SFX FAQ
SFX allows users to click on a bibliographic citation in a database, and view a list of services for that article or book, which may include an online full-text version, among other resources. Current NYU Medical Center faculty, staff and students can use SFX. This is how it works: databases (such as PsycInfo, Medline, MLA Bibliography) send NYU a bibliographic citation that is "SFX aware." This is also known as an "OpenURL." You know a citation is SFX aware when you see one of these links:
Why don't I see any SFX buttons in my search results? The database you are searching may not yet be set up by the publisher to work with SFX. Many databases from NYU Libraries are "SFX aware." Another reason you may not see the button is that you have not enabled javascript on your browser. There are two likely reasons: (1) There is no full text available or, (2) NYU Libraries do not have a license for access to full text of that journal. Sometimes NYU Libraries licenses full-text packages from third party vendors, so there are occasionlly duplications. SFX will get you as close to the article-level as it can, given the structure of the information provided by the database publisher. Sometimes you may link directly to the full text, other times you may have to click through to an issue or through a table of contents. NYU Libraries do not subscribe to all the titles indexed in our databases. Graduate students and faculty who find a journal that is not available in any NYU library may fill our an interlibrary loan request.
This is a quirk of Internet Explorer. When you select a service that requires SFX to search another database, that address is shown while the search is taking place. Once results are displayed, the address goes away. When you click on SFX, your computer connects to NYU's SFX database to see what services are available for the article. The only services that display are those that are available. |
( NYU Health Sciences Library Resource ) 
(the SFX icon from Bobst Library)