AlmaStart https://almastart.unibo.it/ is a tool that allows to search books, articles and other documents that are available in the libraries or online.
If you want to start a research on a new topic and do not know which kind of information sources are available, you can start from AlmaStart.
How does it work?
AlmaStart shows a single, global search field to start the search. Nonetheless, if you wish to perform a more complex search, you can start from the advanced search option where you can combine multiple terms, filter out sources, choose document types or language.
Everyone can use AlmaStart, but you have to sign in to retrieve the full list of results, access the full text of the documents and save results or research settings.
Sources in AlmaStart
- the Bologna Library System Catalogue
- the journals of the Bologna Library System in the Italian Catalogue of Periodicals (ACNP)
- a large part of the electronic resources acquired by the University of Bologna (e-books, electronic magazines, databases, etc.)
- electronic resources produced by the University (teaching materials, research products etc.)
- bibliographic data in scientifically validated online sources
The results include the online documents and the books or journals owned by the libraries. Is it also possible to expand the search to further indexed contents even if they are not physically nor online accessible.
Free access sources
Users without institutional credentials can still access and use AlmaStart for bibliographic searches: it is possibile to obtain the same information as for authenticated users about the location of physical items, while for online resources the search will offer a list of reduced results.
Part of these results have restricted access: in case of interest, contact your reference library to activate a document delivery request. Many resources are selected from open access collections with freely accessible full text: to get only the freely accessible results, use the "Open access" filter.
Moreover, the University of Bologna has selected more than 60 free access collections of e-books, e-journals and databases. It is possible to view - in the description of the collection - whether the content can be searched directly in AlmaStart ("AlmaStart: Contenuto ricercabile") or it should be explored on the specific platforms ("AlmaStart: Unsearchable content").
Sources not available in AlmaStart
Some sources are not indexed in and searchable via AlmaStart, in particular:
- some databases and collection subscribed by Bologna University
- the ScopriRete catalogue
- e-books and other documents held by the public libraries available through EmiLib
What if I want to search for keywords found in a website (e.g. bibliographies, authors, etc.) in AlmaStart?
You can use the AlmaStart on the fly service for a quick search in AlmaStart by highlighting a search key (the title, the ISBN, the author or other) in the web page you are visiting.
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Access to AlmaStart with your smartphone:
