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Library Resources for Extension

This website has been especially designed for the faculty and staff of the MSU Extension Service.

Find Books

Find articles from magazines and trade journals

For articles from magazines and trade journals, try the following databases.

Unless otherwise indicated, you must be a current MSU faculty member, staff member, or student to access the resources below.

Find research articles, technical reports, and other research materials

Listed below are databases that you may find useful for agriculture-related research. For a complete listing of all of MSU Libraries' online indexes and databases, click here.

If the MSU Libraries does not provide access to a journal article or other item that you need, you may order it through Interlibrary Loan.

Unless otherwise indicated, you must be a current MSU faculty member, staff member, or student to access the resources below.

Citation Management Software

Learn about programs that allow you to organize your references, format them in a style of your choice, and insert them into a Word document.

Access MSU Libraries' Books

For Extension & Experiment Station Faculty & Staff who work away from the main campus, the Libraries will deliver books to you for free (you are just responsible for returning them).

  1. Use the Online Catalog to find books the library owns.
     
  2. Use the the Place Hold link to request the book you need. 

This is a FREE service for off-campus Extension Service and MAFES personnel. However, to avoid being charged, you must indicate in your ILLiad profile that your Site is "Extension Service" or "Experiment Station".

Access Articles in the Libraries' Print Journals

It is easy to get PDFs of articles in the Libraries' print collections,

1. Log into Interlibrary Loan.

2. Choose the Article link under New Request.

3. Enter the information about the article.

4. For Copy Service, selct "Yes"

This is a FREE service for off-campus Extension Service and MAFES personnel. However, to avoid being charged, you must indicate in your ILLiad profile that your Site is "Extension Service" or "Experiment Station".

Materials not at MSU

Interlibrary Loan

How do I get an article or book that is not available electronically or in print at MSU Libraries?

  1. Check the Online Catalog to confirm that the library does not have the book you need or doesn't provide access to the journal in which the article appears.

  2. Use the Interlibrary Loan option of ILLiad to request that MSU Libraries get the item from another library for you. The service is usually free.

Google Scholar Tips

Google Scholar is a freely available resource, but most publishers do not provide free access to the full text of their journals. The following steps can help you to find the full text articles to which the MSU Libraries subscribe:

  1. When off-campus, first log into the MSU Virtual Private Network before clicking on a database.
    This will give you the same access off-campus as on-campus and will help to ensure that you can access all of the journals that the library subscribes to.
     
  2. Use the link to Google Scholar that is on the library’s website.
     
  3. Click on the title of the article result in Google Scholar
    If the library has paid for the content, you may be able to access it directly. Also, the article may come up if the author has posted it to their website (especially for federal employees). Links to author-posted versions may also appear next to article title.
     
  4. Click on “Find It@MSState Libraries”
    This will pull up the “Find It” screen that you see when searching other databases, such as CAB Abstracts.
     
  5. Search the article title in the Discovery database and click on any full text link or the "Find It" button.