Introduction | Reference Sources | Indexes & Databases | Internet Resources | Citation Styles

If you have any questions about your research, please contact the public policy librarian, Bill Grubb, at bgrubb@usm.maine.edu, or at 780-4672. You can also go to one of the reference desks, call Gorham (780-5344); Portland (780-4272); Lewiston Auburn (753-6541); or use the Ask-A-Librarian service.

The library home page serves as a gateway to many valuable links to state, federal, and international government sources. (Click on “Government Information.”) There you will find, among others, the websites for all federal agencies, boards, and commissions, as well as all those for congressional, judicial, and legislative offices.

A number of government sites provide useful information for research. The following are recommended.

• The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Policy provides statistics and programs on employment for those with disabilities
• Census.gov reports the information gathered every ten years on the country’s population: everything from racial characteristics to housing costs to miles traveled to work. It also gives historical data for comparisons.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics site provides national, regional, and state-specific information, and gives access to employment data of all kinds: consumer price index, productivity, and the cost of doing business, for example.
• The National Center for Education Statistics collates and compares educational statistics from around the county.
• In addition to numerous other policy resources, the Library of Congress has a comprehensive guide to law that allows you to search the United States Code of Laws and the Code of Federal Regulations.
• The United States General Accountability Office provides studies for members of Congress, and archives its reports online.
• The National Bureau of Economic Research offers working papers, research reports, and studies on a variety of topics. Searchable by economic term or policy area.

Find other such statistical sources by clicking on “FedStats” on the library’s government information link. You can search the site by broad policy areas, which helps when you need to compile information from a number of federal agencies.

Glickman Library has several print resources that will provide you with overviews of policy issues: Encyclopedia of American Public Policy (Ref JK468 P64 J33) and International Encyclopedia of Public Policy and Administration. (Ref H97 I574), for example. Both those multi-volume sets will give you valuable background information on a number of topics.

For comparative information about state policies, see The Book of the States (Ref JK 2403 B6), or State Rankings , (Ref HA 214 S87) both of which are published annually. The Municipal Yearbook (Ref JS 344 C5 A24) provides an annual snapshot of trends and resources in the nation’s cities. Local and Regional Government Information (Ref Z 1223.5 L 63) and Tapping State Government Information Source s (Ref Z 1223.5 A.1 T36) are also valuable resources.

Familiarize yourself with URSUS, the on-line catalogue of the University of Maine system. If you do not know the exact subject heading describing the topic you need, try doing a keyword search using other words related to that topic, and then click on the subject heading links found within the relevant records to find additional, useful resources.

To obtain materials not located at the USM library, but still within URSUS, click on the Request button on the URSUS screen and enter your name and barcode number (found under the barcode on your USM Card, which begins with 25022....). (Activate your barcode at any USM circulation desk.)

URSUS also provides access to Maine InfoNet, which allows you to borrow from the Portland Public Library, as well as Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, Maine Maritime Academy, and the University of New England. (Maine InfoNet usually also gets materials to you within a week.) If the item you need, however, is not available through URSUS or Maine InfoNet, you will need to fill out an ILLiad (interlibrary loan request) form to request it. Sign up for an ILLiad account.

Given the nature of your work, databases are likely to be of significant help in your research endeavors. While many of the databases do provide full-text articles, often the more discipline-specific a database, the less full text it contains. Again, however, you can request any article in print through ILLiad, and have it delivered to you electronically. For help finding research articles, see the Finding Articles Tutorial.

Academic Search Premier
Provides full-text access to about 3500 peer-reviewed journals, and citation information for approximately 7000 journals, magazines, and newspapers in total. Coverage dates vary by resource.

Alternative Press Index
Indexes journals covering social, political, economic, and cultural change. Coverage dates vary by resource. (On-campus access only.)

Business Source Premier
Business and Company Resource Center
Both provide citations and full-text articles about local, national, and international business and industry. Years of coverage vary by resource.

Contemporary Women's Issues
Journals, newsletters, and research reports from non-profit groups, government and international agencies; covers 150 countries. Years of coverage vary by resource

CQ Researcher
Analysis on a variety of public policy issues. Forty-four single-issue reports yearly. Coverage starts with 1991

EconLit
An index of economic literature. Subject indexing and abstracts from economic journals, books, dissertations, and working papers. Coverage starts with 1969

Electronic journals: Full Text (EBSCOhost Electronic Journals Service)
Full-text articles from nearly 700 disciplinary journals.

ERIC - Education
Offers citations and some full-text articles related to education and educational policy. Coverage varies by resource, but generally begins with the late 1960s.

FactSearch
Statistics on current social, economic, political, environmental and health issues from the Christian Science Monitor, the Congressional Record, Congressional hearings, White House, Department of State and Department of Defense daily press briefings, and Australian, British and Canadian parliamentary debates. (On-campus access only.)

HeinOnline
Indexes and full-text access to legal and policy journals from around the world. Dates of coverage vary by resource

IngentaConnect
Indexes more than 27,000 academic and professional journals; offers full-text for 6,000. Coverage begins with 1988

MEDLINE
Medical and health policy articles from scholarly journals and government studies.

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Offers abstracts—and the first 24 pages—of all U.S dissertations since 1997.

ProQuest Newspapers
Offers full-text access to hundreds of international, national, and regional newspapers and news services, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Coverage dates vary by resource

PAIS International
Citations for articles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories about public affairs. Coverage starts with 1972; earlier print editions in the library.

PsycINFO
Indexes more than 1300 journals in psychology and related disciplines, including medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, and other areas. Includes information from empirical studies, case studies, surveys, bibliographies, and literature reviews. Coverage begins with 1887.

Statistical Universe
A Lexis/Nexis database that compiles information from federal, state, and local governments, as well as from nonprofit and international organizations. Coverage varies by resource, but generally begins with the late 1970s.

STAT-USA
Maintained by the Economics and Statistics Administration of the Department of Commerce, the site provides current and historical economic and financial data, as well as access to the National Trade Data Bank. Accessible in the library only; see a librarian for login.

Sociological Abstracts
Abstracts of articles from sociology and psychology journals. Coverage varies by source

Of the myriad resources on the web, the following are some of the most helpful. Each provides many links to other sites and sources of information.

Disability Resources

Excellent sites that offer links to organizations, programs, journals and news

International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet

Society for Disability Studies

Both these sites provide links to newsletters and reports about disability and employment issues

World Institute on Disability

Disability Exchange

This website contains numerous reports and analyses done for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research by a commercial firm.

Association for Persons in Supported Employment

Offers program information; newsletters; access for members to the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation

State and Local Governments
State and Local Government on the Net
Has more than 7,000 links to state governments and regional commissions, as well as to NGOs like the National League of Cities) and the Council of State Governments. The Pew Center on the States has an excellent website as well.

Think Tanks and Public Interest Groups
InfoUSA: Think Tanks and Public Interest Organizations
An outstanding site!

Cascade Policy Institute
Maintained by the Cascade Policy Center at the University of Washington; links to state and local think-tanks and policy centers.

Political Science
Univ of Michigan Government Document Center
The grandmother of them all; the best on the web.

Social Policy Resources
Internet Researcher: A Guide to Social Policy Resources
An excellent site maintained by Catholic University. Links to social policy organizations, current research, and historical perspectives on social policy.

Social Sciences
Social Science Information Gateway
Produced by the British Library of Political and Economic Science, site links to databases, journals, books, data, educational materials, government publications, news, organizations, and papers.

Health
One of the first gateways, Healthweb is indexed by topic, and links to hundreds of excellent sources in both health and health policy

Economics
Economic Data Links to economic data from agriculture to transportation; a terrific resource.

For help finding research articles, see the Finding Articles Tutorial.

For help in evaluating information taken from websites, use the Mariner tutorial

For an tutorial on “Endnote,” a program that will put your database search results into the correct bibliographic format, Please check out our EndNote Tutorial.

The libraries have a variety of print style manuals that will guide you through the citation process for each of your classes. Find them near each of the circulation desks. In addition, click here the website below offers tips on the citation styles of the American Psychological Association, the American Political Science Association; the American Sociological Association; and the University of Chicago. It also has guides to legal citation.

Created by: Anne Edwards
Created on: 08.29.2005
Last Updated: 09.01.2005