The UC Berkeley Library maintains a research-level collection in all subfields of political science to support not only the department's research and teaching programs, but many other disciplines, interdisciplinary programs, and professional schools.
The majority of the Political Science Collection is housed in the underground Gardner (Main) Stacks, which connects the Doe and Moffitt Libraries. The Moffitt Library also maintains a smaller collection of core, high-use English language materials of particular relevance to the undergraduate curriculum. Reference materials in the social sciences, including government documents, are located in the Reference Center and North Reading Room on the 2nd floor of Doe.
Campus Library Map
Click on the image below to see a larger interactive version of the campus library map.
You can also view/download a PDF map of library locations. For library contact information and building addresses, visit our directory.
Library Hours
Political Science Databases
Core article databases for political science research are below.
CQ Electronic Library A reference source on American politics and government that includes the following modules: CQ Congress Collection, CQ Political Handbook of the World, CQ Researcher Plus Archive, CQ Supreme Court, CQ Voting and Elections, CQ Washington Information Directory, CQ Weekly. Access individual modules or search across all CQ collections.
PAIS International Particularly strong in government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, and research and conference reports. Public policy, politics, economics, and social issues worldwide.
National Journal Group's Policy Central Indexes National Journal, The Hotline which tracks American politics and campaigns with coverage of each day's events, Congress Daily, Technology Daily, Almanac of American Politics, Poll Track and others to provide a comprehensive resource on politics and policy.
Connecting from Off Campus?
You can access UCB Library resources from off campus or via your laptop or other mobile device using one of two simple methods:
Proxy Server After you make a one-time change in your web browser settings, the proxy server will ask you to log in with a CalNet ID or Library PIN when you click on the link to a licensed resource. See the setup instructions, FAQ, and Troubleshooting pages to configure your browser.
VPN (Virtual Private Network) After you install and run the VPN "client" software on your computer, you can log in with a CalNet ID to establish a secure connection with the campus network.
UC-eLinks
Once you've searched a database to find articles, you may need to use to link to a PDF or html file if the full text is not immediately available. Each database isa bit different, but a good rule of thumb is this: when you see the Uc-eLinks icon click on it to view your article access options, which can range from full text to a call number to an Interlibrary Loan request:
For more information, here's a tutorial on using UC-eLinks.
Related Databases
The Berkeley Library provides access to hundreds of databases, below are some that might be particularly helpful.
Academic Search Complete A multidisciplinary index to articles in more than 11,000 journals, many include fulltext.
America: History and Life Core resource for U.S history, also strong in some contemporary areas such as ethnic studies.
Sociological Abstracts Core resource for sociology, as well as some article in anthropology, criminology, demography, law, social psychology, and urban development.(Search all CSA/Illumina Social Sciences databases.)
Business Source Complete Full-text for several thousand scholarly business journals. Information in nearly every area of business and other sources of full text information such as country economic reports. For guidance on how to search, see
Business Source Complete tutorial
EconLit Most comprehensive index to scholarly journal articles in economics, also indexes books and dissertations.
LexisNexis Academic Core resource for newspapers from around the world and legal sources.
PolicyFile Index to public policy from a wide range of thinks tanks, Non-governmental organizations, international governmental organizations, and other institutions worldwide.
Project MUSE 250 scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences. Topics include literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics and many others.
Use OskiCat or Melvyl to Find books or Journal Titles (not articles) to see if UCB or UC has the journal. If UCB does not have it, you can request the book/article though the request feature in Melvyl. Allow 1 week+ for the item not at UCB to be available for pickup.
Find eBooks
The Library offers over 100 e-book and e-text collections in specific subject areas. E-books in collections marked * are also available through OskiCat and Melvyl. You can limit your search in OskiCat to "Available online," and in Melvyl to "Online resources."
Why use Google Books? Library catalogs (like OskiCat) don't search inside books; using a library catalog, you can search only information about the book (title, author, Library of Congress subject headings, etc.). Google Books will let you search inside books, which can be very useful for hard-to-find information. You can then use Google Books' Find in a Library link to locate the book in a UC Berkeley library, or search OskiCat to see if UC Berkeley owns the book.Try it now:
Find Dissertations
Find Dissertations by searching Digital Dissertations, which indexes over 1.5 million dissertations completed in North America (including UC) and European universities from 1861 to the present. Listings after 1980 include abstracts, and some feature 24-page excerpts.
Full-text Access: Online full-text of UC dissertations (from 1996) can be found by searching Digital Dissertations and also appear in Library catalog search results. UC Berkeley dissertations in print prior to 1996 may be found by searching the Library catalogs. Dissertations done at other UC campuses prior to 1996 or ouside the UC system must be obtained through Interlibrary Loan or using the "Request" option in Melvyl.
You may also limit a search in OskiCat to dissertations by changing the drop down from "Entire Collection" to "Dissertations/Theses":
News Resources
Here are some general news and newsmedia databases. For a full listing of the Library's news resources, check this list.
Access World News Provides full-text information and perspectives from over 600 U.S. and over 700 international sources. Offers strong regional coverage, indexing more than California newspapers such as Contra Costa Times (1995-current), Sacramento Bee (1984-current), San Francisco Chronicle (1985-current), and San Jose Mercury News (1985-current). Search categories include: California newspapers (121 titles), Greater Los Angeles (54 titles), major metropolitan titles (13 titles), Spanish-language news sources (48 titles), the World (almost 2000 titles), US (855 titles).
Factiva Provides general and business news and information from more than 9,000 sources in 22 languages, including influential local, national and international newspapers, leading business magazines, trade publications, and news wires. Includes the exclusive combination of The Wall Street Journal (1979-present), the Financial Times, Dow Jones and Reuters newswires and the Associated Press, as well as Reuters Fundamentals, and Bureau van Dijk company profiles.
LexisNexis Academic Includes over 6,000 individual titles of international, national and local newspapers and wire services; radio and television transcripts; and business, medical, industry, and legislative magazines, journals, and newsletters. Wide geographic coverage and translations from foreign-language sources, as well as news services like the Associated Press, Agence France Press, El Pais and Xinhua (New China) News Agency.
ProQuest Newspapers Indexes the New York Times (1999-present), Los Angeles Times (1985-present), Wall Street Journal (1982-present).
These resources will provide a wealth of information by and about the US and foreign governmernts, as well as NGOs. Further resources are available here.
ProQuest Congressional One stop shopping for U.S. congressional publications. Provides index and abstracts of congressional publications back to 1789, including full text Congressional Hearings from 1824-present, full text Committee Prints from 1830-present, full text Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports from 1916-present, full text United States Congressional Serial Set from 1789-1969, and legislative histories from 1970-present. For more information on how to find hearings, consult the Congressional Tutorials homepage
American Presidency Project Contains all major publications of the U.S. Office of the President, including: Public Papers of the President, Inaugural Addresses, Executive Orders, Signing Statements, and other information such as radio addresses, party platforms, videos of debates, and popularity polling data. This project was developed by two political science professors at UCSB.
GPO U.S. Government Publications Indexes government documents printed by the US Government Printing Office since July 1976; documents include Congressional committee hearings, congressional debates and records, judiciary material, documents issued by departments such as Defense, State, Labor, and the Office of the President. Also includes links to Federal agency online resources.
CQ Electronic Library A reference source on American politics and government that includes the following modules: CQ Congress Collection, CQ Political Handbook of the World, CQ Researcher Plus Archive, CQ Supreme Court, CQ Voting and Elections, CQ Washington Information Directory, CQ Weekly. Access individual modules or search across all CQ collections.
CQ Voting and Elections Collection Offers documents and data, authoritative analyses, background information and definitions, chronology, and historical material related to specific elections (Congressional,presidential, and gubernatorial) and the electoral process in America. A data set of voting/election statistics is available for exporting/downloading. Part of the CQ Electronic Library collection.
CQ MoneyLine Provides tracking of the flow of money in politics at the federal level with some state information from 1980 to the present. Enables tracking of contributions from Political Action Committees (PACs), individual donors to politicians, elected officials, and party committees; follow soft money through 527 groups, and retrieve information on thousands of lobbyists, indexed by client and issue.
DDRS (Declassified Documents Reference System) Over 75,000 documents and almost 500,000 pages of materials declassified via the Freedom of Information Act and regular declassification requests, making broad-based and highly targeted investigation of government documents possible. Nearly every major foreign and domestic event of these years is covered.
Metavid A searchable archive of video from the United States House and Senate Floor Debates captured though C-SPAN, from 2006 to the present. Can be searched by topic/subject keyword or person. Video can also be freely downloaded by anyone.
Oyez Project A multimedia archive devoted to the Supreme Court of the United States and its work. Contains all audio recorded in the Court since the installation of a recording system in October 1955, and summaries of major cases going back to the courts founding. The Project also provides biographical information on all justices and offers a virtual reality 'tour' of portions of the Supreme Court building, including the chambers of some of the justices.
United Nations Official Documents System Full-text of United Nations documents, including legislative documents and official records since 1993, resolutions of the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council from 1946 onwards.
UNBISnet: UN Bibliograpic Information System Contains bibliographic files with citations to UN documents indexed by the United Nations Dag Hammarskjd Library in New York and the UN Library in Geneva. Coverage is primarily from 1979 forward, however indexing for resolutions of the General Assembly, Economic and Social Council, Security Council and Trusteeship go back to 1946. Also contains files indexing speeches, voting records, and resolutions.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) can provide you a wealth of information from foreign news sources. The U.S. State Department ran the FBIS to translate foreign language newspapers, wires, and broadcasts into English. FBIS only translated information relating to U.S. interests, and only distributed to the public a select amount of what was translated.
At UC Berkeley, we have 2 databases for locating FBIS documents:
Finding FBIS documents from before 1996 at UC Berkeley can be tricky, and involves using both the FBIS Electronic Index and OskiCat. The best search strategies are country, city, or personal names combined with a date range in the FBIS database. Here are two examples of citation information from the database:
Example 1: FBIS Region: China (CHI) Title: USSR Delegate Attacks China In UN General Assembly Speech Date: January 15, 1980
Example 2: FBIS Region: Soviet Union (SOV) Title: Leontyev Warns U.S. Of Boomerang Effect Of PRC Arms Sales Date: January 15, 1980
When you have the results, take the abbreviation found in the FBIS region and add it to a title search for FBIS-(abbreviation) in OskiCat. For instance, in example 1 your search would be FBIS-CHI and for example 2 your search will be FBIS-SOV. If title search does not work, you can try a keyword search. This will lead you to a record for the microfiche.
Once you have your microfiche call numbers, go to the Newspaper and Microforms Room in the basement of Doe Library and look for that particular microfiche call number. You can browse the microfiche by date and find a report with the daily translations. NOTE: Some paper versions of the FBIS documents are housed off campus at NRLF. The FBIS-SOV search is an example of this type of record. In this case, you can use the request button in OskiCat to make your request. Because the record does not indicate date, this can be very confusing and browsing the microfiche may be an easier way to find this information.
Data and Statistics
These links will guide you to various sources for statistics and data. If you are interested in manipulating a dataset on your own, please visit the Doe Library's Data Lab in 189 Doe.
Proquest Statistical Datasets Local, state, U.S. and international governments and organizations. Customize the data by selecting subjects and variable of interest. View your data in side-by-side tables, charts and even maps.
ProQuest Statistical Insight Indexing and statistical tables from three key sources: American Statistics Index (ASI; 1973-present), Statistics Reference Index (SRI; 1980-present), and Index to International Statistics (IIS; 1983-present). The American Statistics Index links to many full text documents published 1994-present.
American Factfinder (U.S. Census Bureau) Interactive, searchable database for population, housing, industry and business statistics. Data from the American Community Survey, Census 2000 and more.
RAND State Statistics Statistics include: business & economics; population and demographics; education; community; health & socioeconomic; government finance; census; politics & public opinion.s.
Field Poll An independent, non-partisan, media-sponsored public
opinion news service. Each year the poll covers a wide range of political and social topics examining California public opinion.
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research Contains domestic and international survey data. The Center's Public Opinion Location Library (iPOLL) gives online access to a database including poll questions asked in US from 1936 to present.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Presents up-to-date U.S. economic statistical information in areas such as 'Inflation and Spending' and 'International Statistics.' Also available are the latest numbers for the Consumer Price Index, unemployment rate, and the Producer Price. Provides past and current statistics for the U.S. economy as a whole; regional economic data can be obtained by clicking the state on a color-coded map.
California Statistical Abstract Compilation of data on social, economic, and physical aspects of the State. The contributor for each table is given at the bottom of the table and may be contacted for more details or an explanation of the data.
Historical Statistics of the United States (HSUS) Comprehensive statistics and quantitative facts on US history. Date coverage varies by subject with some data going back to 1790. Allows users to download tables and statistics.
SimplyMap A web-based data analysis and mapping application that allows users to create custom thematic maps, tables and reports using demographic, business, and marketing data for the United States.
Polling the Nations A compilation of public opinion polls and surveys from more than 6,500 national, state, local and special surveys in the U.S. and over 60 other countries. The surveys date from 1986 and contain information on over 3,000 social, political and economic issues.
to link to a PDF or html file if the full text is not immediately available. Each database isa bit different, but a good rule of thumb is this: when you see the Uc-eLinks icon click on it to view your article access options, which can range from full text to a call number to an Interlibrary Loan request:
