What if you need an article from a journal that is not listed in the University of Alabama catalog? The text might be available in an electronic database such as Academic Search Elite. JAKE, an acronym for Jointly Administered Knowledge Environment, is a tool for finding journals within electronic databases. JAKE was developed by the Yale University School of Medicine, but is not limited to medical topics. It can help you access full text articles and citations in roughly 23,000 journals contained in 194 electronic databases. JAKE does not contain the actual articles or citations, but will point you to an electronic database that does. It can save searching time and give you access to journals that the University of Alabama does not carry in printed form.
JAKE can be accessed on the Libraries’ database list or on the World Wide Web at http://jake-db.org/. JAKE is a free service to anyone who needs it, and you don’t need a password. Before beginning your JAKE search, you will need the journal title and date of the article you want to find.
When you reach the JAKE web site, type in the journal or database name in the designated space. Abbreviations and ISSN (an identifying number for journals) can be used instead of the full journal name. If you don’t know parts of the title, you can substitute an asterisk for the missing portion. For example, "Reference and User * Quarterly" will find "Reference and User Services Quarterly."
If you have a complete citation for an article, you may also type in the volume, issue, page, and year. JAKE can complete the search with only the journal title, but additional information will improve your results. After typing in this information, hit the search button. The next screen will present a list of options. For instance, a search for the journal Reference and User Services Quarterly will result in a screen with the following information:
Reference and User Services Quarterly
The above display tells you the number of databases that index the journal or
contain full text articles. For example, Reference and User Services Quarterly
is indexed in 17 databases and nine databases have it in full text. Before 1997,
Reference and User Services Quarterly was known as RQ. The display
shows that RQ is indexed by 27 databases and seven databases have it
in full text.
Click "complete details" under the name of the journal you are seeking. The next screen will display a list of databases containing citations or full text articles from the journal you specified. The dates of coverage can be found in a column next to the list of databases. A "+" means that the database contains citations or full text articles, but the dates of coverage are unknown.
Minimize the screen displaying the list of databases. Click on the University of Alabama Libraries homepage icon, or open http://www.lib.ua.edu in a new web browser. Click on "Databases." You can then search for specific databases by clicking on the first letter of the database name. If UA subscribes to the database, enter the database and type in information about the specific article that you need. (Please note that is JAKE says that a journal is available in "EBSCO online citations" then the journal may be available by going to www.lib.ua.edu, clicking "Resources", and selecting "e-journals") If UA doesn’t subscribe to the database you need, ask a librarian. We will be happy to help you.
Special note:
JAKE is a work in progress, and from time to time the site experiences technical difficulties. If you have trouble accessing the site, try visiting http://jake.med.yale.edu.