Guide to Locating and Accessing Journals (Social Work Collection)

The IUB Libraries subscribe to more than 20,000 journal titles in print format, electronic format, or both print and electronic formats depending on the individual title. 

Electronic Journals:
Journals for which the Libraries have electronic access may be available in full-text with browseable tables of contents in journal aggregators such as Academic Search Premier.  Other journals may not be available in full-text, but indexed and abstracted in databases such as Social Work Abstracts, Social Sciences Abstracts, and Sociological Abstracts. Descriptions for each of these resources are provided below. 

• Social Work Abstracts:
  Social Work Abstracts contains records from social work and related journals on topics such as homelessness, AIDS, child and family welfare, aging, substance abuse, legislation, and community organization, from 1977 to the present.

• Social Services Abstracts:
  Social Services Abstracts provides bibliographic coverage of current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development, from 1980 to the present. Major areas of coverage include crisis intervention, family and social welfare, gerontology, homelessness, policy, planning, professional issues in social work, social development, social work education, and support groups/networks.
  
  

• Academic Search Premier:
  Academic Search Premier is a multi-disciplinary, full-text database. This resource contains full-text for nearly 3,180 scholarly publications. This database provides coverage for nearly all academic areas of study, including social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.
  
  

• Sociological Abstracts:
  Sociological Abstracts indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences, from 1963 to the present. It provides abstracts to journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers, and citations to book reviews.

Full-text aggregators and indexes can be accessed from the Find Information web page.  Search for the database name by title r alphabetically.  For a collection of databases that are helpful for social work research, go to Databases by Subject and click on Social Work.  You may also wish to look at the databases available in Psychology, Gender Studies, and Sociology.

Print Journals:
To locate specific journal titles that the IUB Libraries own, search in IUCAT, the online library catalog. 

Using a 'Keyword or Exact Search':

• If the exact periodical title is known: enter the title and choose the 'Exact' search option. 
• If the exact periodical title is not known: enter keywords from the title and choose the 'Keyword' search option. 
• To conduct the search, click on the 'Periodical Title' button.  Searching by periodical title rather than by keyword or title limits the search to periodical titles only.

     ALF Delivery:
     Not all library materials are housed in the Wells Library.  Any library materials that
     have been sent to the Ruth Lilly Auxiliary Library Facility (ALF) may be requested
     for delivery to an IUB campus library.  Requested materials must be picked up in
     person from a chosen library's circulation desk.  Materials requested prior to 12:00
     p.m. (noon), Monday through Friday, will be available from your selected Bloomington
     library delivery destination by 5:00 p.m. the same evening. Materials requested after
     12:00 p.m. (noon), Monday through Friday, will be available from your selected
     Bloomington library delivery destination by 5:00 p.m. the following business day. 
     For more information, visit the Request Materials from ALF web page.


Interlibrary Loan:
For journals and/or articles that the IUB Libraries do not own, utilize the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) services.

     WorldCat: 
     WorldCat is the world's most comprehensive catalog, with more than 33 million
     bibliographic records from libraries around the world. Use WorldCat to do a
     comprehensive search of published material, to verify citations, or to identify other
     libraries that own an item.  Additionally, WorldCat records contain a direct link for ILL
     requests.


For help in locating and accessing print or electronic journals, contact Moira Smith at molsmith@indiana.edu or 855-1550.