Oregon Legal Research Blog
If you are an independent researcher (not otherwise affiliated with a university and all the library benefits that attach to such an affiliation), or just want to find a 1989 article from the Wall Street Journal or some reliable info on the drug your doctor prescribed, then the following words should thrill you, if not outright rock your world (librarians live a sheltered life, but one day you will appreciate us).
(I won’t provide links to them all, so visit your local public library to find out more.)
JSTOR
GALE
PAPERSFIRST
HEINONLINE
ABI/INFORM
GROVE ART ONLINE
REFERENCE USA
SIRS RESEARCHER
MAS FULLTEXT EXTRA
GROLIER
ACADEMIC SEARCH PREMIER
NEWSPAPER SOURCE
AGRICOLA
MIDDLE SEARCH PLUS
WORLDCAT
ERIC
LIBRARY2GO
HERITAGE QUEST
MEDLINE PLUS
If you haven’t heard of these online databases, and dozens of others, you need to plumb the depths of your public library’s offerings. And even if your own public library doesn’t have all of these, you can usually opt in for a modest annual fee (usually between $60-100) to a neighboring public library that does (or even one not so neighboring – check out the online offerings for nonresidents at the Multnomah Public Library (you will need to apply on site) or the NYPL (you can apply online).