Course: African American Studies 315
Theme: "Blacks as a Minority Group in America"
Spring 2008– Nancy Kwang Johnson

Librarian: John Stierman – jp-stierman@wiu.edu
Leslie F. Malpass Library, Office 219
Phone: 298-2756
Office Hours: Monday, 3-4, Tuesday, 4-5; Wednesday, 11-12, 6-7;

Off-Campus Access: Library Internet Resources. Most of the libraries' databases are proprietary (owned by third parties). As long as you are on campus, the database providers assume that you are a WIU student. If you are off-campus, the providers require proof of enrolment. If you want to access library databases off-campus, be prepared with your student id # or your ecom username and password. Call the reference desk at 309-298-2700 or 800-413-6544.

Newspapers

America's Newspapers, dates vary
America'a Newspapers is the Libraries best single source for full-text newspapers articles. Simple to search. Includes access to the Chicago Tribune and the Peoria Journal Star, the two most popular newspapers in our area. Limit your search by newspaper, state, region, and more.
Chicago Defender Online
Review the free online content. WIU does not subscribe. Archival content available for a fee.
Kidon Media Link
Serves as a gateway or portal to many news sources. Check out Amsterdam News (New York), a part of the BlackPressUSA Network. Helps to know the paper you need.
LexisNexis, dates vary
Unique collection of information resources, including transcripts of television/radio news programs, full-text of campus newspapers around the country (including recent issues of the Western Courier), legal information (law reviews, federal/state cases, etc), and business news. You may particularly interested in "Ethnic News," since your topics relate to African Americans. Type ethnic news in the "Find a Source" box under the Sources tab.

Multidisciplinary Magazine and Journal Databases

Academic Search Premier, dates vary
Our most popular mutlidisciplinary periodical full-text database. Includes convenient features, such as saved searches, SDI, and persistent folders. Remember to check the list of subject headings along the left border after each search.
InfoTrac (Expanded Academic Index), 1980-
Still very popular with users. Multidisciplinary. Majority full-text. Search by subject heading or keyword.
Readers' Guide Abstracts, 1890- .
Majority of titles are magazines. Does provide the capability to limit by type of periodical. Remember to check the retro option if you want to go way back in time..

Subject-Specific Databases for Academic Journals

America: History and Life
Covers North American history from ancient times to the present. Click on the Online Databases link on the library’s homepage. Note that the presence of a full-text link does not mean that WIU has the full-text version. Coverage c1955.
Communications and Mass Media Complete
Indexes over 300 communication and mass media journals; full text for over 200 titles. Dates vary.
CQ Researcher, 1921-
CQ Researcher is a weekly publication of Congressional Quarterly, a publisher who offers a wide variety of reference tools in politics and government. Each weekly issue is on a single issue, such as obesity or nuclear power. The topics are chosen for their timeliness. The reports are useful for finding a topic or learning the background of a selected topic.
Index to Black Periodicals, 1950-2004 .
Indexes African-American periodicals of general and scholarly interest. Located in the reference stacks under REF/E/185.5/I58. Building use only.
International Political Science Abstracts, 1989- .
Includes current indexing and abstracts of the world's leading journals in political science. This database contains over 110,000 records from nearly 900 journals published from 1989 to the present.
Sociological Abstracts, 1963- .
Premier index/abstract in the field of sociology. International scope. Provided by Cambridge Scientific. Consider using the handy online thesaurus.

Find It! SFX @ WIU Libraries: Determining Full Test Access

Periodicals Holdings List
From the Libraries' homepage (www.wiu.edu/library), click on Locate a Journal. Print & Electronic Periodicals Holdings List (PHL) is a listing of both periodical titles (print/microform formats) available on the shelves of the Western Illinois University Libraries, and e-titles available in full-text databases purchased by the WIU Libraries. This resource currently indexes over 20,000 unique periodical titles. If the Library does not have a document you need, consider, if time allows, requesting the document via Interlibrary Loan (ILL). In some cases, your request can be made directly from an online index. In others, you can use the form on the Libraries’ home page. Look under Library Services.
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RefWorks

RefWorks is an online research management, writing and collaboration tool -- it's designed to help researchers easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies. You will need to sign up for an individual account, which will allow you to use RefWorks on and off campus. If you are ever asked for a group code, the WIU code is "rwwillinoisu".

Online Catalogs for Books and other Library Material

WestCat/I-Share
WestCat/I-Share is a computer-based library system that provides statewide access to a wealth of information services and resources, including an extensive public access catalog, inter-library loan, and resource sharing services to ILCSO libraries. WIU Library is an ILCSO library. Very easy to renew books online and make interlibrary loan requests.
WorldCat (FirstSearch)
WorldCat is the world's largest database of bibliographic information. It offers more than 43 million bibliographic records representing books all over the world. Use this catalog to supplement IO. Very easy to make interlibrary loan requests online.