Labor Studies

Finding Articles

General Tips         

If the library carries a particular journal, there will be a record in the library catalog for the journal title and the holdings information listing the specific volumes of the journal that are available in the library. However, the catalog will not describe the articles in these journals.

Information about journal articles and news articles can be found in indexes. Although some indexes are still available in print, most of the indexes are available as electronic databases. Some of these databases provide citation information so that the article can be located. Other databases include abstracts along with the citations. In some cases, full text databases are available, which provide the full text of the articles along with the citation information.

Useful Databases for Labor Studies

• ABI/INFORM

  Articles from business, finance, and economics journals and news sources, including the Wall Street Journal.

• Academic Search Full-Text Elite

  Includes scholarly journal articles from most areas of academic study, dating back to 1985.

• Academic Universe (Lexis-Nexis)

  Full text of news articles, dating back to 1979, along with legal and business information.

• America: History and Life

  Journal articles, dating back to 1954, on the history of the United States and Canada.

• Historical Abstracts

  Journal articles, dating back to 1954, on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada).

• CQ Researcher

  In-depth, non-biased articles, dating back to 1991, on political and social issues.

• Econlit

  Articles, dating back to 1969, on economic development, history, macroeconomics, and microeconomics.

• Ethnic NewsWatch

  Full text of newspaper, magazine, and journal articles on a range of topics from ethnic, minority, and native presses. Available in English and Spanish and dating back to 1990.

• Expanded Academic ASAP

  Articles from scholarly journals, newspapers, and news magazines in the arts, humanities, and sciences, dating back to 1980.

• InfoTrac One File

  Full text of news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics, dating back to 1980.

• ingenta

  Articles, chapters, and reports from academic and professional publications.

• J-STOR

  Articles from scholarly journals, generally dating back to the first issue of the journal up to issues published 3 to 5 years ago.

• NBER Working Papers

  Papers from the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization.

• OECD

  Publications and statistics from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

• PAIS

  References to "journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more."

• PolicyFile

  Reports and papers on public policy created by think tanks

• Project Muse

  Full text articles from arts, humanities, and social sciences journals

• Social Science Citation Index

  Multidisciplinary index, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of the social sciences.

• Social Services Abstracts

  Abstracts of articles and dissertations, dating back to 1980, covering social work research. Also includes citations of book reviews.

• Social Work Abstracts

  Database of social work journal article abstracts, dating back to 1977. Produced by the National Association of Social Workers, Inc.

• Sociological Abstracts

  Abstracts of the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.

See Business and Industry databases for more business-related articles

Finding Books & Media

Keep in mind that records in the IU catalog use Library of Congress subject headings. Although the following list is not exhaustive, some of these subject headings may be useful to you when searching for books by subject:

Subject headings for Collective Representation, Labor Law, and Labor History topics:

Subject headings for International and Comparative Labor topics:

Subject headings for Organizational Behavior topics:

Subject headings for Personnel and Human Resources topics:

If a book is available at one of the other IU campuses, but not in Indianapolis, you can use Request Delivery to request that it be delivered to University Library or to another IU library of your choice.

Reference Materials

On History, Terms, and People:

• Biographical Dictionary of American Labor (Ref HD8073.A1 B56)
• Dictionary of Personnel Management and Labor Relations (Ref HF5549.A23 S52)
• Historical Dictionary of Organized Labor (Ref HD4839 .D58)
• Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor (Ref HD8066 .H57)
• Labor Conflict in the United States: An Encyclopedia (Ref HD5324 .L32)
• The Lexicon of Labor: more than 500 Key Terms, Biographical Sketches, and Historical Insights Concerning Labor in America (Ref HD8066 .M87 1998)
• St. James Encyclopedia of Labor History Worldwide: Major Events in Labor History and their Impact (Ref HD4839 .S74)
• Who's Who in Labor (Ref HD8073.A1 W5)
• Women and Equality in the Workplace: a Reference Handbook (Ref HD6095 .G48 2003) and online through netlibrary (Available on campus and off-campus with authorized logon)

On Statistics:

• Handbook of U.S. Labor Statistics: Employment, Earnings, Prices, Productivity, and Other Labor Data (Ref HD8064 .h26) and online through ebrary (Available on campus and off-campus with authorized logon)
• Sources and Methods. Labour Statistics. (Ref HD4826 .S68)
• Statistical Handbook of Working America (SHWA) (Ref HF5382.5.U5 S73)

On Unions:

• American Directory of Organized Labor: Unions, Locals, Agreements, and Employers (Ref HD6504 .A63)
• European Labor Unions (Ref HD6657 .E946)
• Historical Dictionary of Organized Labor (Ref HD4839 .D58)
• Profiles of American Labor Unions (Ref HD6504 .P64)
• Trade Unions in Western Europe since 1945 (Ref HD6657 .E225 Text & CD)
• Trade Unions of the World (Ref HD6483 .T675)
• U.S. Union Sourcebook: Membership, Finances, Structure, Directory (Ref HD6508 .T74)