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SuperSearch: Known Issues

Information and guides to help you use SuperSearch at Cowles Library

Known problems with SuperSearch and any workarounds are noted on this page.

Linking to Articles from PubMed

Issue: When using the "Check for Full Text @ Drake" link in PubMed, the resulting links to available full text sometimes take you to the journal's index of issues, rather than directly to the article's full text. This is true for New England Journal of Medicine, but may also happen with other journals.

The reason this happens is that PubMed does not provide a necessary field in the "Check for Full Text" link, so SuperSearch isn't able to find a match at the article level.

Workaround: We've added a "DOI Link" for articles like these. DOI stands for "Digital Object Identifier," and because each article has its own unique DOI, the DOI Link should take you directly to the full text article.

SuperSearch links to the wrong EBSCO article

Issue: For some EBSCO articles, SuperSearch links to the wrong full text article. This happens when more than one article appears on the same page of the same issue of a journal or magazine. EBSCO does not provide accurate data in this situation, and SuperSearch retrieves only the first matching article on the page.

Workaround: Unfortunately, until EBSCO fixes their data, you will need to browse the journal's index of issues by searching for the journal title in Journal Finder.

"View all versions" only displays one version

Issue: Occasionally, search results will appear with a "View all versions" button, but when you click the button, only one version is displayed.

This issue has to do with the agreement the SuperSearch vendor (Ex Libris) has with publishers and content providers. Some journals are indexed by multiple providers, and Ex Libris is contractually obligated to include them all. The "View all versions" situation arises when an article is indexed in multiple sources, but Drake only subscribes to one of them.

Workaround: No workaround is required. Ex Libris is aware of this issue and is working on a solution.