Social Work Library

This page has information about the services that the Social Work Library offers to alumni of Boston College. The Social Work Library encourages all alumni to continue to use the Social Work Library during your careers as social workers. You are always welcome to contact us for assistance with your research.

We have arranged for remote access to the following databases for BC alumni:

• Adam Matthew Primary Source Collections - digitized primary source material on a variety of topics, geographic areas, and historic periods.
• ATLA Religion Databases - essays, book reviews, and journal articles in all disciplines related to theological and religious studies.
• GoinGlobal - information on worldwide resources for internship and job searches. Contents include Country Career Guides, USA/Canada City Career Guides, Job Postings and Internship Listings, H1B Visa Info, and an Employer Directory.
• JSTOR - a collection of thousands of academic journals, books, and primary sources.
• OECD iLibrary - the online library of the OECD including books, papers, and statistics.
• Project MUSE - scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences from university presses and scholarly societies.
• RefWorks - a citation management tool.
• The Vault - career information on a wide variety of industries and specific companies.

Login or Register for access on the Research Resources page of the BC Alumni Community. 

• All Boston College alumni are eligible to get an alumni borrowing card.
• Apply for an alumni borrowing card at the O'Neill circulation desk. Be sure to bring a form of identification with you when you apply for a card.
• The loan period for alumni borrowers is 28 days with a maximum of two renewals.
• Alumni borrowing cards allow you to borrow books from all Boston College Libraries except the Law Library.

PubMed Central
PubMed Central (PMC) is a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine. PMC includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources.
Search PubMed more broadly for journal abstracts on psychiatric issues. 

Massachusetts Regional Library System
The Massachusetts Regional Library System offers Massachusetts library card holders access to full-text journal databases under the Research & Articles tab. All you need is a library card from a public library in Massachusetts to access these resources anywhere.

Child Welfare Information Gateway
A searchable website with free research reports, suggested books, and articles.  If the full-text of an article or book chapters is not available, you can request it through the interlibrary service at your local public library.

If you live in the Boston area, you are welcome to visit the Social Work Library during our regular hours. You are warmly encouraged to get help from a social work librarian and to use our online resources at our guest computer. We have a variety of electronic journals and databases that you are welcome to use and access when you visit the Social Work Library.

Many online publications provide free access to their content. Three important social work journals that provide full access on the web are:

Journal of Social Work Values & Ethics
This peer-reviewed journal explores the ethical issues that impact social work practice.

The New Social Worker Online Current issue is available online. Articles are geared for new graduates who are looking for career advice.

Social Work & Society Social Work and Society is dedicated to critical analysis of the relationship between social work, social policy, the state and economic forces. It is international in scope and coverage.

Many more Open Access journals of interest to social workers can be found through the Directory of Open Access Journals.

Open Access Button
The website and the Chrome browser plug-in uses the article information you are viewing to search open access sources for an available copy of an article.

Unpaywall
The browser add-on works in Chrome and Firefox. The tool adds an opened lock tab to the right of your browser when it detects that the article you are viewing is openly available.

These websites feature free information about evidence-based practice, practice guidelines, and systematic reviews:

The Campbell Collaboration
SAMSHA's Evidence-Based Practices
Social Programs that Work

Useful websites for practitioners can be found on the the Social Work Library in-depth Research Guides.

An excellent current awareness site for social workers is Information for Practice, sponsored by the New York University School of Social Work.

The following are professional associations for social workers:

The American Psychological Association 
Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups
Association of Oncology Social Work
The Clinical Social Work Federation
International Federation of Social Workers
National Organization of Forensic Social Workers
NASW Online
North American Association of Christians in Social Work
School Social Work Association of America
Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care