Using the Online Research Resources (ORR) Page

What is the ORR?

The Online Research Resources (ORR) page serves as the entry point for the University of Illinois Library's electronic resources. The ORR can be accessed through the Library Gateway by clicking the link entitled Online Research Resources. The ORR is divided into four basic categories:

Each of these categories can be selected by clicking on the appropriate tab at the top of the ORR page.

ORR notated

Each resource category has three similar search options: Search Titles, Browse Alphabetically, and select Subjects.

Article Indexes & Abstracts

Use this category to find article indexes and abstracts that contain citations from multiple journals. Article indexes and abstracts are a good place to search if you have a topic in mind, but no specific citations. Some article indexes and abstracts focus on specific disciplines, while others are more general in their coverage. The level of full-text content will vary. Article Indexes & Abstracts contains three search options:

Finding specific article indexes and abstracts
Browsing article indexes and abstracts
Locating article indexes and abstracts by subject:

Journals & Newspapers

Use this category to find individual electronic journals and newspapers. Each electronic journal will contain some full-text coverage, but may not cover all the years of a journal's existence or even all articles within a given issue. Journals & Newspapers has the same three search options as Article Indexes & Abstracts.

If you can’t find the e-journal you need, please keep in mind that many journals are still only available on paper. Try the UIUC Online Catalog, or Ask A Librarian.

Reference Tools

Use this category to find electronic reference tools such as encyclopedias and directories. Another source for reference tools through the Illinois Library is the Online Reference Collection.

All Resources

Use this category to search through all online resources. This is especially helpful when you are not sure which specific category a particular resource falls under. Your total number of results, however, will generally be greater than with similar searches in other categories. All Resources also contains a unique search feature called Resource Collections. See below for further information. All Resources contains four search options:

Finding any specific title:

Go to the Online Research Resources page, available from the library’s home page.
On the Online Research Resources page, select the All Resources tab at the top of the page.
In the Search All Online Resource Titles box, type in the title of the resource that you need and click the Search button. See Searching by Title for more information on this search option.

Browsing all titles:

A second option is to use the Browse All Online Resources Alphabetically feature. To browse:

Select the letter or number that the resource title begins with.
Locate the resource by scrolling through the resulting alphabetical list of resources.

Locating any resource by subject:

You can also look through a list of resources on a particular subject. To do this:

Scroll down to All Online Resource Subjects.
Select the best match from the subject headings and click it. You should now see an alphabetical list of electronic resources in that subject area.
To view electronic resources from multiple subject areas concurrently, first check the Use Multiple Subjects box. Next, check the box beside each relevant subject. Finally, click Browse selected subjects together.

Locating resources by collection title:

The All category also contains a Resource Collections search option. This is located at the bottom of the screen. Resource Collections groups journals and other resources by vendor collection. For example, by selecting EBSCO Business Source Premier from the drop-down box, one can view a listing of the over 5,000 individual journals contained within that collection.

Interpreting Your Results

Things to keep in mind about your search results:

Some journals will be available full-text from multiple sources. When selecting, note the years of coverage that each source provides. The ORR is designed so that the journal version that is most frequently accessed by users will appear first on the results list. This will often be the version that provides the best level of access and coverage.
The right side of each journal entry (and some reference tools) will tell you if the library has (or had) a print or microform subscription to the journal. If so, there will be a link to the online catalog record. This is especially helpful for locating older issues that have not been digitized.
Every resource has an About link beside its title. The About link provides additional information about each resource including descriptions, subject headings, etc. There is also a link for reporting access problems.
Many online resources are available off-campus only to persons affiliated with Illinois. In those cases, off-campus users will often be required to enter their Illinois NetID and Password to gain access. Most Illinois online resources can be readily accessed through on-campus computers. If you have any access problems please Ask A Librarian.

Searching by Title

When performing a title search in any of the search categories, you are given three options:

Title Keywords:

Title Keywords enables you to locate resources using partial titles. For instance, typing the terms"biological chemistry" results in multiple resources that include those two keywords such as the Journal of Biological Chemistry and the Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry. Note also that the order of the terms doesn't matter, "chemistry biological" retrieves the same results as "biological chemistry."

Start of Title:

Start of Title is designed to search for resources that begin with the terms that you enter and in the order that you enter them. Accordingly, if you wanted to locate the Journal of American History a search for "journal of american" retrieves this title (and other journals starting with those words), but a search for "american history" or "journal of history" does not.

Title Abbreviations:

Title Abbreviations allows you to search for resources using official or unofficial abbreviations of the title (e.g. j biol chem). This is especially useful when attempting to locate journals that have been cited in abbreviated form in endnotes or footnotes. As a general rule, letters and words must be entered in the order in which they occur in the title. For example, searching for "j biol chem" results in The Journal of Biological Chemistry and the Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, but entering "jrnl biol chem" or "j chem biol" returns zero results. Also note that results may include more, but not less, terms than those entered. In the preceding example, for instance, "j biol chem" returned multiple results, but "j biol in chem" only retrieves the Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry.

Reporting a Problem with a Resource

If you have trouble accessing an electronic resource through the library's Online Research Resources, you can report it directly to Electronic Resources Support by clicking on the "i" icon next to the resource's name and then clicking on "Report an access problem with this specific resource." Please be as specific as possible in your report and describe the precise problem that you are having.

Getting Additional Help

If you have questions about Online Research Resources, please use the Ask A Librarian service.

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