Managing Public and Nonprofit Organizations

Course Number:

PLS 500

Instructor:

Paarlberg, Laurie

Welcome to Randall Library! This guide provides a selective list of library resources and free websites to aid in your literature review. As you refine your specific topic, feel free to ask for assistance.

Starting Points

Handbook of Public Administration

This non-partisan website helps citizens to understand critical policy issues and helps leaders understand the public's point of view.

Articles & eResources

These databases will lead you to articles on the issues and processes of policy analysis. If the database does not provide the full-text of the article, be sure to check the journal title in the online catalog to see if and how the library provides the article. It may be in a different database or in paper copy. The library provides access to approximately 40,000 journals, but if we don't have the article you need, it can be obtained through interlibrary loan.

Note: The Article & eResource search box on the Library home page searches several general databases simultaneously. For more focused and specialized searches in public policy, also try these databases.

Academic Search Complete

Provides full-text access to 8,600 journals and indexes 12,500 journals. Also provides descriptions for 13,200 other publications, e.g., monographs, reports and conference proceedings.

Public Affairs Information Services (PAIS)

Provides citations to journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more.

Google Scholar

Provides a simple broad-based search engine for articles, books, theses, court opinions. From on-campus, links to full-text subscription databases should take you to full-text. Use the library catalog to check for books or journals not provided in full-text, since we may still have them. Interlibrary loan can obtain what we don't have.

JSTOR

JSTOR is included in the databases searched from the library home page, but you may wish to focus the search using JSTOR's advanced search to limit to the 65 law journals, 21 management and organizational behavior journals, 93 political science journals or 26 public policy and administration journals offered.

HeinOnline

A rich resource for legal and legislative research. Includes full-text for 1200 law journals, US Congressional documents, including the Congressional Record and its predecessors, Code of Federal Regulations, US Code, etc.

LexisNexis Congressional

Search Congressional publications, e.g., hearings, House and Senate documents and reports, Congressional Research Service Reports, and Congressional Record. Where full-text is not available, use the bibliographic information to locate in the library or through interlibrary loan. Ask for assistance -- it's complicated!

LexisNexis Academic

News, legal and business resources. News sources include newspapers, magazines, wire services, broadcast transcripts and news-oriented blogs. US Legal provides law review articles and federal and state cases and statutes.

Military & Government Collection

This EbscoHost database provides full-text for 300 journals and indexing for over 400 journals relating to government and armed services issues. International in scope.

WorldCat

A union catalog of 9,000 libraries, this is a key database to identify and locate books, government documents, videos, dissertations, and manuscript collections in libraries.

Sage Journals Online

This package of full-text e-journals includes 9 public administration titles and 19 urban studies & planning journals.

Using the Library Catalog

Click here to search the Library Catalog

Use the catalog to find books, government documents, videos and journals in the Randall Library collection. Expand your search from Wilmington to the UNC Coastal Consortium to include the holdings of UNC Pembroke and Fayetteville State University. To request items from UNCP and FSU, simply place a hold on the item. Go worldwide with your search by using the WorldCat database -- the holdings of 9,000 libraries. You can us the interlibrary loan (ILLiad) link in WorldCat records to request items through interlibrary loan.

The Library Catalog and WorldCat both use Library of Congress Subject Headings to tag items by subject. Using subject headings as an alternative to keyword searching can help focus and refine your searching, since the subject heading indicates the main purpose of the publication. You can usually start with a keyword search to discover appropriate subject headings, but you can also use the database Library of Congress Classification/Subject Headings to learn the exact terms to use. Here are some that should be useful for this class:

Nonprofit organizations
Non-governmental organizations

Public administration
Administrative agencies
Local government
Civil service
Public officers

Management
Communication in management
Communication in public administration
Crisis management in government
Conflict management
Delegation of authority
Government accountability
Government productivity
Interagency coordination
Intergovernmental cooperation
Job enrichment
Management by objectives
Office practice in government
Organizational behavior
Organizational change
Organizational effectiveness
Organizational sociology
Personnel management
Planning
Project management
Total quality management in government

Websites

Catalog of Nonprofit Literature

This e-journal package includes 15 public administration, 40 public policy and administration, and 23 public policy economics and finance journals.

Free Management Library

This database includes the Social Science Citation Index. Using the Cited Reference feature you can track recent articles that cited earlier studies. Other databases do this, but not as thoroughly as Web of Science.

Government Executive

This multidisciplinary database, provides unparalleled and comprehensive coverage of the environmental sciences. Abstracts and citations are drawn from over 6000 serials including scientific journals, conference proceedings, reports, monographs, books and government publications Publication dates: 1967-present.

National Charities Information Bureau

Descriptions of charities and how they use their funds. Also includes information on standards for charities.

National Center for Charitable Statistics

A clearinghouse of data on fundraising by charities. Sponsored by the Urban Institute.

Nonprofit Good Practice Guide

A username and password is required to access the content of this database. Inquire at the Learning Commons Desk or contact Sue Cody, liaison librarian for Public and International Affairs.

Government Resources

The UNC School of Government (formerly the Institute of Government) publishes a wide range of useful resources for government employees and elected officials. The following is a sample of titles related to management issues. Several of the SOG publications are available freely from their website: http://www.sog.unc.edu/.

Development review in local government

Mission statement from the website: CGS helps civic organizations, decision-makers and the media to strengthen democracy and improve government processes by providing rigorous research, nonpartisan analysis, strategic consulting and innovative media models of public information and civic engagement.

Employee benefits law : for North Carolina local government

This digital library of public policy research is a joint effort of the Center for Governmental Studies and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Ethics, conflicts and offices: A Guide for local officials

Although its focus is on New York State, this site provides information on many important public policy issues, e.g., state and local finance, health care, education, employment, social services.

Guide to the North Carolina local government performance measurement project

The Pew Research Center calls itself "a nonparisan 'fact tank' that provides informaton on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.