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About Trades Academy Guide
Rowan University Libraries offers online access to collections across various disiplines that relate to trades and unions.
This guide is designed to link to relevant resources to help in your work.
Rowan University Libraries would like to credit the extensive work from librarian colleagues at Cornell Library with highlighting relevant content.
The Campbell Library is undergoing a renovation. Check for updates here.
Tools and Services to help with your research
Rowan University Libraries provides tools to help with navigating research.
1. LibKey is a service (3rd party application) that simplifies user access to library-licensed and open access journal articles.LibKey Nomad is a browser extension for the Chrome, Firefox, and Edge web browsers.
2. BrowZine offers users a way to find, read, and follow their favorite scholarly journals.. BrowZine can be used on a computer browser or as a smartphone app.
3. Interlibrary loan is free and unlimited. You can request articles that are downloadable in 2 business days and books from the consortium of 80 academic libraries that Rowan is a member of. Books can be mailed to your home address.
4. Email me your requests for e-books, e-journals or resources that you need for your courses.
5. Library workshops on topics across seven tracks. Workshops are free, many are hybrid, open to all. Learn how to search Google Scholar like a Pro, citation management, digital tools and more.
Searching the literature and a few e-books
Find articles via library databases. Searches retrieve articles from thousands of publications. Here are suggested databases.
- ABI/Inform
ABI Inform is an extensive international business and management database, contains bibliographic citations, abstracts, and full text of articles appearing in professional publications, academic journals, and trade magazines published worldwide. Also known as ProQuest.
- EconLit with Full Text
Abstracts, indexing, and full-text articles in all fields of economics, including capital markets, country studies, econometrics, economic forecasting, environmental economics, government regulations, labor economics, monetary theory, and urban economics.
- Emerald Insight
Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,000 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.
- History Vault: Workers, Labor Unions, Progressives, and Radicals
Features collections on American workers and labor from the late 19th through 20th centuries, and records of the Socialist Party of America. Modules include:
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American Federation of Labor Records: The Samuel Gompers Era, 1877-1937
- Labor Priests: Progressive Politics and the Catholic Church, John A. Ryan Papers, 1892-1945
- Labor Priests: Progressive Politics and the Catholic Church, Francis J. Haas Papers, 1904-1953
- Labor Unions in the U.S., 1862-1974: Knights of Labor, AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO
- Socialist Party of America Papers
- Stephen S. Wise Papers: Rabbi, Scholar, Activist, 1874–1949
- Workers, Labor, and Race: Records of the Fair Employment Practices Committee, 1941-1946
- Workers, Labor Unions, and the American Left in the 20th Century: Federal Records
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- JSTOR
JSTOR is a fully-searchable database containing the back issues of several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, music, ecology and botany, business, and other fields. It includes the following collections: Arts & sciences I, II and III, General science, Ecology and botany, Business, Language and literature.
- Labordoc
Labordoc is the ILO (International Labour Organization) Institutional and Open Access Repository where hundreds of thousands of ILO books, journal articles, reports, working papers, and more are available online.
- PAIS International
Contains citations to public policy literature of economics, education, government, law, international business, political science, public administration, and other social sciences. It includes references to journal articles, books, government documents, reports and pamphlets in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
- PsycINFO
Contains citations and summaries of the international literature in psychology and related behavioral and social sciences, including psychiatry, sociology, anthropology, education, pharmacology, and linguistics. Includes applied psychology, communication systems, developmental psychology, educational psychology, experimental human and animal psychology, personality, physical and psychological disorders, physiological psychology and intervention, professional personnel and issues, psychometrics, social processes and issues, sports psychology and leisure, and treatment and prevention.
- Web of Science
The Web of Science citation databases are multidisciplinary databases of bibliographic information indexed to be searched by subject, author, journal, and/or author address. They can also be searched for articles that cite a known author or work. Cited reference searching allows use of a given work as if it were a subject term, to identify more recent articles on the same topic.
- Sociological Abstracts
Abstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Provides citations from 1963 to the present, and abstracts since 1974, to journal articles, conference papers, books, and dissertations. Subjects covered include community development, culture and social structure, demography and human biology, environmental interactions, family and social welfare, health and medicine and law, religion and science, social psychology and group interactions, welfare services, and women's studies.
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The Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History
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ISBN: 9780765613301Publication Date: 2009-12-01Strikes have been part of American labor relations from colonial days to the present, reflecting the widespread class conflict that has run throughout the nation's history. Against employers and their goons, against the police, the National Guard, local, state, and national officials, against racist vigilantes, against their union leaders, and against each other, American workers have walked off the job for higher wages, better benefits, bargaining rights, legislation, job control, and just plain dignity. At times, their actions have motivated groundbreaking legislation, defining new rights for all citizens; at other times they have led to loss of workers' lives. This comprehensive encyclopedia is the first detailed collection of historical research on strikes in America. To provide the analytical tools for understanding strikes, the volume includes two types of essays - those focused on an industry or economic sector, and those focused on a theme. Each industry essay introduces a group of workers and their employers and places them in their economic, political, and community contexts. The essay then describes the industry's various strikes, including the main issues involved and outcomes achieved, and assesses the impact of the strikes on the industry over time. Thematic essays address questions that can only be answered by looking at a variety of strikes across industries, groups of workers, and time, such as, why the number of strikes has declined since the 1970s, or why there was a strike wave in 1946. The contributors include historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and philosophers, as well as current and past activists from unions and other social movement organizations. Photos, a Topic Finder, a bibliography, and name and subject indexes add to the works appeal. -
Workers in America
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ISBN: 9781598847185Publication Date: 2013-01-08This encyclopedia traces the evolution of American workers and labor organizations from pre-Revolutionary America through the present day. In 2001, Robert E. Weir's two-volume Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor was chosen as a New York Public Library Best in Reference selection. Weir recently revised this groundbreaking resource, resulting in content that is more accessible, comprehensive, and timely. The newest edition, Workers in America: A Historical Encyclopedia, features updated entries, recent court cases, a chronology of key events, an enriched index, and an extensive bibliography for additional research. This expansive encyclopedia examines the complete panorama of America's work history, including the historical account of work and workers, the social inequities between the rich and poor, violence in the Labor Movement, and issues of globalization and industrial economics. Organized in two volumes and arranged in A-Z order, the 350 entries span key events, collective actions, pivotal figures, landmark legislation, and important concepts in the world of labor and work. -
Encyclopedia of American Social Movements
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ISBN: 9780765680457Publication Date: 2004-08-31This four-volume set examines every social movement in American history - from the great struggles for abolition, civil rights, and women's equality to the more specific quests for prohibition, consumer safety, unemployment insurance, and global justice. -
Building Global Labor Solidarity in a Time of Accelerating Globalization
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ISBN: 1608465993Publication Date: 2016-05-17Since the 1980s, the world's working class has been under continual assault by the forces of neoliberalism and imperialism. In response, new labor movements have emerged across the Global South--from Brazil and South Africa to Indonesia and Pakistan. Building Global Labor Solidarity in a Time of Accelerating Globalization is a call for international solidarity to resist the assaults on labor's power. This collection of essays by international labor activists and academics examines models of worker solidarity, different forms of labor organizations, and those models' and organizations' relationships to social movements and civil society. -
Living Wage Movements
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ISBN: 0415655463Publication Date: 2012-09-10Living wage activism has spanned time and space, reaching across decades and national boundaries. Conditions generating living wage movements early in the twentieth century have resurfaced in the twenty-first century, only on a global scale: 'sweated' labour, macroeconomic instability, and job insecurity. Upon reviewing the empirical evidence, the book's contributors make strong cases both for and against living wage activism. The effective blend of historical, contemporary, and global perspectives provides opportunities for teachers, scholars, and activists to evaluate how we can address low pay at the organizational and macroeconomic levels. -
Heritage, Labour and the Working Classes
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ISBN: 0415618118Publication Date: 2011-08-09Heritage, Labour and the Working Classes is both a celebration and commemoration of working class culture. It contains sometimes inspiring accounts of working class communities and people telling their own stories, and weaves together examples of tangible and intangible heritage, place, history, memory, music and literature. Rather than being framed in a 'social inclusion' framework, which sees working class culture as a deficit, this book addresses the question "What is labour and working class heritage, how does it differ or stand in opposition to dominant ways of understanding heritage and history, and in what ways is it used as a contemporary resource?" It also explores how heritage is used in working class communities and by labour organizations, and considers what meanings and significance this heritage may have, while also identifying how and why communities and their heritage have been excluded. Drawing on new scholarship in heritage studies, social memory, the public history of labour, and new working class studies, this volume highlights the heritage of working people, communities and organizations. Contributions are drawn from a number of Western countries including the USA, UK, Spain, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand, and from a range of disciplines including heritage and museum studies, history, sociology, politics, archaeology and anthropology. Heritage, Labour and the Working Classes represents an innovative and useful resource for heritage and museum practitioners, students and academics concerned with understanding community heritage and the debate on social inclusion/exclusion. It offers new ways of understanding heritage, its values and consequences, and presents a challenge to dominant and traditional frameworks for understanding and identifying heritage and heritage making. -
Organizing the Curriculum
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ISBN: 9087907192Publication Date: 2009-01-01Contemporary American youth live in a culture that ignores or denigrates labor unions. Mainstream media cover labor issues only sparingly and unions no longer play much of a role in popular culture texts, films, or images. In our schools labor has been limited to a footnote in textbooks instead of being treated seriously as the most effective force for championing the rights of working people--the vast majority of the citizenry. Teachers have been convinced that to bring up class or to teach about the labor movement may be construed as "taking sides," while the all-pervasive presence of corporate America in our schools is rarely questioned. So for all the talk of schools preparing young people for the work world, we are failing to teach them even the basics of how that world is structured or how they can be empowered through collective action. Organizing the Curriculum: Perspectives on Teaching the US Labor Movement is the first book-length treatment of this blind spot in contemporary curriculum and pedagogy. Contributors to this collection--unionists, activists, teachers, teacher educators, and academics--interrogate the ways in which knowledge is constructed in school discourses, conceptualize pedagogical strategies and curricula that open discussions around class analysis and political economy via studies of the labor movement, and put forward an activist vision of education that truly engages young people beyond the classroom walls.
Data and Labor Union Statistics
- Data.gov
Excellent and growing source for raw data, including 5 pages on data sets on labor and employment.
- Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology (FCSM)
A major portal for U. S. government statistics. The FCSM compiles, assesses, and disseminates information on statistical or survey methods and practices for Federal statistical agencies.
- International Statistical Agencies
Comprehensive list by country, compiled by the U. S. Census Bureau. NOTE: Scroll to bottom of web page for the list.
- ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the U.S.
The ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States. Data begins in 2013. For historical data, see separate listing, hosted by the U.S. Census Bureau.
- U.S. Data and Statistics
Find data about the U.S., such as maps and population, demographic, and economic data.
- Wolfram Alpha
Enter your question or calculation, and Wolfram|Alpha uses its built-in algorithms and a growing collection of data to compute the answer.
Labor Union Statistics
- Annual Reports (National Labor Relations Board)
Find summary statistics on NLRB activity, including decisions, court reviews, elections, unfair labor practices, etc.. (from 1936-2009)
- ILO Statistical Data, Union
(Information about database. Database must be requested.) The ILO has created a database on trade union membership. It contains data for 45 countries from 1990-Available in Excel files on request from the ILO Bureau of Statistics.
- Union Membership Annual (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
This January release is the main government source for statistics on U. S. labor union membership and density.
- UnionReports.gov (U.S. Office of Labor Management Standards)
Source for information on membership and finances of individual unions. From the U. S. Department of Labor.
- Unionstats.com
The Union Membership and Coverage Database is an Internet data resource providing private and public sector labor union membership, coverage, and density estimates compiled from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly household survey, using BLS methods. These statistics are provided by the BLS in its annual Union Membership survey, but due with less detail. Be sure to read the background information on Unionstats.com with its commentary on the accuracy of the sample.
- NLRB Election Data
Recent election results from the NLRB
Recommended guides from other Universities
From Cornell University:
- Collective Bargaining, Labor Relations, and Labor Unions
- Mock Bargaining/Collective Bargaining
- Labor Unions and the Internet
- Labor and Employment Law
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Data and Statistical Sources: Labor and Employment
From Princeton University:
From Rowan University