Library Databases

What Nomad Does

Nomad connects you to scholarly sources in Normandale Library's online collection as you browse the web. Look for the green droplet icon.

Scholarly publisher websites: When an article is available from our library databases, Nomad appears and links you directly to the article.

PubMed: Nomad links appear in the search results. There's an article link and a link to the whole journal issue the article appeared in, so you can discover theme issues and related editorials.

Wikipedia: Nomad buttons appear in the References section when possible.

Google Scholar: You will see links to Normandale library databases in your search results — even when you are off campus or didn't access Google Scholar through the library website. Look for the "Article @ Normandale Lib." links.

Interlibrary loan options: If Nomad doesn't have a direct link to an article, you'll see an Access Options button that links to Normandale's Library Search result for the article. You can sign in with your StarID and request we get you the article from another library (interlibrary loan).

Reminders about library access: Nomad displays messages on some of your favorite paywalled newspaper and magazine websites that take you directly to those same publications in our databases. In some cases, if you reach a publisher site or database without authenticating through the library website first, Nomad will prompt you to login with your StarID so you can access the library's subscription. After logging in, you will be seamlessly returned to the page you came from.

How Nomad Works and Its Privacy Protections

Build with privacy in mind: You don't need an account to use it, and it doesn't store any credentials. The extension does not collect user data. Nomad is only active on certain websites that are likely to have content that overlaps with the library's collection.

How Nomad works: When you are on one of those sites, Nomad scans the page looking for the ISBNs of some books and the DOIs or PubMed IDs of scholarly articles. Nomad compares the article and book identifiers it finds to what we have in our online collection and what is available through open access agreements. A Nomad button appears if it finds a match. Nomad only runs after the page loads, so it takes several seconds for a Nomad button to appear.

Nomad's Limitations

We think the LibKey Nomad extension is pretty neat, but it isn't perfect.

We have lots more online library content than what Nomad links to.

Book ISBNs and article DOIs might not be displayed on webpages. Or Nomad might not make a match even though we have access to the article or ebook (or can get it from another library). Nomad focuses on what we have in our online library and won't tell you if we have a physical book on the library shelf. Generally, Nomad is better at finding article matches than ebook matches.

We set Nomad to display on selected newspaper and magazine websites to direct you to those same publications in our article databases. But we have access to thousands of newspapers and magazines, not just the ones that Nomad singles out.

Remember, even if you don't see a Nomad link, we might still have access to the article or book! Search the library databases, our catalog of journal titles, or ask a librarian for help. We can also get articles and books we don't already have through interlibrary loans from other libraries.

Printing issues: The Nomad message may obscure part of the page when printing. To temporarily hide Nomad, hover over the message and click the gray X on the right. Any hidden Nomad message will not display on that website for 24 hours.

Have a question about the LibKey Nomad extension? Ask a Librarian.

I only see the article abstract/summary. Where is the full article?

We recommend adding the LibKey Nomad extension to your browser to make getting to article PDFs faster.

Look for links to PDF, PDF Full Text, HTML Full Text, Download, or similar words. These links will take you to the full article.

Or, look for a Find Full Text link(or a similar link). Click the Find Full Text link, and our system will try to find the article in our other databases. You will go to a new page for the article in our library search system. If we have access to the article in another database, a link to that database will appear in the View Online section of the page. Click the database link to go to the article.

If we don't have access in another database, you will see a blank space in the How to Get It section of the page. If you want us to get a copy of the article for you from another library, click the Sign In link to request it from another library.

Need help accessing the full article? Ask a Librarian.

I clicked a link to an article but got an “item not found” or “no exact match” error in the database. What do I do?

You might see this error in EBSCOhost, ProQuest, or other databases when the system fails to link directly to the article.

Often, you can still find the article if you search for it. Search that database using the article title and author name.

Need help finding the article? Ask a Librarian.