Skip to Main Content
The University of Massachusetts Amherst

Plant Biology

Library Resources supporting the Plant Biology Graduate Program at UMass

National Center for Biotechnology Information and Other Genomic Data

"As a national resource for molecular biology information, NCBI's mission is to develop new information technologies to aid in the understanding of fundamental molecular and genetic processes that control health and disease. More specifically, the NCBI has been charged with creating automated systems for storing and analyzing knowledge about molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics..."

You can find instructions for using these closely linked databases here. 

Some resources that may be of interest are listed below. Find a complete list if NCBI resources here :

Recommended Databases for Plant Biology

Finding Full Text & Interlibrary Loan

Finding Full Text: in many of our databases (like PubMed and Web of Science), you will see this button Image of red button with magnifying glass search icon and word UMass. It is used to find the full article in our online collections, or if we don’t have it, link to Interlibrary Loan. In other databases (like CINAHL, PsycINFO, and in Discovery Search), if it can‘t find a way to directly connect to full text, the option is .

If an article or book is unavailable at UMass Amherst, you can get it using our Interlibrary Loan service. There will be a link to Request this resource through Interlibrary Loan on the window that opens after you click the UMass search button.

  • Here's a screenshot as an example of you might see after clicking the UMass search button.

Screenshot of Full Text Results popup box with arrows indicating where to click to get whole article or to request through interlibrary loan if full t

More about Interlibrary Loan

To log into Interlibrary Loan use your UMass NetID and password (same as what you use for SPIRE and Moodle or Blackboard).

The first time you use Interlibrary Loan, you will be prompted to fill out a profile form, so we know who you are and how to contact you when your item arrives.

  • NOTE: In the Delivery Preferences section of the profile form, you must choose a Loan Delivery Method and a Pickup Location. All article requests are delivered electronically, so these options do not apply to articles.

After completing the profile, you should then see a pre-populated article request form. Make sure all the required fields are completed (sometimes they don't all transfer to the form), then submit it and usually in 1-2 business days you'll get an email that your article has arrived! The email will include a link into the Interlibrary Loan system, where your article PDF will be available to print or download.