The Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature is a periodical index to current information that has been published in magazine form in the U.S.  The Readers Guide is an  author-subject index.  It is published on the cumulative plan, at intervals containing several issues so that it is alphabetically arranged.

At the front of the Reader’s Guide you will find a list of the periodicals indexed, and there is also a list of abbreviations for the name of the magazines.  For example: Sci Am stands for Scientific American.

There is also a list of general abbreviations that are used.  For example: dept-department; pub-published, publisher, publishing: Je-June.

 Magazine articles are entered by author or as many subject headings as the article pertains to. Here is a typical author entry:
 

CHAN, MICHAEL
Tele-computer controller. Il Popular Electronics v16 No. 6 p29-34 Je 1999

Here is a typical subject listing:
 

WOODS, TIGER
A year beyond his years. J Diaz il  pors  Sports Illustrated  v91 No. 19 p46-9 N15 1999

Some subjects  headings are also sub-divided into more specific subjects like TELEVISION broadcasting--programs; another example would be, UNITED STATES—Army.

Articles and stories (fiction) are listed by author or subject, not by title, because titles are seldom useful.  However, titles of poems are listed under “POEMS”,  and the author is given.  The full entry for a poem, then, can be found under the author’s name.

Reviews of movies can be found under MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS; Operas under OPERA REVIEWS; Plays under THEATER REVIEWS. For example:

MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS
Single works

Crouching tiger, hidden dragon
Newsweek il v136 no23  p62 D 4 2000 D. Ansen

 The movie Crouching tiger, hidden dragon is reviewed in Newsweek magazine by D. Ansen.

 In the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature there are cross references.  Cross references instruct one to look under another subject heading or entry, usually designated by a “see” or “see also” . For example, if you were looking for MOVIES you would find, Movies see MOTION PICTURES;  under VOLUNTEER SERVICE,  International, appears “see also”  Peace Corps (U.S.).

Remember, a “see” cross reference tells you that you looking under the wrong word, and it directs you the to correct word that is used.  A “see also” cross reference tells you that while you may have found some information under the word you used, if you ‘see also’ the suggested word or term you will find more information.

Where will you find the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature at Lowell?  They are located in the back of the library.  Look for the shelves with the red boxes that are used to hold the back issues of magazines.  You will find the Readers’ Guides to the right of these shelves. If you need assistance, ask one of the library staff members for help.
 

MAGAZINE DATABASES
 

• Newsbank
• Available to ALL students, parents, and staff in SFUSD
• At school access the site from the bookmark file or from the school district web page (http://storm.sfusd.edu)
• On the blue navigation bar underneath the district graphic, click on “Educators and Students”
• This will drop down a menu.  Choose “Teacher Interest”.
• In Teacher Interest, NEWBANK is the 6th item.  Click on this.
• Newspaper and magazine articles and documents from over 2,000 sources cover all subject areas. This Collection is updated daily, provides multiple viewpoints, gives local/regional/national and international perspectives, provides first-hand reports, and tracks trends over time. Sources include U.S. and international newspapers, wire services, speeches, radio and TV broadcast transcripts, science journals, historical documents, UN and U.S. Government documents.
• BACKGROUND NOTES, a current resource  from the U.S. government on countries, are provided in the database.  In the customized search screen, type the name of your country in the search for box and “Background Notes” in browsable fields- in source box
• At home, access Newsbank from the SFUSD website (http://storm.sfusd.edu).  The user name and password are both the same: ra-sfusd

• · San Francisco Public Library (http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/)
• Many databases are available from the public library.  From the main page click on “E-books, magazines, newspapers, and other electronic resources”. Next, click on “E-books & Reference databases”.
• To access this resource, you must have a public library card because you have to type in your library card barcode number.
• The databases are grouped by subjects.  The subjects that will be of the most help for this project are: Art,Music,Humanities, & Social Sciences; General Reference; Magazines & Newspapers. Above “Choose a Subject” and to the right there is a list of helpful items.  The last one on the list is “Test our trial databases”.  This will bring you to the Encyclopaedia Britannica on line.  The databases that will be the most useful for the country project are:
• Magazines—EBSCO and INFOTRAC
• Newspapers—Proquest
• Electric Library
• Encyclopaedia Britannica (on trial)

SIRS INTERNET USE INSTRUCTIONS
 
What is SIRS?  The primary purpose of the SIRS program is to provide users with a wide range of research materials through reprints of magazine articles and other sources.

How do I access SIRS from a Lowell computer in the Library?
 

• From Internet Explorer, type http://sks.sirs.com
• You can use the yellow tabs to choose:
• Quick search
• Advanced search
• Topic Browse
• The first two tabs are the best places to start.
• From "Favorites" menu, highlight SIRS On line Access System
• At the login screen type
• Customer Number:  CA2890
• Password:   lowell
• Click “Login”
• At the next screen a box will appear with 4 choices.  Click on the first one—“Access your SIRS Database(s) via SIRS Knowledge Source…”.
• You can use the yellow tabs to choose:
• Quick search
• Advanced search
• Topic Browse
• The first two tabs are the best places to start.

• From Internet Explorer, type http://sks.sirs.com
• You can use the yellow tabs to choose:
• Quick search
• Advanced search
• Topic Browse
• The first two tabs are the best places to start.

• From the Launcher, click on SIRS
• At the login screen type
• Customer Number:  CA2890
• Password:   lowell
• Click “Login”
• At the next screen a box will appear with 4 choices.  Click on the first one—“Access your SIRS Database(s) via SIRS Knowledge Source…”.
• You can use the yellow tabs to choose:
• Quick search
• Advanced search
• Topic Browse
• The first two tabs are the best places to start.

1. CLICK HERE (http://sks.sirs.com)

2.  At the login screen, use CA2890H as the CUSTOMER NUMBER  (the “H” stands for home) AND  1845 as the PASSWORD.  Follow the rest of the directions after "Click Login" above
 

PLEASE be aware that this program is licensed for the use of Lowell students and staff.  Therefore the customer number and password should not be given out to people who are not members of the Lowell community.

NOTE: If a screen appears saying "SORRY, PAGE NOT FOUND", click on the phrase "Search SIRS Knowlege Source".
 

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