Library Guides: Online and off-campus support for teaching staff: Finding e-books & e-journal articles @ MP

Subject databases

Are you aware of the suite of databases available to Melbourne Polytechnic staff and students?

The library has subscriptions to many databases covering subjects including

business & company information
engineering
music
plant identification
Australian standards

For a complete list of databases available, check out this link or select Databases A-Z on the Library webpage.

FindIt@: iPhone, iPad, & Android

FindIt@ can be used on Android and IOS smartphones and devices

All Android and iOS smartphones and tablets are auto-detected and automatically directed to the mobile EBSCOhost website
However, iPads are an exception, and are directed to the full desktop version

FindIT@: Melbourne Polytechnic library's search engine

Melbourne Polytechnic Library offers not only physical resources (eg. books, videos and journals) but the majority of resources are available through carefully selected databases which provide access to quality journal articles, newspapers, videos and ebooks.

The library's search engine, Findit, has the capacity to search online content and return results that you need. The library's guide to Findit, and how to effectively search and retrieve information is the best place to start when looking for resources within the library. If you need assistance, library staff are always available to help!

Step by Step

Begin at the FindIT search box at: library.melbournepolytechnic.edu.au
1. Enter your search terms (1) and click Find (2).

At the top of the results screen, log in using your username and password.

(Don't forget that your username is your student or staff number. Look for it on your ID card.)

Your password is your regular Melbourne Polytechnic password.
If you're not sure what that password is, check with your campus library.

If you need your password reset call ICT on 9269 8488

Review your results list by looking for relevance in the items you've found.

1. Check titles: are they what you need?
2. Check subjects: do they match the information you hope to find?
3. Check publication information: is it recent enough for you?
4. Check the size of your results list: is it too large?

Also check the formats of the items in your list: are there books, academic articles, or other types of publication? Are they suitable for your purposes?

If you decide that the contents of your search results list meets your needs, start selecting individual items from the list.
However, if you are not satisfied with the quality or usefulness of items in your search results list, try the strategies on the Refine Results page.

There are numerous techniques that you might employ to refine your list of search results. These include:

Reviewing your chosen keywords: are there other ways of expressing, in words, what you are searching for?
Limiting the date-range of your results: perhaps you might look for articles published within the past five years, or so?
Limiting to publication type: consider if there is a specific publication type that will benefit you - book, journal, report?
Do you know of any important authors in your subject? Ask around ... find out, then search for works written by this person.

These, and other techniques for refining your FindIT search can be found on the Refine Results page of this LibGuide.

The FindIT folder enables you to print, email or save details for any of the items listed in your FindIT search results.

The FindIT folder sits in the blue toolbar in the top right-half of the search results screen.

Notice that to the right of each entry in your search result list is a blue folder icon (with a + sign on it). Select this icon each time you wish to add an individual search result to the FindIT folder in the toolbar at top of screen.

For more information on managing results saved in folder, go to the Manage your Results page of this LibGuide.