The Science & Technology desk is the reference point for questions about the magazine and newspaper collection at Main Library. Please use the links for specific information on accessing the titles available both online and in print.
Newspapers
At the Science & Technology desk library customers will find the daily papers for Akron, Cleveland, and New York as well as the USA Today. The dailies have to be picked-up from and returned to the desk. Back issues of these papers are kept in print for six months. The library receives many other cities’ daily and/or Sunday papers however they are received through the mail and not delivered daily. Most major cities’ daily papers can be read online, but back issues usually require a fee. To access the Los Angeles Times, for example, open the internet and type in the address bar www.latimes.com. Another way to find a city’s newspaper if you do not know the web address is to “google” it. At www.google.com type in the search bar Phoenix newspaper, then near the top of the results page click where you see The Arizona Republic.
The library subscribes to a database called Newsbank which can be used for newspaper article searches. Newsbank covers most Ohio daily papers and some out-of-state papers. This source would be used when one wants to find articles on a particular subject, person, or event in a specific city or region. To access Newsbank begin at the library’s home page, www.akronlibrary.org , on the left click on Databases & Websites. One can choose to search the Akron or Cleveland paper exclusively. The Akron Beacon Journal is online from 1/1/1984, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer from 6/1/1991. The Special Collections division at Main Library has the Akron Beacon Journal on microfilm from Dec. 1840. To search for news outside Northeast Ohio click on America’s Newspapers. The Akron Beacon Journal is available for full text access in the library only. The others can be accessed from PCs outside the library using a current Akron library card with barcode and PIN number. From America’s Newspapers one can also link to America’s News Magazines. Some popular magazine titles are available here for a subject search and offered in full text. Please ask a librarian if you need help with your article search.
Magazine Databases
Patrons who want magazine and journal articles can be assisted by any librarian at the Main reference desks or at branches. A number of magazine and journal articles can be found full-text through the libraries databases. To access the databases click on the Databases and Websites link from the libraries home page and the click on Research Databases link http://www.akronlibrary.org/databases/index.html. This will bring you to a list of databases the library provides. Clicking on the Magazine subject heading will give you a list of the different magazine databases; clicking on the orange box after the database name shows a description of what the database covers. All of these databases can be accessed from home by typing in your library barcode and pin number (usually the last 4 digits of your phone number).
Magazines Print Collection
The library continues to maintain a large collection of current and historical periodicals in print. Access to this material is available at the Science & Technology desk as well. To search for magazine sources by title or subject use the library’s catalog at the keyword search page which allows a search to be limited to magazines. There is also a subject guide to periodicals on the database page of our website Just below the subject headings of the databases. This lists all of the current magazines received at the library by subject. The Magazines & Newspapers Division on the first floor of Main Library has three areas. The part of the collection that can be checked out is shelved by title down the long back wall. Facing the computers in the Information Commons is the current Reference Magazine collection. The most recent issues of the library’s subscriptions are found here. Between these current titles is the historical collection of bound periodicals. The number of years the library owns a particular title will vary. The span of years for a magazine title is found on its catalog record. There are many titles that have been retained for decades. The bound collection on the first floor will go back to 1990. Ask a Science & Technology librarian to retrieve from storage any issues earlier than 1990.
