Journal articles and conference papers usually provide the most up-to-date information on a given subject and are much more likely to have information on narrower topics not easily located in books. The Online Catalog does not provide in-depth indexing of all the topics treated in individual books nor can it be used to find journal articles on a particular subject. Journals and conferences are normally published more rapidly than books and should provide the latest information on a given topic. MSU users have access to a number of finding tools useful for finding engineering information.
E - journals can be accessed in a number of different ways, through our online catalog, and our A to Z Title List of Electronic Journals. Some can also be accessed from online indexes. Most of the e - journals that the MSU Libraries subscribe to can be accessed from anywhere on-campus. Off-campus access to these resources is usually possible by going through our proxy server. An example of an e-journal would be the Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology The number of years available online varies by journal title. The number of electronic journal titles available at a given time is increasing as we make more resources available in electronic formats. Some journals are still only available in print such as the Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.