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Library Resources

Articles

Articles in journals, newspapers, magazines, and more

Books

Books and eBooks

Course Materials

Textbooks and course materials placed on reserve by your instructors

Other Materials

Databases, streaming films, journal titles, newspapers, etc.
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University Archives and Special Collections

Find MSMU Special Collections

MSMU's University Archives collects, preserves, and provides access to materials of historical, research, and administrative interest pertaining to the history of the university. MSMU Special Collections materials include rare books, early editions of the Bible, theology treatises, devotional works, and Classical writings as well as various 18th, 19th, and 20th-century literature and art books.

 Visit MSMU Special Collections Quick Link: MSMU Digital Collections in JSTOR

Quick Links

Helpful links to many of the MSMU Library resources.

Other Materials

The MSMU Libraries can help you gain access to a wide variety of data resources:

  • Geospatial Data (GIS)
  • Business, Economics, Industry and Market Data
  • Text and Data Mining
  • Datasets for Teaching and Learning
  • Data for Digital Humanities projects

Databases for Statistics & Datasets

  • Statista

    A tool for researching quantitative data, statistics and related information. Statista includes directly accessible data for 170 industries from 50 countries through The Statistics Portal, as well as industry reports, market studies, surveys, consumer market data, digital market data and more. Useful for market research and data literacy. Graphs may be downloaded in a variety of formats for inclusion in presentations and research papers.

  • ICPSR (for political and social research)
    The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research maintains a data archive of more than 250,000 files of research in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts many specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields.
    NOTE: Create an ICPSR account with your MSMU email address to gain access to more datasets.

  • Rand California and US Statistics
    RAND US contains many social science databases covering all 50 US states. The CA collection contains these US databases, as well as detailed databases on California. Data on a wide range of factors such as health, economics, population and more. Maps and data visualizations help users explore the data.

  • Statistical Abstracts of the United States
    Published from 1878 to 2012, an authoritative and comprehensive summary of historical statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.

Ask us for help with:

  • Working With Data
  • Analyzing Data
  • Text and Data Mining
  • Data Visualization
  • Data Management
  • Geographic Info Systems (GIS)
  • SPSS

In the list, databases may be found:

  • by subject
  • by type
  • by name, alphabetically

 If you already know exactly which database you need, you can select it directly from the list below:

 

Pro Tips for using Databases

You can create personal accounts for most databases to save resources and search strategies for the future.

Just log in to the database of your choice (Quick Search, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, etc.) and find the "login" or "my account" button and sign up for a free personalized account.

Also known as Government Documents

Locating government information can seem daunting. Depending on your topic, there are a wide variety of resources at your disposal.

Federal Information

To begin research on Federal Government documents, start with locating the responsible agency through usa.gov.
Each agency has its own website and searchable content.

State Information

To start researching state-specific information, start with the government website associated with that specific state. For California, use ca.gov.

Legal Resources

The library subscribes to a number of resources that you may find helpful, including:

NexisUni  - (MSMU students, faculty, and staff only)
Features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis,  including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790.

HeinOnline - (MSMU students, faculty, and staff only)
Legal history and government documents, with law-related periodicals, the entire Congressional Record, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulations, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754, and entire databases dedicated to treaties, constitutions, case law, world trials, classic treatises, international trade, foreign relations, U.S. Presidents, and much more.

Looking for more on Government Information?

What is a Journal?

A journal, sometimes called a serial or a periodical, is a publication that is issued at regular intervals in a continuing series. This includes:

  • Popular Magazines
  • Professional or Trade Journals
  • Scholarly Journals
  • Newspapers

Journals are issued both online and in print. MSMU subscribes to many databases which include access to online journals and articles.

Use Quick Search to Find Journals

  • Click on the link above.
  • Enter a title, subject, or ISSN to locate the journal-title.
  • Once you have located your desired journal, you can also use this feature to search within the journals themselves.

Search for Print Periodicals (Journals)

Use the Library Catalog to locate print periodicals. Search by title or use the Advanced Search option to limit by Availability "Physical Items Held by MSMU" and Resource Type "Journals."

Browsing is also encouraged! Circulation rules vary by campus.

Find Print Periodicals (Journals)

Where are they located?

Coe Library - 1st Floor, rolling stacks
McCarthy Library - 2nd Floor 

Streaming Video

Kanopy at MSMU

What is it?

Kanopy is an on-demand film streaming service that has a broad collection of over 30,000 full-length films on a multitude of subjects from leading producers/distributors, such as Criterion Collection, The Great Courses, New Day Films, Samuel Goldwyn, PBS, and more.

How to Access Kanopy

Films can be streamed from any computer, television, mobile device, or platform by visiting msmu.kanopy.com or downloading the Kanopy app.

How to Log in 

  • Use your MSMU credentials to create an account, or simply start streaming.
  • If you are on campus, you do not need to login to start streaming. 

Please help us keep costs down by exiting out of a film quickly if you don't plan to watch it. After 30 seconds of viewing, the license triggers.

If you create a Kanopy account with your MSMU credentials, you will be able to: 

Kanopy has many titles of unique educational, social, and cultural value. Enjoy!

Kanopy-logo

 

 

Free Streaming Audio

Open Access Audio

Resources to help you find free audio files:

  • ccmixter
    "Download, Sample, Cut-up, Share" A community remix site including Creative Commons licensed music, audio, and video.
  • Free Music Archive
    An interactive library of legal audio downloads directed by WFMU-FM, a listener-supported, non-commercial radio station.
  • Historical Voices
    Collection of spoken-word materials housed in a grant-funded digital library stored by Michigan State University.
  • Internet Archive - Audio Archive
    Contains recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by our users. Many of these files are available for free download.
  • National Jukebox - Library of Congress
    Historical recordings from the Library of Congress - streaming collection of old music from the early 20th century.
  • LibriVox
    Collection of public domain audio books.
  • Open Culture - Audio Books
    Free audio books in various formats: iTunes, MP3, or streaming.
  • Wikimedia - Sound
    Free media repository of sounds.

MSMU Libraries subscribes to many popular newspapers including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times (and many more!)

Search for Newspapers

To locate a newspaper by title, use either of the following methods:

  1. Quick Search Newspapers (search across many titles)
  2. Databases A-Z (narrow by a particular news database

Search for Newspapers in Quick Search Newspapers

  • Search across multiple newspapers using the Newspaper function in Quick Search.
  • Here you can search for newspapers by title

Search for Newspapers in Databases A-Z

  • To begin, select one of our newspaper databases in Databases A-Z
  • These can be accessed by using the dropdown menu for Database Type and selecting News & Newspapers.
  • Example: A popular database from this list is News and Newspapers (ProQuest). Search by keyword or if you know the name of a specific newspaper you want to peruse, (example: Chicago Tribune) search by Publication.

Looking for more on News & Newspapers?

What are Patents?

A patent is the legal right of an inventor to exclude others from making or using a particular invention. This right is customarily limited in time, to 20 years from the date of the application submission in most countries.  (New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition)

What are Trademarks?

A trademark is a word, name, symbol, or device that is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others. Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a clearly different mark.  (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office)

Patent & Trademark Guides

Find Patents from Government Agencies

Find Trademarks in the United States

Science Patents & Licenses

Tips for Getting Started

 You may come across various tests and measurements while studying:

  • Psychology
  • Healthcare Administration and other medical applications
  • Business Administration
  • Education and Liberal Studies

Doing research in these fields may require collecting your own data, as well as the use of a test or measurement tool designed to address the specific variables in that data collection.

Finding the right test or instrument can be difficult.  In most cases, tests are copyrighted and must be purchased from the publishers. In other cases, instruments can be obtained for free directly from the original authors or may be found published entirely within a journal article.

More Tips

Databases to try

Mental Measurements Yearbook (EBSCO)
Designed for a broad audience, the MMY contains information essential for a complete evaluation of standardized tests within areas as psychology, education, business, and leadership. Also included is access to Test in Print (TIP), a comprehensive bibliography of all known commercially available tests that are currently in print in the English language.

TestLink: Test Collection at ETS
Offers the publisher and cost information as well as some indication of whether the test has been published in the literature, but does not offer the in-depth reviews.

Search for ETDs

ETDs - Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Some dissertations may be available in Quick Search.

  1. Visit Quick Search or enter a keyword search in the bar up above.
  2. After your results are displayed, at the left, under Resource Type, use the arrow to expand more results.
  3. Scroll until you find Dissertations and select it to see those items.

Open Access ETDs

Open access dissertations may also be found at:

Request Theses & Dissertations

In Print at MSMU

  • The McCarthy Library has (circulating) copies of most MSMU graduate thesis projects from 1974 to the present. They are located on the second floor in a designated section.
  • The Coe Library has a few (circulating) copies of MSMU graduate education-related and music theses scattered among the stacks. They are located on the first floor, generally in the L and M sections.
  • The CSJ Institute has (non-circulating) copies of the CSJ's masters and doctoral theses.

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If you are looking for assistance be sure to look at our frequently asked questions or contact us. hidden
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