No, you do not need to pay for journal articles through the library.

If you are being asked to pay for an article or give an account number, you might be missing content we already pay for.

• Academic libraries, including UIowa's, buy access to online journals, research databases and other collections of online articles and other content for current UI students and staff.
• From on campus (coming from UI's internet range), access will be automatic. From off-campus, make sure you go through a UI Libraries' link to your content.
• Use persistent url's (purl) or permalinks from within databases and other resources when available. These often contain code for our subscriptions.
• Links copied from the web-browser address bar may not include subscription information or other important information.

Here are some strategies to help.

• Start your research at the library – https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/.
• Configure Google Scholar’s Library Links to use the University of Iowa or just log into Google Scholar through us. 
• Use the Citation Linker to find out if we have articles someone else is linking to.

You can also, of course, contact us for help, too.

Good Luck.

Dan the Librarian