Search multiple databases simultaneously

Google Scholar

Google Scholar indexes content from many databases, ejournal providers and publishers, academic repositories and other sources, including many of the sources provided to Virginia Tech through library subscriptions. (Google Scholar does not, however, state which sources are included or how often they are updated, though you can see results from many academic publishers and societies in the search results.)

Because Google Scholar indexes material from so many sources, it can be a great tool for cross-discipline research. The disadvantage to Google Scholar is that it does not offer advanced search options available in most databases: searching by subject terms, limiting to certain publications, limiting by date ranges, etc. Google Scholar is therefore great for initial, broad searches, while more in depth, refined searches can be performed later in subject-specific databases.

Since Google Scholar has indexed material from publisher sites, the default links it provides to full text articles point to these publisher sites. The University Libraries may instead have access to the article in question from another source. Or you may have searched Google Scholar from outside the campus network, so the direct link to the full text article does not identify you as a member of the Virginia Tech community. The common result in either case is that the full text provider asks you to pay for the article. This is almost never necessary.

The easiest solution is to set the Google Scholar preferences to use the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - Get VText option for Library Links. Simply search for Virginia Polytechnic in the Library Links box on the preferences page. Selecting that option will enable a Get VText button next to each entry in your search results, which will then look up access options (online or in print) or give a quick link to request the item through interlibrary loan. None of these options will cost you money.