Academic Broadband

JSTOR: a researcher’s first stop

January 3, 2011 | E-Learning, E-Resources

Do you need to learn about economic theory in the 1800s? What about horror movies during the Cold War, or the invention of indoor plumbing? All of these subjects, and more, are available at JSTOR (Journal Storage), an online archive founded in 1995. Hundreds of journals are available for full-text search, dating back hundreds of years where appropriate. The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, the world’s longest-running scientific journal, offers issues dating back to 1665.Access to JSTOR is licensed out to libraries, publishers, and universities. If you are using a school computer, or are connected to your school’s or library’s wireless internet network, you may be eligible for access. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation created the resource in 1995. Mellon was a banker and industrialist who also served as Secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1921 until February 12, 1932. The foundation’s core areas of interest are higher education, art conservation, performing arts, environmental conservation, and information technology. In addition to JSTOR, the foundation is also behind ARTstor (a similar service for art images) and Aluka (an online digital library about Africa, later integrated with JSTOR).William G. Bowen, president of Princeton University from 1972 to 1988, is officially credited as the founder of JSTOR. He saw the opportunity to outsource the expensive costs of journal storage from libraries while simultaneously ensuring their long-term access. After archiving the journals online, it also became much easier to search the database for specific terms and keywords.Today, JSTOR is now a self-sustaining non-profit organization based in New York City and Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 2009, JSTOR merged with ITHAKA, another non-profit dedicated to introducing the academic field to the newest “networking technologies.” At last count, 692 publishers provided materials to the archive, constituting 1,289 titles in 20 different collections for 53 academic disciplines. Over 300,000 individual issues are available. The newest issues of each journal are not, howeverthe archive normally starts 3-5 years before the current date, but this gap can be specifically chosen by each individual publisher.JSTOR is an invaluable resource for students conducting research projects, for professional academics, and for anybody who believes that educational materials should be preserved for the future. If your school or library does not have access, politely suggest that they purchase a license. The more institutions JSTOR reaches, the better the chance that future generations will continue to benefit from this impressive archive.