Skip to Main Content

Discover@UMSL

How to find articles, books, and more using our library search tool.

Banner with text: Saving Items and Searches.

The other pages in this section provide details on how to save your items (citations) and searches, but first, let’s get familiar with your account dashboard.
 

 A   To access your account from a search results page, click the My Library Account link in the dark gray bar near the top of the page.

Screenshot of Discover@UMSL search before a search has been entered. The fifth option on the top bar has been circled and labeled A. Text for the button says My Library Account.

Your “My Folder” area is your account dashboard—the reason you are asked to log in when you run searches. 

 B   Your main My Folder area holds all of the items you save that you don’t place directly into a custom folder (see  F  below). The Articles section holds the records of any articles or print books you’ve saved (with the number of saved items in parentheses), and the eBooks section holds eBooks you’ve saved. Keep in mind that these aren't necessarily the full text of articles and eBooks. The other categories in this section will rarely contain items.

 C   The Loans section contains the records of any print books you currently have checked out, as well as eBooks you’ve downloaded for a specified loan period (usually 14–21 days). The Requests section is where you can track requests for any print books that UMSL or another UM System library owns. (Books requested from outside the UM System will appear in your MOBIUS or ILL account instead.) If you’ve been fined for an unreturned or damaged item, the amount will appear in the Fees section. For more on loans and requests, see the Accessing Your Library Accounts and Finding Books sections of this guide.

 D   Searches can be saved two different ways and will be stored in either the Persistent Links to Searches section or the Saved Searches section. For more information, see the Saving & Retrieving Searches page. 

 E   If you plan to be researching a specific topic for more than a few weeks, you can set up email alerts that will notify you when new citations are added that match your search criteria. These can be managed in the Search Alerts and Journal Alerts sections. 

 F   The My Custom section will allow you to add folders for different courses or topics to better organize your research. See the Saving & Retrieving Items page for more information.

Screenshot of the My Folder section of a personal library account, on the articles tab. Sections on the left side of the screen have been circled and labeled B-F. B: main My Folder area with links to select based on format. C: Loans, Requests, and Fees links, directly below B. D: Persistent Links to Searches link and Saved Searches link, three links below C. E: Search Alerts and Journal Alerts links, directly below D. F: Link to create custom folders with text My Custom, a question mark to hover over for information, followed by text New.