Quick Guide to Helix, the Library's Catalog

To access Helix:

• Go to the McGoogan Library’s home page, http://www.unmc.edu/library
• Click on “Helix-Library Catalog.” This will take you to the Helix home page.

From the Helix home page you can choose a search option:

Title and Title Word Search Options

• TITLE: If you know the exact TITLE of a book or audiovisual item, you can use TITLE search. Spelling and wording must be exact, although you only need to enter the initial word or words of the title.
• JOURNAL TITLE: Use JOURNAL TITLE search to find McGoogan’s print or electronic journals and to gain access to the full-text of electronic journals.
• KEYWORD: Use KEYWORD search when you know one or more title words or know a word/s that might be in the title of the type of book or AV item you want to use.

Non-Title Search Options

• AUTHOR: Use AUTHOR search if you know the author's or editor's last or full name. Do not search using names of chapter authors or names of article authors!
• MeSH: Use the MeSH search to find appropriate medical subject headings and to find items cataloged under those headings. Think about the topic of the item as a whole. Topics of single chapters and articles are not cataloged.
• CALL NUMBER: Use CALL NUMBER search to see items with call numbers similar to a call number you have already found. Items with similar call numbers will cover closely related topics. Enter only the first part of the call number.
• ISN: If you know the International Standard Book or International Standard Serial Number (ISBN or ISSN) of an item, you can search for that item using the ISN search option. For example, the ISBN for the 16th ed. of the Harriet Lane Handbook is 0323014860. You can find ISBNs for most recently published items using either amazon.com or bn.com.

From the Helix home page you can also choose:

• to browse course reserve lists
• to look at a list of McGoogan’s electronic journals (We recommend using Helix “Journal Title” search to access McGoogan Library’s electronic journals)
• to suggest a Library purchase
• to look at the catalogs of other Libraries

Gaining Access to Electronic Journals through Helix

Searching for a Journal Title

• Access Helix’s Journal Title search through the Helix home page.
• To gain the most complete access to electronic journals, enter the full name for the journal in the journal title search box. Using MEDLINE and CINAHL abbreviations will work when the Library has an individual subscription to a journal but will not retrieve records of electronic journals included in bundled subscriptions.

Interpreting Journal Title Search Results:

• Your search may result in a list of matching journal titles, a single catalog record for the journal, or no matching entries
• If "World Wide Web" access is not mentioned in any of the matching entries, the journal is not available to our customers over the internet.
• If more than one entry indicates "World Wide Web" access, try the entries one at a time. Access dates from different sources may differ.
• If “World Wide Web” access is mentioned with the title you want, click on the title to reach the full record for that journal
• Once you reach the full catalog record for a journal. look at the top of the framed table that appears toward the top of the record. If online access is available, a link to the full-text version will appear toward the top of this table.
• Read the text of the link to the online version carefully.
• The link’s text may specify that the journal of interest is only available from certain locations (usually from UNMC campus computers only).
• The link’s text may indicate that a username/password log-in is required before full-text access is provided.
• Usually the link’s text will just indicate that a full-text version is accessible.

When a username and password are required:

• Click the link in the journal’s catalog record to reach the list of usernames and passwords for all of our journal subscriptions that require usernames and passwords.
• After reaching the username/password list, you can either
• scroll to the title of interest or
• use Ctrl f, enter the journal's full title, and hit "Find Next."
• Record the username and password
• Click on the journal title link in the username/password list to reach the journal web site.

How to find a Journal Article once you reach the Journal’s Home Page:

• Do not select activation links or links for first time users. Librarians activate the Library's online subscriptions; you do not have to deal with those issues.
• You will need to look for a link to the journal contents. These links are usually labelled along the following lines:
• journal contents,
• archives,
• past issues/current issue, or
• search
• After browsing or searching to find the article of interest, you will usually have to select a full-text viewing option
• .pdf documents will include all the images, charts and graphs. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view .pdf documents. Adobe Acrobat Reader is available over the internet as a free download (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html).
• .html documents may exclude some of the images, graphs and/or tables. Some .html articles include these items, but in a miniaturized, thumbnail form. Each thumbnail image must be clicked and printed individually for best viewing.
• After making full-text format selection, you will be asked to enter the username and password if a username/password combination is required.

Access from Off-Campus:

• You will need either a UNMC Lotusnotes-e-mail account or a UNMC LDAP account to gain access to the Library's electronic resources from off-campus.
• Institutional and personal firewalls may cause access problems. If you think you are having firewall issues, please call the reference desk or contact Ann Kaste (akaste@unmc.edu, 559-7088). We may be able to help you.
• Some electronic resources will not work if your computer's security settings exclude cookies.
• Please call the Library Reference Desk 559-62216221 (or toll free outside of Omaha 1-866-800-5209) if you have questions.