New way to find databases

CSUF Pollak Library has just instituted a new way to discover useful databases for student research topics. It combines our previous Databases A-Z and our Databases by Subject pages. Clicking on Find Databases will bring you to an alphabetical listing of all of our databases. This list can be filtered by selecting a category from the By Subject menu (roughly equivalent to Databases by Subject). For Chicana & Chicano Studies topics, the obvious By Subject category is Chicana & Chicano Studies.

It is very important to understand the interdisciplinarity of Chicana & Chicano Studies. The best databases for your topic depend on the topic. Therefore the first databases listed in the By Subject list may not be the best databases for your topic. As it stands I have ordered these databases in the following manner:
1. multi-subjects databases (including article, book, and reference book databases)
2. simgle-subject databases (in alphabetical order according to title of database)
3. single-subject encyclopedias for art and music
4. image databases for art and photography/photojournalism
5. newspaper databases
6. historical and primary source databases
7. music databases
8. statistics and government document databases
9. biographical databases

To further refine the list of possible databases, you can select a tag associated with Chicana & Chicano Studies. Once you selected a tag, associated databases will appear in alphabetical order, but there should be fewer, more appropriate databases from which to choose.

It is now possible for you to add your own tags to databases that you find that are especially helpful for specific topics. Just click on the view tags icon to the left of the database and add your tags. One of our librarians will take a look at the tag to make sure it is appropriate, so it will not appear immediately.

Good Luck and happy hunting!