Online Catalog

To search for books, click on “find books and other materials “on the Milner Library website.  The Online Catalog offers the “Advanced Search” as well as the “Quick Search” (with any word, title and subject searching).      

If you are working from a bibliography, using the “Advanced Search”, type in the author’s last name and the title of the book to see if Milner Library has the book you need.  The “Quick Search -- Author” may also be useful for finding books written by a specific person.

For searching by subject, use “Advanced Search -- Subject Words” or the  “Quick Search -- Subject”   If you find very few or no books using the subject searches, try the  “Advanced Search – Any Words” or  the “Quick Search -- Any Word Anywhere” search.  

To find books on a particular person, look under the name of the person using the “Quick Search -- Subject” or the “Advanced Search -- Subject Words”.

To locate primary sources, look for subject divisions such as Sources, Correspondence, Diaries, Personal narratives, Interviews, Oral history, etc. 

The following subjects may be useful for your research:

 Genocide (subdivided by country or region)

  Atrocities

  Crimes against humanity

  Ethnic conflict

  Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

  Human rights

  Mass murder

  State sponsored terrorism

The My Account link in the Online Catalog shows items checked out, request information, fines and fees, and offers online renewal of books.

For materials not available in Milner Library, use the I-Share Catalog link to search other libraries.  Use the Request function to have books sent to Milner from other libraries.  Request books you need early!  It may take 3-5 days or longer to receive a book from another I-Share library.

To search for books and other materials in libraries worldwide, use WorldCat  --  available under “find articles on your topic”, then “Databases by title”.

Databases and Article Indexes

To locate journal articles on your topic, first use an online database.  Milner Library has several databases that provide access to articles in scholarly journals.  To search any of the online databases, click on "find articles on your topic" on the Milner Library Web Site.

Under "Databases by subject", click on the down arrow to view the list of subject areas.  Scroll down the list until you find History or a related subject; click on the subject to view a list of databases.

Under "Databases by title", click on the down arrow to view the list of databases and indexes.  Scroll through the list to find the database you need; click on the title to enter the database and begin searching.  To search multiple databases at the same time, use the “Search It” option.

The sources listed below are good places to begin your research.

1.  Historical Abstracts.
The major database for journal articles on world history.

2.  America History and Life. 
The major database for journal articles on United States and Canadian history.

3.  JSTOR.
Online full text database of articles from journals in the humanities and social sciences. Covers earlier years of selected journals, but not the most recent years.

4.  Project Muse.
Provides online full text access to scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences.  Most current years are covered; some journals include 5-10 years of earlier issues.

5.  PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) International.
The major database for articles in international politics and public policy.

6.  Social Sciences Abstracts.
Overall database covering articles in areas such as anthropology, geography, politics, etc.

7.  Dissertations and Theses.
Indexing for dissertations since 1861;  Full text available from 1997 - present.

8.  Congressional Publications.
Index to documents, reports, hearings, etc. of the U.S. Congress from 1789-present.

9.  GPO (Government Printing Office) Monthly Catalog. 
Index to U.S. government documents from 1976-present.

10.  Alternative Press Index
Indexing for alternative, radical & left periodicals, newspapers and magazines.

11.  Black Thought and Culture
Full text of essays, articles, interviews, speeches & chapter on African-American history and society.

12.  Readers' Guide Retrospective
Indexing for popular periodicals from 1890-1982. 

Depending upon your topic, other databases such as Sociological Abstracts,  Communication and Mass Media Complete, Contemporary Women’s Issues,  Criminal Justice Abstracts, Periodical Abstracts, or Academic Search Premier may be helpful for your research.

Locating Journals
The Find It link is available in most databases.  Click on this link for full text access and to search for a journal in the Online Catalog. 

If you have a complete citation for an article, click on "find a known article".  Type in the journal title, year, volume and starting page:  then click on Find It.

To determine if a specific journal is available online through Milner Library, click on the E-Journals link in the left hand column on the library website.   A  "Find E-Journal" page will appear.  Type in the name of your journal and click on Go.

Newspapers

Newspapers may be a very useful source for historical material.  Milner Library subscribes to several newspapers from the local area, the state of Illinois, the United States and various other countries.  Some newspapers are kept for many years on microfilm.  The microfilm for most newspapers is located on Floor 2 in the northeast corner.  Microfilm of newspapers may also be borrowed from other libraries through InterLibrary Loan.

The following are examples of newspapers held in Milner Library.

1.  New York Times.  1851 - present.
Historical New York Times (Online) (1851-2005)

2.  Chicago Tribune.  
Chicago Tribune Online.  1985 – present.
Historical Chicago Tribune (Online)  (1849-1985).

3.  Christian Science Monitor.  1956 – present.
Christian Science Monitor archive online search at:  http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/advancedsearch.html.

4.  Washington Post.  1972 – present.
Washington Post archive online search at: http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/search.html. 

5.  London Times.  1785 - present.  2nd floor - microfilm
London Times Index.  1785 - present.  Ref.  AI 21 .T46 - 2nd floor
London Times online archive search at:
http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/archive

6.  Los Angeles Times.  1972 - present.  2nd floor - microfilm.
Los Angeles Times archive online search at:
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/search.html.

7.  Newspaper Source.
Online database covering about 300 national newspapers.

8. Academic Universe.
Full text database includes coverage of U.S. and international newspapers, wire services, and transcripts of radio and TV news broadcasts.

9. World News Connection.
Covers articles from international newspapers, wire services, radio broadcasts and news agencies.

InterLibrary Loan
In addition to the Request function in the Online Catalog, Milner Library also offers InterLibrary Loan services through the ILLIAD system.  A link to InterLibrary Loan is available on the Milner Library web site.  Login in to the ILLIAD system with your ULID and password.  New users will need to establish an account within ILLIAD.  ILLIAD allows for article and book requesting, as well as reviewing past requests and accessing articles received electronically.  Request materials on InterLibrary Loan early!   It may take 7-10 days or longer for a book or article to arrive via InterLibrary Loan.


RefWorks
RefWorks is an online service to assist students in creating reference lists and formatting citations for the bibliographies of research papers.

 

Vanette Schwartz,
Office:  Milner Library 416
Phone:  309-438-3486
E-mail: vmschwa@ilstu.edu