Library: Public Administration Research Guide: Library Research Databases

Library Subscription Databases

The following are relevant library research databases to public administration and policy. They are organized by type of database. For off-campus access please login using your Buffalo State network credentials.

Legal Databases

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
An ever-expanding database that specializes in offering original PDF copies of full-runs of legal collections. It includes: most major legal periodicals, federal and state statutes, court decisions, attorney general reports and opinions, federal legislative history materials, treaties, foreign & international law material, and numerous specialized legal collections. The text of collections are fully searchable and there are tools to browse or find items by citation.
For more information about Hein Online, check out their Training Guides (including 10 Quick Tips) and Training Videos.
HeinOnline Legal Classics This link opens in a new window
More than 1,800 classic law books from the 1700s to the 2000s.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Covers News, Legal, and Business domains. Contains full text of newspaper and journal articles, court cases, legal briefs, business information and more. Content in this database is NOT currently included in ALL-Search

Article Databases

Social Sciences Full Text This link opens in a new window
This source indexes a wide variety of sources related to the social sciences including sociology, family studies, public administration, social work, etc.
Military & Government Collection This link opens in a new window
Covers engineering, public affairs, public policy, international affairs and countries of the world. Contains full text from >250 military-related periodicals.
Sage Journals This link opens in a new window
More than 700 scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities, and health, and other disciplines.
Taylor & Francis Online This link opens in a new window
Scholarly journals in many subject areas. Full text of articles is available for more than 1200 of the 1700 journals covered.
CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
CQ Researcher provides award winning in-depth coverage of the most important issues of the day. Our reports are written by experienced journalists, footnoted and professionally fact-checked. Full-length articles include an overview, historical background, chronology, pro/con feature, plus resources for additional research. Graphics, photos and short "sidebar" features round out the reports. Shorter "Hot Topics" articles provide a solid introduction to subjects most in demand by students.

Primary & Historical Source Databases

Adam Matthew - American History, 1493-1945 This link opens in a new window
This unique collection documents American History from the earliest settlers to the mid-twentieth century. It is sourced from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the finest archives available for the study of American History.

Module I Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859
Module II Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945
Adam Matthew - Race Relations in America This link opens in a new window
Documenting three pivotal decades in the fight for civil rights, this resource showcases the speeches, reports, surveys and analyses produced by the Race Relations Department and annual Institute of Fisk University, including Charles S. Johnson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall.
African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window
Provide access to U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience, including many rare and historically significant 19th century titles.
Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940 This link opens in a new window
Archives of Sexuality and Gender, the largest historical collection available in support the knowledge of gender studies and sexuality education, enables academic scholars to make new connections in LGBTQ history and activism, cultural studies, psychology, health, political science, policy studies, gender history, and other related disciplines of research, including gender studies research.
Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Federal Government Records This link opens in a new window
A website focused on Black Freedom, featuring select primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history. Our intention is to support a wide range of students (see examples for using in teaching and learning), as well independent researchers and anyone interested in learning more about the foundation of ongoing racial injustice in the U.S. – and the fights against it.
The documents presented here represent a selection of primary sources available in several ProQuest databases. The databases represented in this website include American Periodicals, Black Abolitionist Papers, ProQuest History Vault, ProQuest Congressional, Supreme Court Insight and Alexander Street’s Black Thought and Culture.
The goal of this website is to provide a selection of primary source documents that may be used by a wide range of students, from middle and high school students to college students and independent scholars. Examples of assignments may include National History Day projects or research papers about Black Freedom.
Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new window
Explore the impact of invasion and colonization on Indigenous Peoples in North America, and the intersection of Indigenous and European histories and systems of knowledge through the use of manuscripts, monographs, newspapers, photographs, motion pictures, images of artwork, and more. These are the primary sources that take students beyond the facts and figures of history and into a deeper understanding of Indigenous Peoples.
Making of America This link opens in a new window
A digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction, comprised of books and journals. The library is divided into two distinct, searchable collections: one at Cornell University, and the other at the University of Michigan.
ProQuest History Vault This link opens in a new window
Contains digitized letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, diaries, and many more primary source materials. Access is limited to the following collections: Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century and American Politics and Society.
HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
A preservation repository with millions of volumes digitized by Google, the Internet Archive, and HathiTrust’s partner institutions. Approximately one-third of the volumes are in the public domain and can be viewed in their entirety.
HathiTrust Digital Library is a digital preservation repository and highly functional access platform. It provides long-term preservation and access services for public domain and in copyright content from a variety of sources, including Google, the Internet Archive, Microsoft, and in-house partner institution initiatives.

The partners ensure the reliability and efficiency of the digital library by relying on community standards and best practices, developing policies and procedures to manage content and services at scale, and maintaining a modular, open infrastructure.

Demographic & Maps Databases

A to Z Maps Online This link opens in a new window
Thousands of proprietary, royalty-free world, continent, country, and state maps. Includes political, physical, outline, population, precipitation, climate, and other thematic maps.
Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
Provides quick and easy access to current and historical census data and demographic information. Note Requires registering a free account once you access the database.
Please review this training guide for assistance with using Social Explorer.

Newspaper Subscriptions

New York Times Online This link opens in a new window
For information on gaining full access to The New York Times' website through Butler Library, see instructions here.
Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new window
Published since 1889, the Wall Street Journal includes coverage of U.S. and world news, politics, arts, culture, lifestyle, sports, health and more.
You must login with your Buffalo State network login and create an account with your Buffalo State email address.
Buffalo News Online This link opens in a new window
Follow the steps outlined here in order to get access to the Buffalo News Online:

Note: this access expires at the end of Summer 2022

Scholarly Journal Subscriptions

The following is a list of highly relevant and impactful magazine and journal titles in Public Administration and Foreign Affairs. Aside from these titles, we have access to tens of thousands of periodicals. The link below will search for Journals or Magazines by the title of the publication. For article searches, click here. For more questions of Journal Subscriptions, please contact Chris Hulsman, Electronic & Educational Resources Librarian

Search for Journal by Title
Search for a journal, magazine, or newspaper by title to see if we have access to full text.
Foreign Affairs
A scholarly bimonthly journal published by the Council on Foreign Relations that covers international affairs and foreign policy and provides an international forum for new ideas, analysis, and debate on significant world issues. Audience includes government officials, academics, business leaders, and non-governmental groups such as human rights organizations.
Public Policy & Administration
Public Policy and Administration is the journal of the UK Joint University Council (JUC) Public Administration Committee (PAC). The journal aims to publish original peer-reviewed material within the broad field of public policy and administration. This includes recent developments in research, scholarship and practice within public policy, public administration, government, public management, administrative theory, administrative history and administrative politics. The journal seeks to foster a pluralistic approach to the study of public policy and administration. International in readership, the journal welcomes submissions from anywhere in the world from both academic and practitioner communities.
Public Administration Quarterly
Public Administration Quarterly (PAQ) publishes articles and symposia of interest to academics and practitioners across the fields of public administration and public affairs. An independent publication since its genesis in 1977 as the Southern Review of Public Administration, PAQ is committed to the use of the blind-review process.
International Review of Public Administration
International Review of Public Administration is indexed in Scopus, Ulrichs and OCLC.
The Korean Association for Public Administration and our publisher Taylor & Francis make every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the "Content") contained in our publications. However, The Korean Association for Public Administration and our publisher Taylor & Francis, our agents (including the editor, any member of the editorial team or editorial board, and any guest editors), and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content.
Administration & Society
Administration & Society advances understanding of public and nonprofit organizations, their administrative processes, their effects on society, and their place in governing systems.