Resources for Issues in the News

Looking for current information about homelessness, immigration policies, gender issues, or other “issues in the news”?  You may have done a Google search on your subject and been overwhelmed with the mass of material.  But you will not find the best information by simply doing a Google search.  This handout will introduce you to some of the resources available to you through the Baldwin Library.  For specific questions on the best way to search a particular database or advice on which resource is the most applicable to your situation, do not hesitate to ask the library staff.  We like doing reference!

If you are having trouble deciding on a topic, try looking through some of the current magazines on display in the library.  Times, Newsweek, National Geographic, and any of the newspapers may give you some ideas for an appropriate subject. More help?  Check the CQ Researcher database to see what issues they have recently highlighted.

Books
The library has purchased (and has access to through NetLibrary) numerous books in a few series that specialize in providing overviews and balanced coverage of topics of current interest.  To see these in a list, do a KEYWORD search (not an exact search) for one of these in the library's on-line catalog, GIL. 

Note the call number of any book you are interested in and make sure to browse the shelves AROUND that number.  Librarians work very hard to make sure that a great deal of the material on a single topic will sit together on the shelf;  exploit that idiosyncrasy. It may be worth your time to browse the appropriate sections in the main collection upstairs as well as the Reference Collection on the main floor, but as a general rule, the most current information will be in the Reference Collection.  

Don’t ignore the e-books!!!  GIL gives you access to a number of digital books through NetLibrary. You will find these e-books by searching  GIL for your subject.  There are hundreds of books available through NetLibrary that discuss many social issues. In order to read these books off campus, you must have set up a NetLibrary account while you were ON campus.  Confused?  Just ask.

GILExpress will let you request books that ABAC does not own from other University System of Georgia libraries. Interested?  Ask one of the library staff for help.

Databases

GALILEO, Georgia’s Virtual Library, gives ABAC students access to many different research databases from every discipline.  Often, the most difficult problem is choosing the best resources for your research interest.  We often suggest the following databases as news resources.  Find them by clicking on the tab .  You will then be presented with a list of options – choose News to see the databases that we suggest might be appropriate starting points for current events topics. Notice there is Census and Government Publications information available as an option – if you need statistics to support an argument, this may be the place for you to look.  If you find an article citation in one of the databases and no full text, you may request the article from one of the librarians using a process called Interlibrary Loan. If you are using  GALILEO off campus, you may be asked for a password.  Contact a member of the library staff for the one currently in use.
These are the databases you may find most useful.

CQ Researcher  -- a great place to start your research.  CQ Researcher chooses current events topics, social problems and other “issues in the news” and presents balanced overviews, timelines, suggested further readings and extensive bibliographies.
LexisNexis – The Cadillac of news databases.  On the left side of the opening screen, pick News.  This will lead you to a screen that will give you the ability to search newspapers from around the world – or narrow it down to one particular publication.
Academic Search Complete – Be sure to try this one.  It’s the biggest database in GALILEO and has a little something on just about every topic.

Reference Books
There are specialized encyclopedias that may touch on your subject. Here are some examples:

Web Resources --  Google will bury you with junk … try these first!

INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections     Many of the resources described here are paid subscriptions (and you will not be able to access them), which proves again that not everything on the ‘net is free.
Vivisimo:  A specialized web search engine that clusters higher quality websites into easy to access categories.
New York Public Library: Best of the Web   If the NYPL likes it, it must be pretty good.

Revised 1/07