The IJS holds over 5,700 books related to jazz as well as over 1,250 different periodical titles, including academic journals, magazines, newsletters, and similar kinds of publications. As a part of Rutgers University Libraries, IJS users also have access to all of the materials at other Rutgers' libraries, although only users with a Rutgers ID may request and check out books. Information about requesting books from other libraries is available here. Many IJS print materials are in the open stacks, meaning that you can browse the shelves to find books, magazines, and journals. However a large collection of periodicals, including magazines, newsletters, bulletins, and similar kinds of publications is shelved in the closed stacks, available on request. A list of these publications is included on the Periodicals page of this research guide.
At the IJS most of the print collections have been cataloged and can be searched in the library catalog. For a tutorial on how to search the catalog for print materials, please watch the videos on this page. Journals and periodicals are cataloged by title and year, so if you're looking for an article on a particular topic, your best search strategy would be to start with one of the article index databases detailed on the Databases page of this research guide to find articles that meet your search criteria. If a full-text electronic version of an article is unavailable through the database, use the citation to find a hard copy at the IJS or another Rutgers library. Use the instructions in the video on this page to search for specific periodicals. Unfortunately, many of the periodicals at the IJS have never been indexed, so some amount of serendipitous searching may be necessary. Access to some periodicals is limited to microfilm copies to protect the original copies.