Quick Guide to Volter

Get a library card to the Turku University Library and you will be able to borrow printed materials and log in to Volter. More information on how to obtain a library card for the use of the library can be found on the library's website.

Log in to Volter to receive more search results and check your customer information.

• Check the loans tab to see whether you can renew your loans, when your loans are due and if you have overdue loans.
• Check the requests tab to see your requests and their pick up libraries or to cancel your requests.
• Check the fines tab to see your fines and to pay them online.
• Check the personal details tab to see your contact details and create a four-digit PIN code for self-check machines.

Use your UTU account credentials to log in.

If you do not have a UTU account, log in with your library card number and a password connected to your Volter account. Should you forget your password, you can change it on the login page.

To use the self service check out at the library, you need a four-digit PIN code. You can change your PIN code on the personal details tab of Volter.

You can target your search at different resources:

Default search (Search all materials) combines the searches listed below. University library materials show up at the top of the results list.

Books, journals and theses search returns all university library materials: printed and electronic books, printed and electronic journals, newspapers, databases, videos and theses and dissertations. In addition, the search includes University of Turku's open repository UTUPub.

International articles search returns results from hundreds of different databases with university library access. In addition to scientific journal articles the results include newspaper articles, electronic books and primary sources. All results include a fulltext link. Articles search does not return results from all databases provided by the university library (see Coverage of International articles search below).

Databases search returns results from all databases to which the library offers access.

You can use Boolean operators:

• Add obligatory search terms with an AND operator: traffic AND biking
• Add alternative search terms with an OR operator: biking OR walking
• Group terms together with parentheses: traffic AND (biking OR walking)

You can use special characters:

• Truncate search terms with an asterisk to get all word variations: transport*, walk*
• You can use a question mark to replace a single character: wom?n returns woman, women
• Use quotation marks to search for a phrase: "public transportation". You can also truncate inside a phrase "public transport*"
• In International articles search, the maximum number of truncated search terms or phrases is 7.

Advanced search

• You can use truncation, phrase search and AND and OR operators in advanced search as well
• Access advanced search by clicking the Advanced search link on the right side of the basic search bar

You can filter your results list on the right side of the results page. Filters are not perfect: For example, when using the peer reviewed journals -filter you will lose some Finnish journals that actually are peer reviewed.

You can also change the order of the results by enabling the Personalize option on top of the results list. By choosing the most relevant subject fields to your research Volter will put these results on top of the list. You can also ask Volter to prefer newer material. Personalizing will not affect the number of results.

Once you log in to Volter, you can tag search results, that is, to add your own keywords to results. Tags are public and common to all users. You can browse tags on top of the page.

You can save your searches and results as favourites by clicking the pin symbol below the search bar or next to the result. You can find your saved favourites by clicking the same symbol on the right top-corner of the page. You can organize your favourites by adding labels to them.

International articles search retrieves results from hundreds of international databases and open access (OA) archives. The following databases, however, are not included in articles search:

1. Finnish databases

• Arto - kotimainen artikkeliviitetietokanta (OA)
• digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi
• Doria
• Edilex
• FindoC
• Finlex (OA)
• Journal.fi
• Kunnittainen toimipaikkatilasto
• Medic
• Radio- ja televisioarkisto (RTVA)
• Suomen laki
• Terveysportti
• Turun yliopiston tutkimustietojärjestelmän rinnakkaistallenteet (UTUCRIS)
• Vaari - The National Repository Library

2. International databases

• 17th and 18th Burney Collection (Gale)
• America’s Historical Imprints (Readex)
• America’s Historical Newspapers 1-9 (Readex)
• American Pamphlets 1820-1922 (Readex)
• American Slavery Collection 1820-1922 (Readex)
• Beck online
• Bibliography of Asian Studies (EBSCO)
• Bibliography of Pragmatics Online
• Bitra (OA)
• Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies
• British library newspapers 1-3 (Gale)
• British Online Archives BAO
• BrowZine
• Cabells blacklist
• DigiZeitschriften
• Econlit (EBSCO)
• Educator's Reference Complete (Gale)
• Electronic Enlightenment
• Gale Primary Sources
• Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)
• History of Feminism
• IEA Statistics Package
• Integrum
• International Political Science Abstracts (EBSCO)
• Kluwer arbitration
• LearnTechLib
• Literary Encyclopedia
• MathEduc Database (FIZ Karlsruhe)
• OpenBook Publisher OBP
• Orbis
• PhilPapers
• PILOTS: PTSDpubs database 
• PressReader
• PsycINFO (EBSCO)
• Routledge Handbooks Online
• Statista
• Teacher Reference Centre

3. Dictionaries

International articles search may retrieve articles that can be accessed via the preceding databases. In these cases, the bibliographic information has been retrieved from other databases that are included in articles search. You can access all the databases provided by Turku University Library via the database list.

Use the databases of your own field when

• you are doing a systematic review or collecting information for other more demanding reviews
• you want to take advantage of the search tools and thesauruses of the database
• you are searching for articles in Finnish (you might want to try Finna's article search)
• you want to use databases that aren't included in Volter's International articles search

You can find databases from your own field

• by searching by database name in Volter
• on the library guides: https://utuguides.fi
• on the database list

• Get to know the guides created by the university library: https://utuguides.fi
• Request a 15 minutes with Volter session to your group or team from the library staff
• Send your questions to library@utu.fi or contact us via the chat that can be accessed from the lower right corner of Volter