Journals and Index Collections
Journals
| Quick Links to frequently-used Databases Electronic Journals via VIRGO Journal Articles, Newspapers, & Indexes via VIRGO |
The University libraries hold almost 50,000 periodicals and newspapers from around the world. All journals are accessible via VIRGO, the online catalog.
The libraries subscribe to a number of different services that supply full-text Electronic Journals. If you already know the name of a specific electronic journal you can search for it in Virgo in the same way as for a print journals.
Subject Librarians select journals that support the teaching and research of their academic departments.
- Journals in the social sciences and humanities are generally housed in Alderman Library, with current issues in the Periodicals/Microforms Room. Clemons Library also provides a general collection for frequently used periodicals.
- Scientific and technical journals are found in the Science and Engineering Libraries (including Astronomy, Biology/Psychology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics).
- The Education, Fine Arts, and Music libraries provide specialized journals for their disciplines.
Journals serving the needs of the University's professional schools are found in:
- the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library,
- the Camp Library in the Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, and
- the Arthur J. Morris Law Library.
Indexes
An index is a finding tool to help you locate journal and newspaper articles. Some indexes are in print format and can be located in Reference collections or by searching VIRGO (ask a Reference Librarian for assistance in finding print indexes). A large number of our indexes are online, and can be searched by author, title, subject, and keyword, in addition to other ways. The search results may provide:
- a citation (the information critical to finding the article such as journal title and volume number)
- an abstract (a paragraph that summarizes the article)
- the article itself (called "full-text")
If your search results do not include the full-text of the article, you must use the citation to find the article. For example, if the citation indicates that your article is in a journal called Journal of Econometrics, the next step is to determine if U.Va. has that journal. Some databases include a link to VIRGO holdings that will indicate whether or not we own the journal. If there is no such direct link to VIRGO holdings, you must find the information by searching VIRGO yourself. Go into VIRGO, type in journal of econometrics, click on the "Begins with" radio button, and click on the "Journal Title" button beneath. If the U.Va. Library has the journal you'll find the call number and location in the VIRGO record. If the U.Va. Library doesn't own the journal or the particular volume you need, you may submit an InterLibrary Loan (ILL) request. In databases marked (VIRGO), simply click on the Request Item button at the top of the screen that displays the citation. In databases marked (Web), click on the "User Services" button on the left side of your VIRGO screen and follow the links for "Interlibrary Services". Our staff will find a copy of the article at another university and notify you when it's available.
Talk to a reference librarian for suggestions about which databases to use for your research.
Use of most databases is restricted to faculty, students and staff of the University of Virginia and non-U.Va. walk-in users. Please consult our database policy and Accessing Databases from Off-Grounds for more information.
QuickLinks to Frequently-Used Database Services
America: History & Life and Historical Abstracts
fax: 434.924.1431