START stands for STudy And Research Tool and is the library's search engine. You can use this search engine to find articles, journals, e-books and books.

Digital collection

With START, you can search through many databases at once, although there are some exceptions. You can find e-books, articles from (academic) journals and literature references, but no market reports etc.

If you get a lot of search results or if you want to refine your search, you can use the filter options on the left. These allow you, for example, to filter through material type or publication year. With advanced search, you can see which databases are being searched on the right.

Sometimes you may find a book or article that you cannot access through the library. Would you still like to read such a book or article? Then you can request it via the Interlibrary Loan Service (ILL). If you tick "full text" (under "Show only"), you will only see results that you can access from the library.

Tips!

• START can be used on different devices both inside and outside RUAS.
• Your search results can be stored in lists, which you can share with others.
• With START you can search multiple databases at once, but not all of them. Open other databases via the overview under 'Information sources'.
• Have you found an article or book to which you do not have access? In many cases you can request it for a fee from another university of applied sciences or university through Inter Library Loan (ILL). This can easily be done via the "Request external item" button in START or via the online form. For more information and current costs check the library website.

Physical collection

You can also use START to search for printed books in the library. You can use the filters under "Material type" and select the filter option "Printed book" to indicate that you are looking for printed books. In the filter options you can also select a location. You will then immediately see which books are available at that location and whether they are on loan. If you do not select a location you will see whether the books is available at any of the locations.

Are you looking for a book that the library does not have? Then you can request it via the Interlibrary Loan Service (ILL).

Advanced search page

The advanced search page in START allows you to perform a targeted search, for example by keyword, author or (a word from) the title. You can also combine these terms.