Music 230: African American Song Literature

You can search for journal articles in two places: Catalyst or the research databases.  There are pros and cons to each approach.

CATALYST

• Pro: same user interface you use to find our books and other materials
• Pro: easy access to Resource Sharing if you want to request something we don't have
• Pro: simultaneously asks multiple databases for results 
  • Con: only shows articles available online; does not include ones we only have in print
  • Con: you will need to filter out irrelevant results, if your search terms are significant in both music and non-music research areas
  • Con: sometimes misses results from certain databases (especially RILM)

RESEARCH DATABASES

• Pro: includes search results Catalyst misses, including books from other libraries
• Pro: subject-specific, so you don't need to filter out non-music results
  • Con: you often have to link back to Catalyst to access materials

For most topics, start your search in Catalyst, then follow up in an appropriate research database to make sure you haven't missed anything. The Databases: Journal Articles tab has recommended databases for this class.

1. From the library's homepage, click on the "Advanced Search" option. (Ignore the Articles tab; Advanced Search gives you more control over your results!)

2. In the Advanced Search function, make sure "Articles" is ticked at the top. Then enter your search terms below. Here is a search for articles about American songwriter Carrie Jacobs Bond.

3. Catalyst interprets the word "article" loosely, so the results list might include journal articles, book or performance reviews, and dissertations. Tell Catalyst you want only scholarly articles by clicking the "scholarly articles" button in the the "Refine My Results" menu on the left.

4. Most articles are available online.  Click the green "Online Access" button to see it. If you are off campus, you may need to enter your St. Olaf ID for access.

5. Looking for articles from other libraries? Use the Requesting Materials from Other Libraries tab on the left.

Searching for scholarly articles in the research databases works is very similar to searching for them in Catalyst. The user interfaces look different, but the basic tools are the same.

You can access a list of recommended databases for this particular class using the Databases: Journal Articles tab on the left of this page.

Alternatively, you can see all the databases St. Olaf offers here. Use the drop-down menus at the top of the page to select the subject area or database type you need. For example, you could set the  subject drop-down to "music" to see all the music databases.

1. Let's search for articles about Beethoven's Eroica symphony in Music Periodicals Database, one of the go-to music databases.

2. As in Catalyst, once you are in your results list, there are additional filters on the left -- including one that limits to scholarly journals.

3. Often the article will be available directly from the database.  Look for a "PDF" or "Full Text" link.

4. If the resource is not directly available, there will be a Find It! button. Clicking this button asks Catalyst if we have access to the resource somewhere else.

5. If we do have access, you'll be taken to a record in Catalyst with links to where you can access the article. In this case, you can get the article through JSTOR.

6. If we don't have access, you can request the article via Resource Sharing. Look for instructions in the Requesting Materials from Other Libraries tab on the left.

There are a number of ways you can discover articles that St. Olaf College doesn't have.  Maybe you found one mentioned in the bibliography of another resource.  Maybe you found a record for it in a database or in WorldCat, but the Find It! button didn't locate it in Catalyst

Regardless of how you learned about the item, you can ask other libraries to share it with you using a Resource Sharing form in Catalyst.

1. Say you found an article in another bibliography, but when you looked for it in Catalyst, nothing came up. This happens because Catalyst defaults to showing you only articles available through St. Olaf. If you also want to see articles from other libraries, select "include articles at other libraries" from the menu on the left of your results list. (This is for articles only, not books!)

2. Now your search includes results for materials we don't have. If we don't have it, you will see the golden "check or request" notice in the record.

If you started outside of Catalyst, like in Music Periodicals Database or WorldCat, and you click the Find It! button for something we don't have, you will see this same notice when you are routed back to Catalyst.

3. Scroll down in the article's record. There is a link to sign in with your St. Olaf ID so that you can request a scan via Resource Sharing.

4. Once you have signed in, you will see buttons like the one shown below with options for how to request the item.  Click the button to be taken to a form to request the article.  The details should be filled out already. Double-check that they are correct, sign off on the copyright agreement, and submit!