Some periodicals are available in multiple formats. Note that not all the titles listed are current. The library keeps older issues (backfiles) of many periodicals.

Paper Copy Periodicals
Paper copy periodicals are shelved in the Periodical Collection, located at the south end of the main floor of the library.

Microforms
There are two types of microforms in the library -- microfilm and microfiche. Microfilm comes in reels and microfiche are on flat sheets. The library's microfom collection is located on the main floor of the library, just past the stairway. There are microform readers that allow you to view and print articles. Generally, older of issues of periodicals are in microform format.

Take a look at a section from the list. Note that the journal Foreign Affairs is available in three different formats for different ranges of years. It's available in paper format for the previous 10 years, plus the current years.

Finding Articles
To find a specific article from a citation (title, author, publication and date) or to find articles on a particular topic, you need to use a tool -- a periodical index or a periodical database. Periodical indexes are bound like books. There are many specialized indexes, such as Art Index, Psychological Abstracts, Business Periodicals Index, etc.

The NSCC Library has discarded most of its indexes, in favor of periodical databases, which will be discussed in the next section. However, in certain cases, you may need to use a periodical index. For example, if you are researching the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War, you may want to find primary sources -- articles written during that time period. Because CD and online databases have only been around since the 1980s or later, locating an article from the 1960s or 1970s will require using a periodical index. One that you may be familiar with from high school is the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature.

Periodical Indexes
Periodical indexes only give you a citation to an article. A citation includes the author, title of the article, title of the publication, date, volume and issue number. Generally each volume contains citations for a single year, so you will have to search each year separately. Once you have the citation, you will need to track down the publication in paper, microfilm or microfiche format.