Q. I can't see the actual article

These are the four most common reasons for not seeing an article you need:

Your Off Campus Access could not be verified or you have not used the VPN

Some of the library's resources - databases, journals, ebooks, and selected Virginia Tech electronic theses and dissertations - are restricted to current Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and students.

When you are on the campus network (including wired and wireless networks on the Blacksburg campus, NCR campuses, the VTCRI, and select AREC sites), you have direct access to these resources via the library's homepage. Users outside the campus network must take the additional step of authenticating their university status.

You can either Access the Library Resources Off Campus or use the campus's VPN to access library resource remotely.

Simply start on the library's website, search in the main search box, use the link to Discovery Search's advance search screen, use the link to browse or search our databases, or use the link to search our journals. Once you encounter a resource that requires authentication, you'll automatically see the Virginia Tech 2-factor authentication login screen. Again, you need do nothing in advance to make that happen as long as you start on the library's website. This will let the article provider know you are affiliated with Virginia Tech and will give you access to the article. If using the VPN, be sure to select the option to route all traffic through the VPN (not just to campus servers).

For further information, please see Accessing Library Resources Off Campus.

The Get VText sidebar does not work with the article provider

If you can see the Get VText sidebar, but the left side of the screen is blank, it could be the provider does not work with the frames requires by the sidebar. Use the "Click here if you see a blank screen" link at the bottom of the sidebar to access your article a different way.

Your access point is incorrect

We don't always get articles directly from their publishers, or we may get a particular range of dates/issues from another source. Use the Journals link on our home page and search the source title of your article to see where we might have access.

Your PDF viewer is out of date

Some article providers make use of the latest PDF technology which is not compatible with older software. If a PDF is blank or looks weird, it's usually a matter of updating to the latest version of Acrobat Reader or whatever software you use to view PDFs.