Gerontology: a CSUN Oviatt Library Research Guide

Books

Browsing: There are several locations for books about aging. The Library of Congress call numbers starting RA 777.6 on Floor 3; on Floor 2 in BF724.55 and HQ1061 sections of the Oviatt Library. Additional locations possible are Reserve Book Room(Floor 4 East), Stored(ASRS East), and the Reference Room.

Searching: Use the Library Catalog to find books on a topic. If you don't know a specific title, then start with a KEYWORD search. The following links search the catalog with SUBJECT HEADINGS

Gerontology and also consider Geriatrics
Aging as well as Older People or Elderly

Handbooks/Directories/Encyclopedias

Here is a sampling of Health Sciences -related books either in the Reference Room of the Oviatt Library or available online. Electronic books have no call numbers and can be accessed either through the Library Catalog (requires a valid ID number if accessing from off-campus) or by the link on the web page.

Encyclopedia of Aging and the Elderly. Reference Room HQ1061 R69
Encyclopedia of Aging
Gale Virtual Reference Library has the following online medical encyclopedias:Drugs and Controlled Substances: Information for Students 2003, Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco: Learning About Addictive Behavior 3v, 2003, Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol, and Addictive Behavior 2nd ed., 4v, 2001, Encyclopedia of Public Health 4v, 2002 , Gale Encyclopedia of Cancer 2v, 2002, Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders 2v, 2002, Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine 2nd ed., 5v, 2002 (Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine also in Reference Room ref RC41 G35)
covers 905 disorders, 235 tests/procedures and 352 treatments. Has illustrations. ) , Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders 2v, 2003, Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health 5v, 2002, Gale Encyclopedia of Surgery: A Guide for Patients and Caregivers 3v, 2004

Journals

To see if CSUN owns a journal, Please check both of the following:

To assist you in finding the journal articles, the CSUN list of Electronic Periodicals and bibliographic databases offer links. Periodical databases now provide full text access possibilities where the database is limited to citation or abstract.
If CSUN does not own the journal title you need, you may request articles using the Interlibrary Loan service at http://illiad.csun.edu/.

The following are journals assigned the subject heading Aging --periodicals which CSUN owns either in paper or electronically.

Aging --periodicals

Databases

The best way to find articles on a specific topic is to search in a database, most of which index thousands of articles in thousands of journals. Not all articles are available full-text online; some are in print only and some are not available from the Library except through Interlibrary Loan. To determine the availability of an article, most databases offer the FindText button.

Below are recommended databases for Gerontology . They can be accessed either from Databases A-Z, as well as from the Find Articles and Research Data Gerontology at http://library.csun.edu/xerxes/databases/Gerontology

Databases

Gerontology Multisearch
Search up to ten (10) Gerontology databases simultaneously. Note not all databases are "multisearchable."

CINAHL Plus with Full Text (EBSCO): Indexes over 3,000 nursing and allied health journals, with cited references from 1,600 journals; provides full-text access to many journals and other sources, 1937-
AgeLine: AgeLine abstracts the literature of gerontology as well as aging-related research. Abstracts over 600 journals, books and chapters, research reports, dissertations, gray literature, and educational videos from many publishers and organizations, including AARP, from 1978 to the present, with selected coverage from 1966-1977.
Oviatt Library Catalog: CSUN University Library Catalog indexes books, periodicals, media and other materials held by the Oviatt Library.
PubMed: Offers Medline (currently indexing over 5,000 journals), several molecular biology and chemical databases. Some full text journals and books, 1950-
PsycINFO (EBSCO): Indexes over 2,000 journals plus books and book chapters, 1987-present.
Academic Search Elite (EBSCO): Abstracts to 3,000 journals (over 1,500 peer-reviewed journals), with full text to more than 2,000 of the journals. Dates may vary, most from 1985-
InfoTrac OneFile (Thomson Gale): Indexes over 9,700 journals with full text to over 5,000 journals, 1980-
Wilson OmniFile Full Text Mega: Cross-searching of Education Index with Full Text, General Science Index with Full Text, Humanities Abstracts with Full Text, Readers' Guide Retrospective and Readers' Guide Full Text, Social Sciences Index with Full Text, Business Index with Full Text, Applied Science & Technology Full Text, Art Full Text, Biological & Agricultural Index Plus, Index to Legal Periodicals Full Text, Library Literature & Information Science Full Text.
Sociological Abstracts (CSA): Abstracts and indexes over 1,600 serials publications, plus book chapters, 1952-
Social Services Abstracts (CSA): Abstracts and indexes over 1,600 serial publications, 1980-
ABI/Inform Global (ProQuest): Indexing, abstracts to articles from more than 2,800 leading management publications, full text for over 1,800 titles, information on 60,000 companies, plus business dissertations, 1971-
ABI/Inform Trade & Industry (ProQuest): Indexes 750 full-text business periodicals and newsletters, 1971-
National Academies: Free access to numerous publications of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council.
Readers' Guide Full Text (Wilson): Full text of articles from some 215 journals (1994-), abstracts (1984-) and indexing of over 400 periodicals (1983-).
NetLibrary: Provides access to thousands of electronic books that have been converted into electronic format from copyrighted, printed books.
WorldCat: OCLC catalog of books and other materials in libraries worldwide. Contains over 62 million records for all types of materials cataloged by OCLC member libraries.
Cal State Union Catalog: The Catalog of the California State University Libraries.
Readers' Guide Retrospective (Wilson): Indexes 375 most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States, 1890-1982.

Websites

CSUN's Interdisciplinary Aging Program
National Institute of Aging
Careers in Aging
Senior Health by National Institute of Health
American Association of Retired people
MediCare website has search tools to find hospitals, Nursing homes and more
Los Angeles City Dept. of Aging

Additional Guides

Librarian

Marcia Henry is the Oviatt librarian who serves the CSUN Department of Health Science and Gerontology. If you need help finding information for a research paper, she can offer suggestions. To make an appointment, email marcia.henry @csun.edu or phone 818-677-3012. Marcia Henry's webpage is http://library.csun.edu/mhenry/

Marcia Henry created and maintains this webpage, so please report any problems to her. Links were last checked on 1/10/06.