Child Development: A Guide to Indexes and Online Databases

The following is a guide to some of the online, electronic resources of the University Libraries in the area of child development. This is intended to help you identify and locate information and materials - and electronic materials may exist which will also be useful to you. For a complete listing of the holdings of the University Libraries system, please consult MNCAT, our online catalog .

Library Catalogs

MNCAT, the University of Minnesota Libraries' online catalog, lists over five million print volumes, 36,000 serial subscriptions, three million microforms, 3.6 million government documents, and 350,000 maps, making the University Libraries the 17th largest research library in North America. The collections are housed in five major facilities and twelve branch sites in the Twin Cities.

HELP information is available for using MNCAT. We also have a variety of guides to the literature and collections at the University of Minnesota available online or in print. For specialized help, be sure to ask at a reference desk or contact one of the subject specialists on staff.

Some useful subject headings are:

National Bibliographic Files

Research Libraries Group Catalog (RLIN)

Available through LUMINA, RLIN contains information about more than 22 million books, periodicals, recordings, scores, archival collections, and other kinds of material held in major research libraries, museums, and archives. Each record describes an item or collection; most give local holdings information at other libraries and verifying citations for possible request via interlibrary loan.

WorldCat

is another important catalog produced by OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. WorldCat consists of over 30 million records that cite material owned by libraries around the world. Books, magazines, recordings; virtually any type of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries is included. WorldCat is updated daily. WorldCat is also useful for locating materials at other libraries and verifying citations for possible request via interlibrary loan.

Other Library Catalogs Available through LUMINA

BIGTEN

is another option in LUMINA which allows you to check the library catalogs for each of the major 'Big Ten' universities. Using the LIBRARY CATALOGS option in LUMINA you have access to the library catalogs of the public library and private college catalogs here in the metropolitan Twin Cities area. These are particularly useful when seeking information on materials not held or currently checked out from the University of Minnesota. Through the Internet, you may access the catalogs of other area libraries, as well as libraries throughout the United States and the world.

Electronic and Print Databases for Child Development

Through LUMINA, you have access to over 200 databases covering all aspects of research and publication. In the University Libraries you also have access to hundreds of CD-ROM-based databases, printed indexes, and other resources.

Primary Child Development Indexes and Databases

Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press for the Society for Research in Child Development, 1927-. Available in print; an online version of the bibliography for 1998-1999 is available at http://blackwellpublishers.co.uk/srcd/index.html

Indexes and abstracts articles from about 275 English and foreign language journals, technical reports and books that cover education and the biomedical and behavioral sciences in the area of child growth and development. Published triannually. Purports to be "the most complete and definitive source for references to the current literature related to the growth and development of children."

Child Abuse and Neglect. Available from NISC (National Information Services Corporation) through the Indexes option in LUMINA.

Co-produced by the U.S. National clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information. Covers the professional literature, primarily American, including books, journals, government reports, conference papers, state annual reports, curricula, audiovisuals and unpublished papers. Database is composed of the following files: Public Awareness Materials for Adults and Children; national Organizations; Audiovisuals; State Statutes; Program Directories; and Child Abuse and Neglect Thesaurus.

Database includes nearly 20,000 bibliographic citations and abstracts to materials concerned with the definition, identification, prevention, and treatment of child abuse and neglect. Topics covered include: Child maltreatment including physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological abuse, and child neglect. Database covers English-language materials and covers 1965 to the present. Updated annually.

Education Abstracts. Available online from FirstSearch/OCLC through the Indexes option in LUMINA. Database updated monthly with approximately 3000 new records each month.

Contains citations, with abstracts (from August 1994), to 400 core international English-language periodicals, yearbooks, and monographic series covering all levels of education--from preschool to postgraduate. Updated monthly.

Covers all aspects of education, including: school administration; preschool, elementary, secondary, higher, and adult education; counseling and personnel services; teacher and vocational education; and teaching methods. Also covers a wide variety of individual curriculum areas, including the arts, comparative and international education, health and physical education, language and linguistics, library and information science, multi-cultural and ethnic education, psychology and mental health, religious education, science and mathematics, social studies, special education and rehabilitation, and educational research. Corresponds to the printed Education Index, which is also available in Wilson Reference Services.

Subjects covered include: educational administration and supervision, teaching methods, curriculum, classroom computers, teacher-parent relations, physical and special education and rehabilitation, religious education, sex education, trends in government funding, physical education and athletics, teacher evaluation, prayer in public schools, literacy standards, multicultural/ethnic education, comparative education, educational technology, language and linguistics, psychology, science and mathematics, social studies, and vocational education.

ERIC. Available online from FirstSearch/OCLC and WebSpirs through the Indexes option in LUMINA. Also available in print and on CD-ROM in Wilson Reference Service.

Provides nearly one million citations, with abstracts, to both the journal and report literature in the field of education and education-related areas. Journal literature corresponds to the printed Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE). Report literature corresponds to the printed index Resources in Education (RIE). Also contains the complete text of more than 1500 ERIC Digests, two-page documents prepared by ERIC specialists and designed to provide an overview of information and citations to more detailed information on a specific topic for use by teachers, administrators, and other educational practitioners. Includes the complete Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors. Covers 1966 to the present.

Subjects covered include all aspects of educational research and resources, including career, adult, vocational, technical, and teacher education; education of the disabled, disadvantaged, and the gifted; early childhood education; junior colleges and higher education; comparative education; reading and communication skills; languages and linguistics; education management; counseling and personnel services; library and information science; information resources; urban education; rural education and small schools; science, mathematics and environment; social studies and social sciences; and tests, measurement, and evaluation.

Further Note: the entire 'ED' ERIC document collection is available on microfiche available for your use in the Government Publication Library in Wilson.

Exceptional Child Education Resources
Location: Wilson Reference quarto LC3950 .E93x; available in print only, not available online

Much of the information is duplicated in the ERIC database, this index from the Council for Exceptional Children strives to provide "the world's most comprehensive database of resources in special education and gifted education." Journal is published quarterly and provides abstracts from ERIC documents, journal articles and books and nonprint media.

Family Studies Database. Available online from NISC through the Indexes option in LUMINA. The database is updated monthly and covers 1970 to the present.

This database intends to present "the world's most comprehensive, systematic and non-evaluative resource of research, policy and practice literature in the fields of Family Science, Human Ecology and Human development. Family Studies Database" (FSD). FSD includes the following segments: FAMILY, with nearly 200,000 abstracts and bibliographic records taken from over 1000 professional journals, books, popular literature, conference papers, government reports and other sources. About 9000 new citations are added to FAMILY each year.

Subjects covered include: family violence, family therapy, intermarriage, minority groups, family relationship and dynamics, parenting, adolescents, marriage and divorce, reproduction issues, work and gender roles, family law and related issues, family counseling and education and trends in marriage and family.

International ERIC CD-ROM. Available on CD-ROM for searching in Wilson Reference Service. Not available online.

Contains over 200,000 citations to published materials relating to the field of education which are not included in the U.S. ERIC database. Database covers 1976 to the present and is updated quarterly. Database is composed of three databases or files:

Australian Education Index (AEI) provides citations to published and unpublished Australian literature, including journal articles, monographs, research reports, theses, conference papers, and other materials. Corresponds to Australian Education Index and Bibliography of Education Theses in Australia, and the online Australian Education Index database. Produced by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

British Education Index (BEI) provides citations to periodical literature dealing with all aspects of primary, secondary, and higher education as well as theses on education and related topics accepted at British and Irish universities and polytechnics. Corresponds to British Education Index and British Education Theses Index, and the online British Education Index Data Base. Produced by University of Leeds, Brotherton Library.

Canadian Education Index (CEI) provides citations to Canadian literature on preschool, elementary, secondary, higher, and adult education. Corresponds to Canadian Education Index and the online Canadian Education Index database.

Topics covered include all aspects of education - preschool, elementary, secondary, higher, and adult education, educational psychology, cognitive development, educational policy, curriculum development, multicultural education, special education, vocational education, language acquisition, teaching profession, educational administration, educational management, and educational policy.

Further Note: This database does not include the U.S. ERIC index.

MEDLINE. Available online from the Bio-Med BioSearch/OVID interface through the Indexes option in LUMINA. Coverage is international from 1964 to the present.

Contains nearly seven million citations to the world's journal literature covering biomedicine, including research, clinical practice, administration, policy issues, and health care services. Author abstracts are available for approximately 60 percent of the citations; English-language abstracts are provided when possible. Sources include some 3900 journals published in the United States and approximately 70 other countries as well as chapters and articles from selected monographs from 1976 through 1981. Corresponds to Index Medicus and in part to Index to Dental Literature and International Nursing Index.

Subjects covered include: Medicine (preclinical and clinical sciences), life sciences, psychology, human sexuality, child development and other health-sciences topics. All abstracts and citations are in English. .

Psychological Abstracts/PsycLIT/PsychINFO. Available online from the Bio-Med BioSearch/OVID interface through the Indexes option in LUMINA and in print and on CD-ROM in Wilson Reference Service.

Includes over 700,000 citations, with abstracts, to the worldwide serial literature dealing with psychology and the behavioral sciences. Also contains more than 80,000 citations to books and relevant book chapters. Covers both human and animal aspects in most of these fields: animal psychology; applied psychology; communication and language; cultural influences and social issues; developmental psychology; education; neurology and physiology; perception and motor performance; personality; physical and psychological disorders; psychometrics and statistics; treatment and prevention; and personnel and professional issues. Also covers the psychology and behavior of groups and organizations in addition to that of individuals. Sources include more than 1300 periodicals, book chapters and books. For journal literature, the database includes 1974 to the present, for books, 1987 to the present. The CD-ROM version of the database covers 1887 to the present, for historical research. Online database is updated monthly.

All areas of psychology are covered, including experimental psychology, developmental psychology, communications, social processes and issues, personality, physical and psychological disorders, professional issues, applied psychology, and educational psychology; and behavioral literature in such related fields as law, business, and medicine.

Other Relevant Indexes

Anthropological Literature File (ANL). Available online from Eureka interface through the Indexes option in LUMINA

Records describing articles and essays in anthropology and archaeology f two or more pages in length from works published in English and other European languages. Database is from the Tozzer Library, Harvard University. Database covers 1984 to the present and is updated quarterly.

Subjects covered include: archaeology, art, biological and cultural anthropology, demography, economics, education, ethnohistory, folklore, genetics, geography, geology, physical anthropology, psychology and social anthropology. No abstracts.

Black Studies Database. Available online from NISC through the Indexes option in LUMINA. The database is international in scope, and is updated annually.

This index provides access to nearly 200,000 citations from the cumulative catalog of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture containing references for African American, African, and African Diasporan studies. Also provides access to the Kaiser Index to Black Periodicals which contains articles from over 150 publications including: American Literature Forum, Black Enterprise, Ebony, Essence, International Review of African American Art, Journal of Black Studies, and National Black Law Journal . coverage of the Kaiser Index goes back to 1948

Subjects covered include: African studies, including topics such as art, biography, folklore, history, literature, religion, and sports.

Chicano Database. Available online from Eureka interface through the Indexes option in LUMINA. The database is updated quarterly and covers 1965 to the present.

Produced by the University of California, Berkeley, Chicano Studies Library, This database of over 50,000 records covers English-language (largely U.S.) information on this topic.

Contains over 42,000 citations, some with abstracts, to literature written by and about Chicanos (Mexican-Americans) and other Latinos in the United States. Corresponds to Arte Chicano: An Annotated Bibliography of Chicano Art (from 1965 to 1981), The Chicano Anthology Index, The Chicano Index (from 1989 to date), and The Chicano Periodical Index (from 1967 to 1988). Also includes the Latinos and AIDS database, produced by the Chicano Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, which provides about 200 citations to journal articles, books, and reports on AIDS as it relates to Latin-Americans.

Subjects covered include: All topics pertaining to the Chicano (Mexican-American) experience including information on other Latinos in the United States, including: art, bilingual education, economics, folklore, health, history, labor, language, law, literature, music, politics, psychology, public policy, religion, sociology, and women's studies.

ComIndex
Location: Wilson Reference, diskette-based, not available online.

"An electronic index to the literature of the communication discipline," ComIndex is produced by the Communication Institute for Online Scholarship. The index strives to provide an "author and title index to the core literature of the communication discipline." Bibliographic information for over 30,000 articles from 65 key international journals and annuals from the communication field are included. Covers 1970- present.

Ethnic NewsWatch
Location: Wilson Reference, CD-ROM, not available online

The complete text of over 350,000 articles, editorials and reviews published in over 200 ethnic and minority newspapers, magazines and journals published in the U.S., United Kingdom, Africa and Canada. This database provides multicultural coverage of subjects of interest to African Americans, Hispanics, Latinos, Chicanos, Native Americans, Asian, Jewish, Arab and European and Eastern European Americans. Database includes a directory providing bibliographic information for each publication covered.

Scope of coverage is any national and international news affecting and/or of special interest to the ethnic and minority populations of the U.S. English and Spanish language materials are included. covers May 1991 to the present. Database is updated monthly.

ISSHP: Index to Social Sciences and Humanities Proceedings
Location: Wilson Reference, CD-ROM, not available online

Produced by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). This database contains the complete bibliographic information on the world's most recently published social sciences and humanities conference proceedings. Each update adds approximately 6000 papers from 800 recently published conference proceedings. Includes retrospective data from 1990 plus quarterly cumulative updates for multiple years on one disc. Corresponds to Index to Social Sciences and Humanities Proceedings. The database is international in scope and covers 1990 to the present. The database is updated quarterly.

LLBA (Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts). Available online through the Indexes option in LUMINA. Coverage is international and the database covers 1973 to the present. The database is updated quarterly.

Produced by Sociological Abstracts, Inc. The database contains over 200,000 citations, with abstracts, to the world's published literature on the nature, use, and teaching of language as well as linguistics, speech, communication, and related topics from 1973 to the present. Includes citations to book reviews appearing in serials abstracted for Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts. Sources include journals, books, monographs, and technical reports, as well as dissertations from Dissertation Abstracts International.

Subjects covered include: Psycholinguistics, applied linguistics, phonology, syntax, semantics, morphology, discourse analysis and text linguistics, theory of linguistics, history of linguistics, anthropological linguistics, structural linguistics, descriptive linguistics, lexicography, orthography and writing systems, typology, interpersonal behavior and communication, sociolinguistics, poetics and stylistics, nonverbal communications, semiotics, philosophy of language, phonetics, hearing and speech physiology, hearing (pathological and normal), language (pathological and normal), learning disabilities, mental retardation, psychopathology, special education, and psychometrics.

Sociological Abstracts. Available online from FirstSearch/OCLC through the Indexes option in LUMINA.

Contains information on sociology and social policy from 1963 to the present. Comprises the following 2 files:

Social Planning, Policy and Development Abstracts (SOPODA)--contains citations, with abstracts, to articles from more than 2000 journals and serials covering the social sciences, including social welfare, planning and policy, and development, as applied to specific settings and situations. Corresponds in part to the printed index Social Planning, Policy and Development Abstracts.

Sociological Abstracts--contains citations, with abstracts, to articles from more than 2000 journals and serial publications in the field of sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Covers original research, reviews, monographic publications, and dissertations from Dissertation Abstracts International and conference reports in several areas. Corresponds in part to the printed index Sociological Abstracts.

Also includes the International Review of Publications in Sociology (IRPS), which contains some 80,000 citations to book reviews appearing in serials abstracted for Sociological Abstracts, as well as several hundred book abstracts, including an outline of each chapter.

Subjects covered include: Sociology, including methodology and research technology, history and technology of sociology, social psychology, culture and social structure, education, group interactions, management and complex organizations, mass phenomena, social change and economic development, political interactions, social differentiation, rural sociology and agricultural economics, urban structures and ecology, sociology of the arts, sociology of education, sociology of religion, sociology of science, sociology of health and medicine, social problems and social welfare, sociology of knowledge, social control, demography and human biology, community development, policy, planning, and forecasting, studies in poverty, studies in violence, feminist studies, Marxist studies, and clinical sociology. All citations and abstracts are in English. Coverage is international and began in 1963. Updated bimonthly.

Social Sciences Abstracts. Available online from FirstSearch/OCLC through the Indexes option in LUMINA.

Contains nearly 500,000 citations to the social sciences literature. Scope of coverage is international, limited to English-language materials. Provides cover-to-cover indexing to a core set of over 400 English-language periodicals in such areas as anthropology, Black studies, criminology, economics, education, law, environmental sciences, geography, health and medicine, law and criminology, planning and public administration, policy studies, political science, psychology, sociology, social work, urban studies and women's studies.

Indexing begins with February 1983, abstracts, where available, being with March 1994. Database is updated monthly.

Social Work Abstracts Plus. Available online from the WebSpirs interface through the Indexes option in LUMINA. The database is international in scope and covers July 1997 to the present. Updated semiannually. Produced by the National Association of Social Workers.

The database contains about 40,000 citations, with abstracts, to journal articles, doctoral dissertations, and other materials on social work and related fields. Subjects covered include: Aging and the aged, child and family welfare, crime and delinquency, developmental disabilities, education/schools, employment/poverty, health and health care, mental health, occupational/industrial services, substance and alcohol use and abuse, social policy and social work service methodology, as well as issues from such related disciplines as psychology, psychiatry, economics, and sociology. Also contains the full-text of the current edition of the Register of Clinical Social Workers.

Women's Resources International. Available online from NISC through the Indexes option in LUMINA.

Women's Resources International (WRI) covers 1972 to the present with the goal of being the "ultimate women's studies resource." WRI is composed of ten subsets: Women Studies Abstracts (1984 to the present); Women's Studies Database (1972 to the present); New Books of Women and Feminism (1987 to the present); WAVE: Women's Audiovisuals in English: A guide to nonprint resources in women's studies (1985-1990); Women, Race and Ethnicity: A bibliography (1970-1990); History of Women and Science, Health and Technology: A bibliographic guide to the professions and the disciplines; European Women from the Renaissance to Yesterday: A bibliography (1610 to the present); POPLINE Subset on Women (1964 to the present); Women of Color and Southern Women: A bibliography of social science research (1975-1995); and Women's Health and Development: An annotated bibliography.

Subjects covered include feminist theory and history, family, mental and physical health, psychology, family planning, domestic violence, prejudice and sex discrimination, employment, sports and physical activities, child abuse, lesbianism, racial/ethnic studies, law and political/social activism.

General Coverage

CIS Statistical Universe. Available online from CIS/Lexis-Nexis through the Indexes option in LUMINA.

Three core statistical indexes - American Statistics Index, Statistical Reference Index, and Index to International Statistics are provided; along with full-text of many resources. These indexes provide coverage of statistics from governmental sources (international, federal and state), from private associations and international organizations. Many useful links are also given to other Web sites that include important statistical data. Help screens are available.

Current Contents. Available online from the Bio-Med BioSearch/OVID interface through the Indexes option in LUMINA. All citations and abstracts are in English. Coverage is international. 18,000 records added each week.

Current Contents is a bibliographic database. Abstracts are included, if included with original document, no full-text is available.

Provides complete bibliographic coverage, with abstracts, to articles listed in the tables of contents of approximately 6900 leading journals in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Covers clinical medicine (CLIN); life sciences (LIFE); arts and humanities (ARTS); engineering, technology, and applied sciences (ENGI); social and behavioral sciences (BEHA); agriculture, biology, and environmental sciences (AGRI); and physical, chemical, and earth sciences (PHYS). Includes title, authors, bibliographic data and, when available, authors' addresses. Corresponds to printed index Current Contents.

Subjects covered include: Life sciences, including biochemistry, cytology, experimental medicine, genetics, hematology, immunology, molecular biology, neuroscience, pathology, pharmaceutical chemistry, radiology and nuclear medicine, toxicology, and virology; arts and humanities, including archaeology, art and architecture, criticism, cultural studies, dance, history, language, linguistics, literature, music, religion, theater, and film, radio, and television; clinical medicine, including allergy, critical care medicine, epidemiology, geriatrics and gerontology, nuclear medicine, oncology, radiology, surgery, and tropical medicine; agriculture, biology, and environmental sciences, including agriculture chemistry, animal behavior, applied microbiology, botany, dairy science, entomology, forestry, horticulture, marine biology, soil science, veterinary medicine and pathology, and wildlife management; engineering, technology, and applied sciences, including aeronautics, civil engineering, communications, electronics, materials science, nuclear science and technology, polymer science, robotics, and telecommunication; physical, chemical, and earth sciences, including analytical chemistry, astronomy, chemical physics, condensed matter, geology and geophysics, mathematics, nuclear physics, paleontology, physics, spectroscopy, and statistics and probability; and social and behavioral sciences, including anthropology, area studies, communications, economics, ethnic studies, human development, information science, law, operations research, political science, public health, sociology, substance abuse, urban studies, and women's studies.

Current Issues Sourcefile
Location: Wilson Reference, CD-ROM, not available online

Full-text information from hundreds of public interest and advocacy groups, professional and trade associations, 'think tanks,' government agencies, etc., covering various topics and issues in the news. Most of the publications in the database (over 80%) are non-governmental in origin. Included are: fact sheets, issue briefs, journal articles, newsletter articles, pamphlets and brochures, prepared statements to congressional committees, press releases, reports, books and speeches. Updated quarterly.

Dissertation Abstracts Online. Available online from FirstSearch/OCLC through the Indexes option in LUMINA. Each month, an additional 3500 records are added to DAI, each year an additional 3000 records to ADD and 1000 records added quarterly to MAI. Dates of coverage are 1861 to date for DAI and ADD; 1962 to date for MAI.

Contains over one million citations, with abstracts (since 1980), to dissertations accepted for doctoral degrees by accredited North American educational institutions and more than 200 institutions elsewhere. Corresponds to the coverage in Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI), American Doctoral Dissertations (ADD), and Comprehensive Dissertation Index (CDI). The database also contains citations, with abstracts (since 1988), to masters' theses corresponding to the coverage in Masters Abstracts International (MAI).

Subjects include any topic of a doctoral dissertation accepted at accredited American institutions in approximately 3000 subject areas; also masters theses and some dissertations from Canadian and overseas institutions. Citations and abstracts are in English.

Ethnic Newswatch (Wilson Reference, CD-ROM, not available online.) Database covers July 1991 to the present and the database is updated monthly.

Produced by SoftLine Information, Inc. This database contains the full-text of over 350,000 articles, editorials, and reviews published in approximately 200 ethnic and minority newspapers, magazines, and journals published in the United States, UK, Africa and Canada. The database provides multicultural coverage of subjects of interest to African Americans, Hispanics, Latinos, Chicanos, Native Americans, Asian, Jewish, Arab, and European and Eastern European Americans. The scope of the database includes: National and international news affecting and/or of special interest to the ethnic and minority populations of the United States.

Expanded Academic Index. Available online from IAC through the Indexes option in LUMINA.

Contains over 1.15 million citations, with selected abstracts, to articles, news reports, editorials, biographies, short stories, poetry, and reviews appearing in some 1500 social science, humanities, general science, and current events periodicals plus the New York Times. Provides the complete text of articles appearing in more than 200 selected periodicals. Covers topics of high academic interest. Records are added daily.

Subjects covered include: Humanities, social sciences, general sciences, and current events, including art, cultural studies, economics, education, environmental issues, ethics, ethnic studies, government, history, literature, politics, popular science, psychology, religion, sociology, travel, women's studies, and literature relevant to African, Asian, European, Latin American, and Middle Eastern studies. All entries are in English. Coverage is international; 1976 to date; or 1988 to date. 15,000 new records added per month.

General Reference Center (formerly called Magazine Index). Available from IAC through the Indexes option in LUMINA. Since 1983, there are some records with the full-text of the articles included.

Contains over three million citations, with abstracts (since 1973) of articles published in more than 400 general-interest and consumer magazines published in the United States and Canada as well as The New York Times. Covers feature articles, news reports, editorials, product evaluations, biographical pieces, short stories, poetry, recipes, reviews, and other features. Includes the complete text of selected articles published in more than 100 magazines.

Subjects covered include: Any topic of general interest, including art, business, current events, economics, education, entertainment, health, hobbies, leisure, nutrition, physical fitness, social issues, and science which may appear in these types of publications. Abstracts and citations are in English. Basic coverage is American with some international coverage.

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. Available from CIS/Lexis-Nexis online through the Indexes option in LUMINA.

This research service is very strong in general news, current events and business news; with thousands of full-text newspapers, magazines, journals and newsletters. Other database segments provide company profiles, financial infomation, legal information and medical and health information. Searching is done in over 15 separate areas: Top news, general news topics, company news, industry and market news, government and political news, legal news, company financial information, country profiles, state profiles, biographical information, reference and directories, general medical and health topics, medical abstracts, and law reviews.

Newspaper Abstracts. Available online from FirstSearch/OCLC through the Indexes option in LUMINA.

Contains nearly three million citations, with abstracts, to articles from 26 major newspapers, including: American Banker, Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta Journal (selected articles only), Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Denver Post, Detroit News, Guardian, and Guardian Weekly (London), Houston Chronicle, Houston Post, Los Angeles Times, Times-Picayune (New Orleans), New York Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and Washington Times. Covers international, national, regional, and local news, business and finance, editorials, commentaries, letters to the editor from prominent people, arts and leisure, special series and supplements, sports, and obituaries of eminent persons. Also includes Black Newspaper Index, providing citations to selected articles from nine Black newspapers.

Subjects covered include: News and current events, including business and economic trends, political and governmental issues, international relations, biographical information, social and demographic issues and trends, regional trends and features, and arts and entertainment. Specific coverage includes commentaries, editorials, editorial cartoons, features, obituaries, reviews, and series. All abstracts and citations are in English. Coverage is largely North American. Coverage began in 1984.

PAIS International. Available from OCLC/FirstSearch through the Indexes option in LUMINA. Updated monthly.

Contains over 400,000 citations, with brief abstracts, to literature on business and the social sciences with emphasis on contemporary social, economic, and political issues and the making and evaluating of public policy. Corresponds to three printed PAIS publications also available in Wilson Reference: PAIS Bulletin (1976-1990), which covers 800 English-language journals and 6000 non-serial publications (i.e., government documents, pamphlets, books, yearbooks, directories, reports of public and private agencies, and materials from the U.S. Congress);PAIS Foreign Language Index (1972-1990), which covers 400 journals and 2000 non-serial publications in 5 languages (French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish), and PAIS International In Print (1991 to date), which covers 1200 journals and 8000 non-serial publications in 6 languages (English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish).

Subjects covered include: Public affairs and public policy in the areas of business, economics, education, law and legislation, government, political science, international relations, public administration, banking and finance, environment, agriculture, health, education, demography, statistics, sociology, and other social sciences.

Science Citation Index Expanded. Available from ISI through the Indexes option in LUMINA.

The sciences, including agriculture, astronomy, biochemistry, biology, biotechnology, chemistry, computer science, materials science, mathematics, medicine, neuroscience, oncology, pediatrics, pharmacology, physics, plant sciences, psychiatry, surgery, veterinary science, and zoology are covered. Database provides bibliographic citations, plus author abstracts "for approximately 70% of the articles in the database." Each citation also includes a list of references cited in the source article. In addition, it is possible to retrieve a list of works that have cited a specific author or a specific earlier work.

Materials Covered: Articles, reviews, letters, etc. from over 5,300 major journals across 164 scientific disciplines. Database covers 1997-present. Updated weekly. Please note: A CD-ROM version covering 1986 - June 1997 is available in the Reference departments of the Science and Engineering Library and the St. Paul Campus Central Library. Contact the reference staff for assistance.

Page comments to: Patricia Stark