HI481 History Research Seminar: Periodicals

The Periodicals Collection is located on the lower level of the library. 

The collection includes:

• Journals, both magazines and scholarly articles
• Newspapers
• Microform

This guide is a brief introduction for finding print journals. If you need help with periodicals, visit the Periodicals Desk on the lower level for assistance. 

All items are in print. For information about finding online sources, visit our guide for finding articles. 

• Journals are filed alphabetically by title
• The "A's" start at the back of the Lower Level (the corner closest to the Periodicals info desk, to the right side when facing the desk)
• Journal titles A - L are on one side of the Lower Level
• Journals titles M - Z are on the other side (closer to the bathrooms)
• Each shelf has signs at the end indicating what letter range is shelved there
• Newspapers are shelved alphabetically by title

• Journals are published by volume and number. Each issue has its own vol. and no.
• Typically, each year a journal or magazine that is published will be a new volume, and each issue that comes out that year will have its own number.
  • Ex: The New Yorker is published weekly.
    • The issue published Oct. 21, 2019 is vol. 95, no. 32. [v.95, no.32 (Oct.21, 2019)]
    • The issue published Nov. 4, 2019 is vol. 95, no. 34 [(v.95, no.34 (Nov.4, 2019)]
    • The issue published Dec. 21, 2020 is vol. 96, no. 41 [v.96, no.41 (Dec. 21, 2020)]
• Journal issues within a title are shelved in order of earliest publication (ex: vol. 1, no. 1) to most recent.
• Some journal issues have been bound together (into what looks like a book).
  • You may need to flip through the book to find the issue you want.
• Other journals will be in red boxes, with the volume & numbers labeled on the box.

Leave out the "The" at the beginning of journal titles

• Journals that begin with the word "The" are shelved alphabetically by the word after the "The." We do not count the "The" as part of the title.
  • Ex: "The New Yorker" is shelved as an "N" publication, not a "T" publication.

Check for acronyms if you can't find a journal

• Some journals are shelved by their title's acronym instead of the full title. If you can't find a journal by its title, try finding it by its acronym.
  • Ex: "PS" (Political Science and Politics)
  • Ex: "ANS" (Advances in Nursing Science)
  • Ex: "MCN" (The American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing)
• Tip: since some of these acronyms are not intuitive, look the journal title up in the catalog to see if the acronym appears next to the journal title.

Pay attention to titles that begin with "Journal for..." vs. "Journal of..." These titles take every word into account, so "for," "of," and "the" all count when ordering the journals alphabetically. For example, "Journal of the World Mariculture Society" comes before "Journal of Theological Studies," which comes before "Journal of Tissue Culture Methods." Every word is in alphabetical order.

• Journal titles that begin with "Journal for..." are shelved in the "J's" before titles that begin with "Journal of..."
• Here is an example of how they are shelved, in order:
  • Journal for Research in Mathematics Education
  • Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing
  • Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
  • Journal for the Study of the New Testament
  • Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
  • Journal of Abnormal Psychology
  • Journal of the American Academy of Religion
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society
  • Journal of the American College Health
  • JACC - Journal of the American College of Cardiology
  • Journal of the American Dietetic Association
  • Journal of the American Geriatric Society