Book Collections

The LRC is a cooperating member of the Shawnee Library System, which provides access to an online database of more than 1,000,000 titles. The online public access catalog, PAC, is the key to finding materials in the LRC and the Shawnee database. You can search in a number of ways including using keywords from the title or subject, as well as the more traditional author, title, or subject approach. Any member of the LRC staff can show you how to use the catalog and can help you locate materials; please ask for assistance when needed.

Journals and Magazines

Over 300 periodical titles are available in the Reference department. There is a printed list of the RLC holdings, A Guide to Magazines, Newspapers, and Indexes, located various places within the LRC. Clicking on the above link can access an online list. Back issues of periodicals may be available in paper copy or on microform in the Reference Department. Some periodicals can be accessed online. Links to these periodicals are listed below.

Indexes

In order to locate magazine or journal articles an index is needed. The LRC has two types of indexes to periodical articles:

Print Indexes - These indexes include Biography, Business, Education, General Science, and Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. These are found on the index shelves next to the Reference office.

Electronic Indexes - The LRC subscribes to two main indexes for online searching, EBSCOhost and FirstSearch. Other indexes can be found on the Electronic Library. These are magazine and journal article databases, not Internet sources. They are just accessed through the Internet.

Databases

The LRC has access to over 42 databases for research. Many of these databases offer full text articles from magazines, newspapers, and journals. They cover a wide variety of topics. Some are specialized to a particular subject area such as CINAHL (medical) and ABI inform (business). These databases can be found on the Electronic Library page.

Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary loan services allow students to access periodical articles, which cannot be found at the LRC, from collections of other Illinois libraries. You can use the link provided above to fill out a form and email the request to the Reference department or you can fill out a print form available at the Reference office. Please fill all forms out completely. Allow approximately 7-14 days for articles to arrive by interlibrary loan.

Newspapers

The LRC subscribes to local, regional, and national newspapers. Back issues of the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, and the Wall Street Journal are available on microform. Other newspapers, such as the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the Southern Illinoisan are kept for two months. The links listed below will take you to the individual newspapers' web pages.