Project MUSE’s RSF: Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
Project MUSE is one of the leading providers of academic journals in the social sciences and humanities. The public library system, for the most part, can’t afford subscriptions to have access to these publications. However, since 2015, Project MUSE has begun publishing a peer-reviewed journal that is available for free for all. This is an important move in the idea of open access to academic texts, something not readily available to those without current ties to academic institutions.
The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences (RSF) has full-text articles available through Project MUSE’s website. Each volume of the journal is themed. Past topics have included Severe Deprivation in America (November 2015) and Higher Education Effectiveness (April 2016), both topics that do come up in research inquiries.
While this is a specific resource that won’t apply to a great number of reference interviews, it is a resource that, if highlighted, can be one stop to try for a range of research requests from financial reforms to immigration law.
I found the article “Financial Reform: Making the System Safer and Fairer” by Michael S. Barr in the January 2017 edition to be an interesting and approachable article on a rather unwieldy topic. There is a concise discussion of the Dodd-Frank Act that was a hot topic during the presidential election cycle.
Like most online journals, there are also links to View Citation and Save Citation to make works cited pages easier.
You can browse the journal by issue or search within its articles. This is a still a fairly new publication, but is certainly one to watch.
Jeff Connelly, South Park