Library Quick Start

A searchable electronic index of journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles, conference proceedings, technical and government reports, ebooks, and multimedia. We provide access to 300+ databases in different subject areas to support your research.

They are designed to search across thousands of articles and reports at once, scanning the full text of documents for your search terms. 

Use databases when:

• You want to conduct more powerful, targeted searching
• You're searching for highly specific information that might not appear in the title or other citation information
• You want to search the full text
• You want the most recent information. (Sometimes there is a lag period between when an item is published and when it appears in the Library Search.
• The database is not included in the Library Search (example: Jane's)

They will likely contain relevant content for almost every research topic here at NPS. 

  NPS Users Only

     Password Required

• First, be as specific as possible​
  Broaden your keywords if you don't get enough relevant results.
   
• For exact phrases
  Use "quotation marks"
   
• For acronyms or synonyms
  Use OR
   
• For stemming or word variations
  Use an asterisk (*)  (Symbol may vary by database.)
  nav*  Finds navy, naval, navigation
  defen*e  Finds defense and defence
   
• Limit your search with Advanced Search filters
  Examples:  Title only or Citation and Abstract, Date, Source, Subject Area, Location

Learn more about phrase, truncating, and wildcard searching. Includes cheat sheet for a variety of library research databases.

• Click the Databases List link on the library homepage.
  
   
• Choose a subject in the dropdown.
   
• You can also put a topical search term in the Find Databases search box. It will search the database title, descriptions, and keywords. You can search for broad topical terms, but not very specific ones.
  
• You can look for an associated research guide in the right column.
  On the guide, librarians have identified top choice article databases for that subject area.
  

Like the Library Search, our databases have powerful filters to refine your search. The filters themselves will vary, but the concept is pretty much the same. You'll generally find these types of filters. Example:

• Source type
• Date
• Subject
• Document Type

Often, databases will provide a list of linked related items or subject terms. Also look for a list of references. You my find highly relevant sources there.

Sometimes you'll see a document you want, but the full text isn't there. If you click the orange Get it@NPS button, it will check to see if we have the full text in another database, or if you can request the item.

Request Article or Book
(Interlibrary Loan - ILL)

How to place a request 

1. ​First, use the Library Search to see if we already have access. If we do, please check out or download the item yourself. You don't need to submit a request. (Course Reserves are available at the Information Desk.)
    
2. Read the Copyright Notice.
    
3. If you need to request the item, submit the Request Article or Book (Interlibrary Loan) form. First time user registration required

Article PDFs can arrive as quickly as 2-3 days. Print books can take 1-2 weeks or longer.

Questions? ill@nps.edu

DL Students,

We’ll also send library-owned print materials to you.

• We will ship to you at no cost.
• You are responsible for the small cost of shipping items back to us. Please return items via Priority Mail allowing enough time for the item to arrive by the due date.

How to register:

• Fill out the entire form
• Enter [ -DL ] after your last name
• Use the email you regularly read
• Include a phone number
• Ensure your shipping address is correct
• Enter [ Distance Student ] for your Status
• Include your curriculum name and number

(3:59 min.)

Learn more about Interlibrary Loan.