How to Find Periodicals

Using the Library’s Catalogs

CATNYP is the online catalog of The New York Public Library's four Research Libraries. It is easily accessible via the World Wide Web at http://catnyp.nypl.org. For general instructions on using CATNYP, please consult Using the Library's Online Catalog.

You can locate journals in CATNYP by either searching for a specific title, or by browsing a specific subject area.

If you are looking for a particular magazine, journal or newspaper, a Journal Title search will be the quickest method.  Please note that a Journal Title search includes newspapers, magazines, and journals, all in a single search.

  • Go to the main search screen for CATNYP at http://catnyp.nypl.org
  • Click on the Journal Title search option
  • Type in the title you are seeking (you do not need to use punctuation or capital letters; you can just enter the first few letters of the title if you prefer)
  • Click on Search
  • Select the record that you want from the list retrieved

If you want to browse a list of journals in a particular subject area, there are 2 methods that will work: a subject search, and a word search.

Subject Search

If you know the subject heading you wish to browse, you can perform a subject search.  Remember that subject headings in CATNYP use controlled vocabulary terms set by the Library of Congress.  For help in finding LC subject Headings, refer to the Using the Library’s Online Catalog Research Guide.

  • Go to the main search screen for CATNYP at http://catnyp.nypl.org
  • Click on the Subject search option
  • Type in the subject you are seeking followed by the word Periodicals
  • Click on Search
  • Choose the subject heading from the list that is retrieved
  • You can then scroll through an alphabetical listing of all periodical titles in that subject area

Examples:

  • Art Periodical
  • American Literature Periodicals
  • United States History Periodicals
  • Russian Periodicals

Word Search

You can also retrieve a list of periodicals using the Word search features in CATNYP.  Word searches allow you to use any words you wish.  This is especially helpful if you are not certain of the appropriate subject heading to use in your search.

  • Go to the main search screen for CATNYP at http://catnyp.nypl.org
  • Click on the Words search option
  • Type in the term(s) to describe your topic
    • If the words you entered can appear in any order, you need to type the word and in between each term (if you omit the word and CATNYP will only retrieve records which contain the exact phrase you entered)
  • Under the Publication Type box, choose Periodical
  • Click on Submit Search
  • Because word searches usually produce more results, please note that they may take longer than other searches

Examples:

  • civil war (limited to periodicals)
  • literature and italian (limited to periodicals)
  • culinary (limited to periodicals)

After you have done a word search, and have found relevant periodicals in the collections, you may want to scan the online record in CATNYP to see what subject heading is used for that particular title.  You can then do a subject search to find other relevant titles.

For example, the word search mentioned above using the term culinary retrieves 17 records.  Looking at one of the titles found, you will note a subject heading cookery periodicals.  You can click on that subject heading to retrieve 69 periodicals related to that topic.

Although most periodicals and journals are now in CATNYP, there are still some older titles, as well as some non-English titles, that may not be.  In particular, titles that ceased publication prior to 1972 may not be listed in CATNYP.  If visiting the Library, you may wish to search the Dictionary Catalog for these titles.  Located in Room 315, the Dictionary Catalog contains records of items acquired by the Research Libraries prior to 1972.  It can be searched by both title and subject.

If you are unable to locate the information you need, please ask one of our librarians for assistance.  If you are not in the library, you may also use our online reference services, available at http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/.