Post-Graduation Resources for Social Work: Home
You've graduated! But now where can you go for information? Look no further!
Library Services for Alumni
Library Services Lost:
You will no longer be able to access full-text journal articles in many of the databases to which the library subscribes.
Library Services You Still Have:
If you live in the Grand Rapids area, you may still visit the GVSU Libraries, use our computer lab to access online journals and databases, and check out books. Your loan period will be 4 weeks, and you may have 10 items checked out at one time. More policies can be found here. You can obtain an alumni association membership card to borrow materials.
Also, as a resident of Michigan, you can use the Michigan eLibrary in addition to your local public library.
Check out the GVSU Open Access Social Science Content Guide
How to Stay Informed
- Child Maltreatment Research Email List ServeThis list serve has been in existence since 1993 and is for researchers interested in the treatment, intervention, consequences and prevention of child abuse and neglect.
- Child Welfare Newsletter Subscriptions and RSS FeedsSign up from the Child Welfare Information Gateway to receive monthly news and updates.
- The Future of Children NewsletterSubscribe to a newsletter, produced by the Future of Children, a collaboration of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution. The mission of The Future of Children is to translate the best social science research about children and youth into information that is useful to policymakers, practitioners, grant-makers, advocates, the media, and students of public policy.
- Information for PracticeTo help social service professionals throughout the world conveniently maintain an awareness of news regarding the profession and emerging scholarship.
- List of Social Work Organizations and SocietiesThe Society for Social Work and Research has created a list of social work organizations with direct links to the websites for these groups. Stay informed by keeping track of what is happening with these organizations.
- MSW GuideYour source for information on Master's in Social Work programs, social work licensure, career paths as a social worker, and more.
- National Institute of Health Directory of Listserv Discussion GroupsOver 1,000 discussion lists from the National Institute of Health.
- The New Social Worker OnlineThe free, online version of the subscription-based magazine New Social Worker. You can read book reviews, look at social work job postings and subscribe to free email news from the site.
- Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) ListservA discussion list where both members and nonmembers can debate about social issues, use the list as a resource for making connections or finding research sources, and post announcements of opportunities and events.
Open Access Journals and Reports
These journals all have articles that are free to view, though you may still run into a few articles blocked by a pay wall.
Government Information
- Census DataDemographic and economic information, data, and maps from U.S. Federal decennial censuses and the American Community Survey.
- Congress.govCongress.gov offers full-text searching for bills and resolutions from 1989 to the current Congress, bill summary and status from 1973 to present, and full-text committee reports from 1995 to present.
- FDSYS - Federal Digital SystemGovernment hearings, reports, public and private laws, the Federal Register and the U.S Code.
- GovTrack.us: Tracking the U.S. CongressGovTrack.us is a free tool which lets you track the activities of the U.S. Congress.
- National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)Summaries of the more than 195,000 criminal justice, juvenile justice, and substance abuse resources housed in the NCJRS Library collection.
References
In creating this library subject guide, I looked to Sue Wortman's "Staying Informed in Social Work Practice" library subject guide from the University of Michigan and Kimberly Pendell's "Open Access Social Work" library subject guide from Portland State University.
Other Free Research Databases
- Campbell Collaboration LibrarySystematic reviews of the effects of social interventions.
- Childcare and Early Education Research ConnectionArticles, papers, data sets, instruments and other research related to childcare and early education.
- Cochrane Collaboration Library - Free SummariesSystematic reviews of primary research in human health care and health policy.
- Google Public DataProvides a few data resources like OECD, World Bank, United Nations and U.S. Census.
- The Henry J. Kaiser Family FoundationThe Kaiser Foundation website offers a wealth of information on health care policy and reform with fact sheets, statistics, tutorials, polls, maps and reports.
- The National Academies PressBrowse by topics like aging, children, youth and families, policy, reviews and evaluations, population and fertility studies, women and minorities.
- Pew Charitable Trusts Resource LibraryThe Pew Charitable Trusts seek to 1.) Improve Public Policy; 2.) Inform the Public; 3.) Stimulate Civic Life.
- PubMed CentralNational Institute of Health (NIH) repository for peer-reviewed primary research reports in the life sciences.
- RAND CorporationFree online research reports, commentary and reprints on topics covering population and aging, child policy, health and healthcare, and substance abuse.
- Social Science Research Network (SSRN)"Social Science Research Network (SSRN) is a world wide collaborative of over 800 leading scholars that is devoted to the rapid worldwide dissemination of social science research. It is composed of a number of specialized research networks in each of the social sciences."
- TRIPMetasearch engine which searches multiple research databases at the same time.
- World Bank Data CatalogFreely available international economic, environmental and social data provided by the World Bank.
Grant Resources
- GuideStarview nonprofit 990s
Subjects: Social Work
- Last Updated: Jan 6, 2025 12:20 PM
- URL: https://libguides.gvsu.edu/SWgraduates
