Criminology MAS Library Orientation &
Brief Guide to UCI Libraries
September 2006

Julia Gelfand, Liaison Librarian
UCI Science Library
PO Box 19556
Irvine, CA 92623-9556
jgelfand@uci.edu
(949) 824-4971

Welcome to UCI! As the liaison librarian to the Department of Criminology, Law and Society, I am responsible for meeting the information needs of students and faculty in the department and supporting its research and instructional programs. As distance education students, your primary interaction with the UCI Libraries will be through its website. This guide contains direct links to the resources you will most often use -- all of which are available remotely, provided that you follow instructions to set-up access to UCI's Virtual Private Network (VPN) or Proxy Server and that you have an activated UCINet ID and password. I encourage you to bookmark this page: http://course.lib.uci.edu/se/crmlaw/fa2006/MAS and my contact information so that you can easily reach me.

See How to Connect From Off-Campus

For assistance in using the remote resources of the UCI Libraries, you are welcome to contact me directly at the phone number or e-mail address above. If I am not available and your question is urgent, please try one of our general Ask a Librarian reference services, by telephone, EMAIL, or via LIVE Chat.

Getting Started as a UCI and UC Library User

Library Homepage: The library's front door.  This is a good site to bookmark or always have readily available and it is easy to remember at http://www.lib.uci.edu

Activate your library card and choose a PIN: This must be done in person at one of our libraries' Loan Desks. During your week in residence at UCI, you will want to acquire your photo ID at UC Items and bring it to a Loan Desk for activation. Please remember your PIN -- if you forget it, it can only be changed in person. See http://www.lib.uci.edu/services/cards/cards.html for more information.

Remote Access: Once you set up your browser to access the Virtual Private Network (VPN) or the Proxy Server, your UCINet ID will be your one user name and password to access all of the UCI Libraries' electronic resources. As noted above, I recommend that you do this as soon as possible, so that it will be in place when you need it for your coursework.  If you have difficulties, please contact NACS at 949-824-2222 for assistance and visit http://www.lib.uci.edu/services/how/connect.html

Accessing Electronic Reserves: Your professors may provide course readings or supplemental materials via electronic reserves. To access e-reserves, you need to know your library card number (it begins 219 ..., and is printed on your UCI photo ID card) and the PIN you will choose when you activate your borrowing card.
http://www.lib.uci.edu/services/reserves/res-eres.html

Subject Guides for Social Ecology: Databases, websites, and more of specific interest to Social Ecology students. Given the interdisciplinarity of your field, explore other subject guides as well -- including Medicine, Sociology, & Government Information. This should be a first choice for consultation at http://www.lib.uci.edu/online/subject/s-ecology.html and you will find a guide for each department.  These are works in progress so if you have recommendations of content to be added, I would be very happy for your contributions.

UCI Library Tutorials : Brief tutorials on how to find books, articles and more at the UCI Libraries. There are also two modules concerning legal research: "Cases and Digests" and "Statutes."  See http://tutorial.lib.uci.edu/

Finding Books & Journals

  • ANTPAC: Books, journals, government documents, videos owned or licensed by the UCI Libraries. Since more and more journals and government documents are available online, ANTPAC is a good source for remote access to full-text materials, even if you never use the library in person. Electronic course reserves are also accessed through ANTPAC, by course number or professor's name.  http://antpac.lib.uci.edu/
  • MELVYL: Melvyl is the combined library catalog for the entire UC Library System -- ten libraries in all. You can search the entire catalog at once, or restrict your search to a particular library that is convenient to your location. Like ANTPAC, Melvyl also contains links to electronic resources freely available on the Internet (usually government information) and licensed resources (such as databases or electronic journals).  http://www.lib.uci.edu/melvyl
  • WorldCat:  Millions of records containing the holdings of libraries worldwide. You can use WorldCat to identify books in a library convenient to your location -- including public libraries.  It will be noted if UCI owns the title you seek.
    http://uclibs.org/PID/12633

 

Using Other Libraries

  • University of California Libraries: Your UCI ID (library card) grants you borrowing privileges from other UC campuses at no additional fee, but you must abide by their particular borrowing regulations. See individual library websites for borrowing policies and procedures.  At some campuses you will have to register at the Loan Desk for an additional borrowing card. http://www.cdlib.org/about/faq/libraries.html
  • Your Local Public Library: If you need library materials that are not at your local UC campus, your local public library may offer Interlibrary Loan services for free or for a nominal fee.
  • Other Law Libraries - see Orange County Law Library or the County Law Library in the community nearest you.  Usually you have to go there in person to use the resources.
  • Law School Libraries - most law school libraries are restricted due to space to current faculty and enrolled students.  Please check the use policy prior to visiting.

Finding Journal Articles - the preference is to use online databases that index the scholarly and professional literature.  For access to the licensed databases it is essential that you use the Web VPN or load the VPN client for authentication.

  • NCJRS Abstracts Database (FREE INTERNET SITE): Summaries of more than 170,000 criminal justice publications, including Federal, State, and local government reports, books, research reports, journal articles, and unpublished research. Search ANTPAC by journal title to determine if UCI owns the article you need online. The NCJRS thesaurus is now available online. Browse the alphabetical list of terms, or search by keyword to find subject terms to describe your topic. Criminal justice has a very specialized vocabulary -- using the thesaurus can greatly improve the relevance of your search results. NCJRS Tutorial
  • NCJRS Abstracts Database via CSA: This Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) version of the NCJRS Abstracts Database allows you to limit your results to journal articles only, and to use UCeLinks to determine if the article you need is available online through a UCI Library subscription, or whether and where it is available in print in the UC library system. CSA Search Tutorial
  • Criminal Justice Abstracts: Comprehensive coverage of the major journals in criminology and related disciplines, extensive coverage of books and reports from government and nongovernmental agencies. Abstracts include a summary of the findings, methodology, and conclusions. Topics include crime trends, corrections, juvenile delinquency, police, courts, offenders, victims, and sentencing. CSA Search Tutorial
  • Criminal Justice Periodicals Index:  This database contains full-text and full-image coverage of approximately 50 criminal justice journals, with abstracts (summaries) for 140 additional titles. Publications covered in CJPI focus primarily on practical issues in crime prevention and deterrence, police issues, and courtroom procedures, but users will find a number of theoretical journals as well. Subject coverage includes such topics as corrections administration, law enforcement, forensic science, social work, industrial security, drug rehabilitation, and criminal and family law. Proquest Tutorial (pdf)
  • Criminology: A SAGE Fulltext Collection:  A full-text collection of Criminology Journals published by SAGE from 1982.
  • Web of Science : An online index consisting of Social Sciences Citation Index, Science Citation Index, and Arts and Humanities Citation Index. In addition to providing information on journal articles by subject term, author name, or journal title, a citation index makes it possible to identify articles that cite (make reference to) an earlier author or article. Some links to full-text. Web of Science Tutorial
  • Sociological Abstracts: An online index and abstracting source for literature in all fields of Sociology from 1963.
  • Sociology: A SAGE Full-Text Collection - A full-text collection of Sociology journals published by SAGE from 1982.
  • PsycInfo: An online index and abstracting source of literature in all fields of psychology from 1840.  Searches journal literature, books and book chapters and dissertations/theses.  You can restrict searches to a specific output and emphasize research methodology by publication type, age,  population, time period and language to make search more relevant.  A guide to how to use PsycInfo via CSA is available at http://course.lib.uci.edu/PsycINFOviaCSAIllumina-1.pdf

  • PsycARTICLES: Full-text articles of the 57 journals published by the American Psychological Assocation from 1985.

  • PAIS International: An indexing resource for articles, books, book chapters and government information in the field of public affairs from 1972 to the present.  PAIS Archive covers the index from 1937-1976.

  • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts: An indexing and abstracting service covering Political Science themes and issues from 1975.

  • Political Science: A SAGE Full-text Collection: Full-text journal coverage from SAGE published journals in Political Science from 1982.

LEGAL MATERIALS - Access to many legal resources are available via online access:

  • Lexis-Nexis Academic: Full-text newspapers, legal periodicals (news and law reviews), state and federal codes, state and federal case law.
     
  • Westlaw Campus:  A variety of legal content from West Publishers.  Includes fulltext legal encyclopedia  in American Jurisprudence, federal and state case law, federal and statutes and legislative content and materials form the European Union.  Offers the West key number system.

  • LegalTrac: An index of legal issues, law review articles and indexing coverage of the Los Angeles Daily Journal.  Contains increasing links to full-text coverage. 

  • Hein Online: A full-text database of legal content including full runs of law reviews and law journals, criminal justice journals, and treaties and agreements.

·        Check the Criminology, Law & Society Subject Guide often for new resources.

REFERENCE WORKS - There is a wide range of print resources and online materials for consultation - most are listed on the Subject Guide but please also consult Quick Reference at times when you need to verify information, get started on a topic or just want basic tools.   Many of these resources are free and readily available, yet others are licensed resources.  You may want to also consult Reference Universe which will match up traditional print resources with online equivalents when possible. 

 

Good luck in your program and welcome again to UC Irvine! I look forward to working with each of you.

-Julia Gelfand