Library Guides: How Do I...?: Know if the library has a periodical from a certain year?

How do I know if the Library has a periodical from a specific year?

The library subscribes to over 3,000 periodical (magazine, newspaper and journal) titles. But, just because we have the title you are looking for does not mean we necessarily have the specific issue/year you need. To find out what issues of a periodical the library owns you must search the Library's Online Catalog.

Do a "periodical title" search for the title you are looking for. Once you find the title you are looking for click on "Full Details" to the left of the title. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. You will get a list of holdings for that specific title. Here's an example:

UNO-MAIN	Location	PERIODICAL-- -- Note:CURRENT ISSUES: IN LIBRARY USE ONLY
	Library has	v.5:no.1(1951:Sept.17)-v.45:no.2(1991:Oct.), v.45:no.4(1991:Dec.)-v.45:no.9(1992:May); v.46:no.1(1992:Oct.)-v.57:no.6(2004:Mar.),v.58;no.1(2004:Sept.)-v.58:no.8(2005:May)
	Current Issues	v.60:no.1 (2006:Sept.) - v.62:no.8 (2009:May)

This information can be a bit confusing if you are not used to reading it.

The first row, labeled "Location", tells you that this journal is located in the Periodical shelves of the library. The library has periodical shelves on each floor of the building. Use the books and periodicals location chart to determine on what floor the call number you need is located.

The Row labeled "Library Has" is referring to the issues of this journal that we have in our collection.

The Row labeled "Current Issues" is referring to the issue of this journal that we have most recently received.

When looking at this information what you are looking for is whether the year/volume of the issue you need is listed or a whether that year/volume falls between a range of years/volumes.

According to the above information, we started getting this journal in 1951, with volume 5, number 1. For some reason, we do not have Issue number 3 of volume 45, 1991. Nor did we receive numbers 7-9 of volume 57, and we're missing number 9 of volume 58 from 2005. Since 2006 we have continuously received this journal up to May 2009.

Barring the missing issues listed in the holdings, you should find the other issues of this journal on the periodical shelves of the Library.