Libraries

UMass Boston is a Carnegie-classified Intensive Research University and its Healey Library provides integral support for the graduate program in American Studies. The library offers a wide array of scholarly resources and research support services.

• The Databases & Indexes list includes the library's 100+ online collections
• These represent $1.6 million annual scholarly subscriptions, behind copyright, beyond the search engines, and integral to scholarship
• A Harvard-equivalent book catalog: The WorldCat local network offers over 9,000,000 titles, and 30 million volumes. Most items are delivered in 3-5 days. (The WorldCat national network offers over 35 million titles.)
• Direct access to 75,000 online journal titles

Library Service Guarantee

" The Library staff is ready, willing and able to assist you throughout the academic year in accessing the wide range of resources available to you as a UMass Boston graduate student.
" Remember your Healey Library Service guarantee: no question will go unanswered! We will endeavor to obtain all of the scholarly materials you need, in a timely fashion, and free of charge.

Either on-campus or through its Web site, Healey Library is your hub within the vast network of scholarly resources. Here, you can use research workstations, check out one of our wireless networked laptops, find a quiet place to study, use the Graduate Resource Center computer lab, or consult with a librarian regarding research strategies and resources.

You can also conduct research from home or from work, anytime you connect to the Web. The library home page is http://www.lib.umb.edu. All you need is a UMB ID with a library barcode obtained from the Healey Library Circulation Desk.

The library staff on the 4th floor is here to assist you in your research endeavors:

• Individual consultations with a reference librarian; just email library.reference@umb.edu
• 24/7 chat service and Email reference; links on the top of the home page www.lib.umb.edu
• Phone us at 617.287.5940
• Research assistance at the 4th floor reference desk
• Interlibrary loan allows students to borrow materials currently unavailable in Healey Library's physical or online collections.

The library staff offers training in RefWorks.

With RefWorks you can

• Create a database of resources for your research projects
• Write notes about the articles, books, websites you read (think online notecards)
• Insert references into your paper
• Create a formatted paper or bibliography using the style of your choice (APA, MLA, and many more) in seconds

Specialized Resources
Students should consult our online list of key resources for American Studies at http://umb.libguides.com/America

Some of the most useful electronic databases included in this guide are JSTOR, Academic Search Premier, Project Muse, and America: History and Life (a resource that indexes articles and reviews on the history and culture of the US and Canada).

Primary source resources include the American Periodicals Series Online, a unique and valuable collection that contains digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals that originated between 1741 and 1900. The library also subscribes to the Women and Social Movements data base, which includes a wealth of full text primary sources.

Other digital resources include The Boston Globe (1872-1901) that offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The Nation, 1865, America's oldest weekly magazine and one of the premier journals of opinion since its inception in 1865. The New York Times (1851-2001) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.

Access to other libraries
The Boston Library Consortium (BLC) includes Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis, MIT, Northeastern University, Tufts University, the University of Connecticut, UMass Amherst, UMass Dartmouth, UMass Lowell, the UMass Medical Center, the University of New Hampshire and Wellesley College. Current UMass Boston graduate students whose library records are in good standing are eligible for a BLC card (available at the Healey Library circulation desk). The BLC card allows you to borrow materials from the libraries in the Boston Library Consortium when you visit those libraries.

The Boston Public Library makes its resources available to all residents of Massachusetts, including out-of-state students who have lived in Massachusetts for at least one year. Borrower cards may be obtained at the BPL circulation desk upon presentation of identification which lists a current Massachusetts address. The library has two buildings: the Research Library on Dartmouth St, where materials can only be used on site, and the General Library on Boylston St., from which materials may be borrowed.

The John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library is a valuable resource for students interested in history, politics, public policy, and public opinion. Located only a few hundred yards from the UMass Harbor campus, the library also houses literary documents such as the Hemingway Papers. A small staff assists students in their use of the library. In addition, the Presidential Museum has standing and changing exhibits, and is a historically important and intellectually stimulating place to visit.

Graduate Computer Lab
The lab provides a quiet environment for writing and research. The lab contains Windows computers that are equipped with word processing, spreadsheet presentation, statistical, and desktop publishing software; the computers also provide access to email and the internet.
At the Graduate and Faculty Lab, you can also:

Scan text, color images--existing color slides, color photographs, drawings, and objects that fit on the scanner bed

Create high quality 35mm slides from a PowerPoint presentation using a 35mm film recorder.

Produce posters ranging in size from 8.5 in. x 11 in. to 36 in. x 96 in. Borrow a digital camera