of Book or Ebook CANNOT look for Journal Articles o The Subjects of Books, Ebooks and Journal Titles o A short description of items No full-text searching with Primo Keep search terms general when searching Primo
Books+ is the fastest way to find the books you need
Articles+
Primo can search via: o o o o Title of Ebook or Journal Article Author of Ebook or Journal Article The Subjects of Ebooks and Journal Articles A short description of items CANNOT look for Books on shelves in our Libraries Museum and Archive Materials No full-text searching of Online Collections with Primo Limited search tab it does NOT search all Online Collections incomplete results
Articles+ will help you find lots of items in our online collections but not all of them
Course Reading This is of limited use Inconsistent coverage across different courses and subjects MyAberdeen is a much better place to look for your course readings and then search for them in Primo
Planning and Search Rules help you find what you want faster
Important to plan your search Do not type your essay question directly into Primo Think about the topics involved Break your search down into short words or phrases Search rules important and useful phrase searching heart attack both words must appear together in that order * truncation econ* finds economy, economies, economic, economics etc? Wildcard wom&n finds woman and women Be aware of differences between U.K. and U.S. spelling and include both.? Wildcard useful here Boolean Operators AND / OR / NOT Search rules available from Primo s help pages link at top of screen
Login to Primo before you search 1. Click Login 2. Enter UoA username and password 3. Once logged in you will see your own name Logging into Primo is important when you are off campus.
To find a specifc book use Books+
Finding a specific book We are going to search for: Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2012) Research methods for business students. 6 th edn. Harlow: Pearson 1. Select Books+ tab, enter search terms and select Search 3. Select View 5 Versions for more info 2. Correct book at top of results
Finding a specific book 1. Five different editions are listed from different years. The newest edition is at top of results list 2. Select Availability to see where on the shelves the book is
Finding a specific book + booking a Heavy Demand Item 1. Two copies of this book are available in Heavy Demand in the Sir Duncan Rice Library 2. Select Heavy Demand Booking if you want to reserve this, up to three weeks in advance 3. Select the day you want it, and the time slot. There is only ever one time slot. 4. Select Request to complete the booking 5. Please cancel any bookings made which you no longer want. We will show you how to do this near the end of workshop.
To find books on a subject use Books+
Finding any books on a subject 1. Select the Books+ tab and then Advanced Search 2. The Advanced Search screen has more options for searching 3. You can focus your search by Date, Material Type and Search Scope For Search Scope select Libraries to only see results from our Modern Collections
Finding books on a subject Example assignment: Compare and analyse human resource management issues in multinational corporations Using alternative words broadens your search and could return more results. Keep the search terms general as Primo only searches Title, Author, Subject and a Short Description. The other search rules will improve your search even more.
Use the refine and sort options in Primo The options for refining your results are located down the left of the results list. These are very helpful suggestions for ways in which you can filter your result. The suggestions given are relevant to the search you have already started. These options are available no matter which tab you are searching from
Finding books on a subject 1. To only see books on shelves select Available in the Library 2. Click Availability for more information on copies available 3. There is one copy of this book, on floor 5 of SDRL, at 658.1599 KRA and it is a 4 week loan
Finding books on a subject 1. To go back and see ebooks as well as items Available in the library click the X next to top level: Available in the Library 2. You will then be taken back to your initial results list
How to find ebooks on a subject
Finding e-books on a subject 1. Select Full Text Online to only see ebooks 2. Select the title of the ebook to link out to it. You may be asked for your UoA username and password 3. Once linked out to the ebook there are different ways in which you can use it, depending on the supplier of the ebook
There is a better way to search our ebooks
Best way to search for e-books 1. Select Find Databases 2. Click dropdown arrow next to Category and select General Interest 3. Click dropdown arrow next to Sub-Category and select Ebook collections 4. Click Find databases and a list of 25 ebook collections will appear in the Database results tab 5. Click Show Info to learn more about individual collections 6. Click on name of the ebook collection to link out to it. You will probably be asked for your UoA username and password Once on ebook collections you can often search across full-text, but not always. We do not have access to everything contained in each ebook collection
To find a specific journal article use Articles+
Finding a specific journal article Searching for Arsalidou, D. (2012) Shareholders and corporate scrutiny: the role of the UK stewardship code European Company and Financial Law Review, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp.342-379
Finding a specific journal article
Finding a specific journal article If you cannot find a specific article searching in Articles+ you should: 1. Select Books+ tab 2. Search for the Journal Title, not Article Title. 3. If Journal Title available online Primo will tell you where and link you to it. 4. You can then browse online version until you find the article you want 5. It may be that we only have it in paper, not online. 6. SFX tab will tell you about Journal availability both online or in paper
Use Articles+ to find some journal articles on a subject
Finding any journal article on a subject 1. Select the Articles+ tab This is of limited use 2. Select Advanced Search 3. Enter your search terms then click search 4. At the top of the results list select Full Text Online to only see those articles we have access to
Finding any journal articles on a subject 1. Select SFX under the article you are interested in reading. 2. Then select Open source in a new window
Finding any journal article on a subject 1. The SFX window will open. 2. Click Go to link out to the provider of the electronic article. There may be more than one provider listed. 3. If no full text is available select Go next to Search in Primo. This will search to see if we have a paper version of the journal in which the article is published
This is not the best way to find ALL our Journal Articles
The best way to search all Online Collections is to use Primo to link out to Academic Databases
and then do your searches there
Finding Academic Databases Searching directly in academic databases will give you much more results You will often be searching across full text so can use more focused search terms You have many more search options in academic databases Academic databases should be used in years 3 and 4 and if you are a taught postgraduate, or earlier if you want really good marks
Finding Academic Databases 1. Click dropdown arrow next to Category and select Social Sciences 2. Click dropdown arrow next to Sub-Category and select Education 5. Click Show Info to learn more about individual academic databases 3. Click Find databases and a list appears of 49 academic databases containing Education resources will appear in the Database results tab 6. Click on the name of the academic database to link out to it. You will probably be asked for your UoA username and password Once on academic databases you can often search across full-text, but not always. We do not have access to everything contained in each academic database.
What about the All Collections tab? Worth using but understand that it will bring back thousands and thousands of results Will need to use the filtering options to drill down to the type of information you want Not the most efficient way to search across our collections using the Books+ and Articles+ tabs is a better approach to take
More on My Account Once logged into Primo you can select My Account to see information on your library account Once you are in My Account you can see books you have on loan and renew them if you need to. You can also see books you have previously had on loan. To cancel any bookings or requests you may have on books select Requests. From here you can see any bookings you may have made and cancel them.
Help and Advice Library web pages: /library Search using Primo: http://primo.abdn.ac.uk Library Guide: Primo a Quick Guide: /library/documents/guides/pri/qgp ri001.pdf Information Consultants: /library/ic/index.shtml IT Service Desk (IT access problems) Tel. 01224-273636 (also Out of Hours number) MyIT Portal http://myit.abdn.ac.uk