Obtaining Articles and Books Described in AgeLine
AgeLine identifies and summarizes journal and magazine articles, books and book chapters, and government and organizational reports (including select AARP publications); it does not provide the full text of any of these publications in the AgeLine database. Possible options for obtaining the full text of documents are described below:
Obtaining Journal and Magazine Articles
Obtaining Books
Obtaining Organizational and Government Reports
Obtaining AARP Reports and Other AARP Publications
- Purchase the article from the document delivery service Infotrieve, connecting directly from AgeLine by using the Order Article option on the Search Results screen. The price per article combines an Infotrieve service charge of $12.00 ($14.00 outside U.S. and Canada) plus a copyright fee determined by the copyright holder. The typical total cost is $15-35 per article, payable by credit card. Most articles described in AgeLine are available from Infotrieve, including older and hard-to-find titles.
- Borrow/read the article by contacting your local public library's reference or information desk to see if the library subscribes to this magazine. If it does not, inquire whether your library can borrow the article from another library through interlibrary loan (library-to-library borrowing). If you are a college student, contact your college or university library's reference desk or interlibrary loan office. (Some college libraries may also allow non-students to read or photocopy articles.) Libraries may charge a small fee for interlibrary loan and/or photocopying. Libraries may want to know the "ISSN" of a particular journal, which is a unique identifier number that can be found in the AgeLine citation on the Search Results screen.
- Contact the journal or magazine publisher to see if individual articles or entire issues may be purchased. The easiest way to do this is to consult the "Availability" paragraph included in each AgeLine citation on the Search Results screen. This lists the name of the journal publisher (for example, Prentice-Hall), the publisher's web site address (URL), and an 800 telephone number if available. A full street address may be provided for little-known publishers. Be aware that web URLs can change rapidly; if this happens, simply go to a general search engine site and search on the publisher's name.
- Contact the author to see if reprints are available. Consult the "Availability" paragraph in the AgeLine citation on the Search Results screen for author contact information. This information is provided only if the publisher has indicated that the author can be contacted, and it is, of course, subject to change.
- Contact other document delivery services that sell copies of individual articles. In addition to Infotrieve (see first item above), examples include the British Library Document Supply Centre and Information Express Online. You may prefer the features of one service over another, or your local library may already be a customer of a such a service. Prices will be similar among services, and all services will impose copyright fees where applicable. Prices and service features are subject to change.
Note: The "Book" document type covers commercially published books as well as reports published by organizations such as associations, "think tanks," and the government. To obtain reports, consult the next section, Obtaining Organizational and Government Reports.
- Purchase the book from an online bookseller (for example, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com) by going to the bookseller's site and searching for the book's title or author. You can also enter the ISBN number given in the AgeLine citation. Most commercially published books cited in AgeLine are available from online booksellers, although some may be out of stock or need special ordering if they are older titles.
- Purchase the book from a local bookstore. Larger bookstores should carry most of the more recent books that are designated as being for a "general public/consumer" audience in the AgeLine citation, especially in areas of current high interest, such as baby boomers at midlife, staying fit after 50, and relationships between adult children and their aging parents. Research-oriented books will be harder to find in bookstores, but stores may special order a book for you.
- Borrow the book from your local public library. If the library doesn't own the book, it may be able to borrow it from another library through interlibrary loan (library-to-library borrowing). If you are affiliated with a college or university, check your school's online catalog. Contact the Interlibrary Loan office if your library does not own the book.
- Contact the book publisher if you can't locate a copy elsewhere. Publisher information is often provided in the Availability paragraph of the AgeLine citation, along with a web address (URL) and other contact information. Reports produced by organizations may be difficult to locate, especially older ones. We provide availability information in the AgeLine citation wherever possible. Government reports can be obtained with the assistance of your local library or through various government web sites (see the next section, "Obtaining Organizational and Government Reports").
- Contact the organization listed in the "Availability" information in the AgeLine citation. If no availability information exists, consult the "Source" information. Newer publications have more detailed availability information, including web addresses where possible.
- Consult a librarian for assistance, especially if you have access to an academic, organization, or state library. The librarian may be able to help you find contact information for the publishing organization. Also, almost all books and reports cited in AgeLine have been cataloged on OCLC's "WorldCat" database, a worldwide shared cataloging system. A librarian should be able to identify libraries owning a copy of the report and assist you in borrowing the document through interlibrary loan (library-to-library borrowing). Reports published before 1983 may not be cataloged on OCLC.
- For government documents, consult the "Availability" information in the AgeLine citation or go to a general government documents web site such as www.fedworld.gov or www.ntis.gov (National Technical Information Service). If indicated in the AgeLine citation, go to bookstore.gpo.gov (U.S. Government Printing Office) or www.gao.gov (U.S. General Accounting Office). There is a charge for many publications. Most librarians can assist you with finding government information on the web.
- AgeLine contains a significant number of reports funded by the Administration on Aging (AoA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The best source for obtaining copies is the organization that wrote the report, as indicated in the AgeLine citation, especially for more recent reports. Copies of many reports are available from NTIS for a fee (www.ntis.gov). The AoA web site (www.aoa.gov) does not list funded research reports but contains other good aging-related information.
- Consult the "Availability" information in the AgeLine citation. Some citations provide detailed contact information.
- Send an e-mail to AARP at member@aarp.org. Provide your name and mailing address, the title of the publication, and the stock number if you have it (see number beginning with "D" in Publication Number field of the AgeLine citation).
- Call AARP toll-free at 1-800-424-3410. Provide the title of the publication and its stock number (see item above).
- Some AARP research publications are available in full text on AARP's web site at research.aarp.org. You can search the research site to find a specific title.
- For older titles no longer available from AARP, see the information on interlibrary loan in the sections above
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