PS/FR/GER385 – Politics of the European Union – International and Area Studies Library

Prof. Kostas Kourtikakis

For Library Assistance Contact:

Lynne Rudasill – rudasill at illinois.edu – 265-6879

Center for Global Studies – Office Hours: Mondays – 10-Noon

International and Area Studies Library – Office Hours: Fridays – 1 – 3 p.m.

OR Contact Ask-A-Librarian

Basic Library Research Guide

Basic Tools for EU Research

Catalogs

Online Catalog – The Online Catalog of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign provides access to the physical collection of over 11 million items in our collection. This includes the print versions of the materials we have received as a depository library for the European Union. In addition, this catalog links to over 75 libraries in the state of Illinois. You can use it to request books that are not available on our campus, order copies of items that are checked out on our campus, to renew items and check your account. There are over 700 subject headings that relate specifically to the European Union with subheadings from Abbreviations to Yugoslavia.
WorldCat – This is an international database of materials that can be used to request items, both books and photocopies of articles that are available. Interlibrary loans and photocopies of articles are requested through the Illiad service. You need to call the Telephone Center (333-8400) to request renewals of any books delivered to you from this database. You will also often receive electronic copies of the articles you request.
Online Research Resources – This sites provides access to over 9,000 electronic journals, abstracting and indexing services, newspaper resources, and reference sources subscribed to by the University Library. The searching is fairly straightforward here with searches by subject, title, and keyword. There is not a separate targeted subject listing for European Union studies, but you might find useful resources under business, economics, geography, global studies, government, law, and political science.

Abstracting and Indexing Services and Electronic Databases

ABI/Inform – Indexes journals and other writings in business, finance and economics. Several distinct databases are available, but the key to success here is cross-searching several at the same time.
Busness Source Elite – Identifies business, management, and finance articles from scholarly journals, books, and newspapers. Additional subjects covered include some EIU Country Reports, economics, accounting, and international business.
EconLit – Identifies articles, books, dissertations, and working papers in economics. The database covers the literature in accounting, capital markets, econometrics, economic forecasting, government regulations, labor economics, monetary theory, urban economics and more.
Economists Online/Nereus – A very new database of economic literature by the faculty of the London School of Economics, Tilburg University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Maastricht University, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, and Kiel Institute for World Economics provided through Harvard University’s Social Science “Dataverse.”
EIU Country Intelligence – Provides quarterly analysis and forecasts of the political, economic and business environment for nearly 200 countries. Quarterly and annual statistics of at least 150 data points. Country Intelligence contains country reports and profiles, risk ratings, licensing and trading information for the new economies, plus G-8 and regional forecasts. An online newsletter, Business Middle East, is also included.
Historical Abstracts – A useful database for the identification of articles and books written since 1450 that emphasizes non-US resources. Use the subject search to identify general terms and the keyword search to target your search.
Hein Online – Identifies law reviews and journal articles prior to the dates traditionally covered by Lexis and Westlaw. Provides full text search capabilities. Also includes full text of treatises and agreements, as well as U.S. Supreme Court reports since 1754 and Federal Register documents since 1936 and a specific search of international law titles. Provides full text search capabilities.
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences – Includes over two million bibliographic references to journal articles and to books, reviews and selected chapters dating back to 1951. Has a broad coverage of international material and incorporates over 100 languages and countries. Over 2,800 journals are regularly indexed and some 7,000 books are included each year. Abstracts are provided for half of all current journal articles and full text availability is continually increasing.
International Political Science Abstracts – This indexing and abstracting service has been produced by the International Political Science Association since 1951 in paper. The search engine is a little less intuitive than many others. Tip: Use “EU” for descriptor searching, not “European Union” for greatest sucess.
PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) – An easy to search, fairly comprehensive tool for accessing articles in the fields of policy studies, international relations, government documents, dissertations, and other items that may be of interest in the study of the European Union. Although not as robust in access to the full-text of articles, it covers a wide range of material.
Sociological Abstracts – Abstracts and indexes international literature in the social and behavioral sciences including culture and social structure, demography, and many other areas. Some full-text links and a good thesaurus are offered through this database.
SourceOECD – Identifies statistics, papers and reports published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Web of Knowledge-The Social Science Citation Index piece of this website provides the ability to search for topical articles, authors, and can provide, in its cited reference search, an ability to determine the most frequently cited authors in the field. It is, perhaps because of the inate power of the searching, somewhat difficult to use.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts – This database is a combination of ABC Pol-Sci and Political Science Abstracts brought to us via Cambridge Scientific Abstracts. Subjects include political science, international relations, law, public administration policy, and political economy among others. There is some linking to full-text, as well as a useful thesaurus.

Newspaper Resources

Library PressDisplay – National and international newspapers are indexed here and you can see either the specific article you are interested in, or a digital facsimile of the actual page. Includes 700 newspapers from 76 countries, many in the vernacular as well as English.
Access World News – Select a source, a region, a country, or the whole world for news items of interest.
Historical New York Times – Digital reproductions of every issue from cover to cover. Includes not just the news stories and editorials, but also the photos, graphics, and advertisements, from 1851 to 1998.
ISI Emerging Markets – Identifies data, news and analysis from emerging market countries from both government and private sources. Daily full text news articles, financial statements, industry analyses, equity quotes, macroeconomic statistics, and market-specific information. Information in both English and the local language.
Lexis-Nexis Academic Index – Identifies articles from journals, newspapers and reference books. A comprehensive source for news, business, and legal information. Includes foreign news sources, major U.S. newspapers, regional U.S. news services, radio and television transcripts, federal and state case law, medical, legislative and industry news, annual reports from Securities and Exchange Commission and many other sources. Newspapers are updated several times daily, and wire services hourly.

Full-text Resources

CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online) – A full-text database of working papers, policy briefs, journal articles, and full-text books in the area of international affairs. This database is not known for flexible subject searching, but can be extremely helpful in finding the grey literature in the area.

Annual Review of Political Science – Full-text articles explore specific issues in depth and providing extensive bibliographies on the subject at hand. Search tip: Go to the “Advanced Search” for a menu of search fields and possibilities.

Resources for the European Union

Europa – Web-site of the European Union
EUR-lex – Access to European law resources including the Official Journal and laws sorted by subject area.
Eurostats – The mother lode of statistical resources directly from the European Union. Tables, data, and publications are available. Also look at Euroindicators while you are there. The Statistics of the Week include a variety of reports and presentations.
UIUC European Union links – connects you to a wide variety of full-text and statistical resources from and about the European Union and the world.
Environment Daily – news service covering European environmental policy, regulation and other topics including agriculture, air, biodiversity, biotechnology, chemicals, climate, economic instruments, EU enlargement, marine resources, nuclear resources, space/land, sustainability, and more.
European Values Study – The study has been updated occasionally since the early 1980s and deals with questions regarding European attitudes towards morals and religion, politics, work and leisure, and relationships. This will also lead you to the World Values Survey.
Archive of European Integration – From the web site – “The AEI is an electronic repository and archive for research materials on the topic of European integration and unification. The AEI collects two types of materials: certain types of independently-produced research materials and official European Community/European Union documents.”

UIUC Libraries with EU Resources and more….

Suggested Reading – How the European Union Works

Just for Fun – Europa Go!