Foster Business Library


Information Systems Resources


Foster Business Library research guides are aimed at University of Washington students, faculty, and staff, highlighting resources available to them; users not currently affiliated with the university may be unable to access some of these resources.
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Foster Business Library Databases:

The Foster Business Library offers an extensive collection of over fifty databases on its homepage; see under Databases. For a complete list of Foster databases, see the List of All Business Databases. Access to these databases from off campus requires that you first go to the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. These resources may not be accessed from off campus except by those with a valid UW Net ID and password. For more information on Foster business databases, click Databases, A-Z. For information on which Foster business databases to use, see the Database Index. For information on accessing Foster databases from off campus, see Database Access. For guidelines on responsible database usage, see Database Usage.

  • Forrester Research:   Forrester Research provides access to reports and briefings on the effects of technology change on businesses, consumers, and society, and analyzes such technology areas as new media, computing, software, networking, telecommunications, and the Internet. To use this database, UW users must establish a personal account from a UW IP address. (Available from off-campus.)

  • InfoTech Trends:   This database indexes statistics and forecasts published in computer and telecommunication trade publications and offers this information in chart format (also available in Microsoft Excel format).

    In the case of this topic, some databases not normally used in business research may prove useful, such as in the Engineering Library:

  • ACM Digital Library: :   This database includes the full text of every article ever published by the Association for Computing Machinery, from their journals, magazines, transactions, proceedings, newsletters, etc.

  • Compendex:   Citations with abstracts to worldwide literature in engineering and technology, excluding patents; Internet version of Engineering index, covering 2600 journals.

  • IEEE Xplore:   This database provides access to publications of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., a global association of engineers, scientists, and professionals. This database includes IEEE transactions, IEEE and IEE journals, magazines, and conference proceedings published since 1988, and all current IEEE standards.

  • INSPEC:   Provides abstracts of and indexing to over 4,000 serial publications in the physical sciences, electrical engineering & computer science, including conference proceedings, standards and reports.

  • Web of Science:   This database provides access to the Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index, with links to University of Washington full text sources.

    Web Resources:

    Unlike library databases, Web resources are available wherever you have web access; they do not require that you access them via the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources. For a subject index to web resources, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage.

  • Association for Information Systems:   This organization claims it is the premier global organization for academics specializing in information systems. See their eLibrary Subject Listing as well as their ISWorldNet portal.

  • Association of Information Technology Professionals:   This professional organization is the primary information technology professional organization, with over 9,000 members, including chapters in Washington State. Association publications are limited to members of the organization.

  • CIO Magazine:   The online site for this magazine provides links to articles from the magazine, Metrics, Research Reports, Executive Summaries on important topics, Research Centers, and more. The Foster Business Library has subscribed to CIO since 1987.

  • International Institute of Business Analysis:   This organization is "the independent non-profit professional association serving the growing field of Business Analysis." It "held its inaugural meeting in October 2003 … with 28 founding members from 21 different organizations representing over eight countries." "A business analyst works as a liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyze, communicate and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies and information systems. The business analyst understands business problems and opportunities in the context of the requirements and recommends solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals." In addition to Education and Certification, this organization also has Chapters around the world, including one in Seattle.

  • Organizational Systems Research Association:   This organization is a "professional organization chartered for the purpose of pursuing research and education in the area of information technology and end-user information systems." It publishes Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journal, available free at this site in full text, and organizes annual conferences.

  • Society for Information Management:   This organization is composed of 3,000 members, "including CIOs, senior IT executives, prominent academicians, consultants, and other IT leaders."  It offers 30 local chapters including one in the Seattle area.

  • Teach IS:   This website provides resources for the teaching of information systems, with tutorials, syllabi, links to free online journals, and more.

    Foster Business Library Reference Collection:

    The Foster Business Library Reference Collection consists of business handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other quick reference tools. It is located behind the Reference Desk in Foster, arranged by call number. Reference materials cannot be checked out; they may only be used in the library.

  • Blackwell encyclopedic dictionary of management information systems.
    This A to Z paperback dictionary of terms in management information systems consists of short essays on the concepts, processes and tools used in planning, building and managing information systems. In particular, see Management Information System, on pages 138 to 145, for an overview; History of Organizational Use of Information Technology, on pages 93 to 98, for historical background; and Information Concepts, on pages 108 to 113, and Systems Concepts Applied to Information Systems, on pages 219 to 222, for key concepts.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD30.15 .B455 1995, v.3.

  • The encyclopedia of management.
    This one-volume covers 348 management topics, arranged alphabetically from Activity-Based Costing to Zero-Sum Game. See Management Information Systems on pages 540 to 542. br> Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD30.15 .E49 2000.

  • Business: the ultimate resource.
    This 2,200-page single volume is "designed to offer a wide range of insights, information, and practical guidance on every aspect of management" via 2.5 million words of text from 200 contributors, with 700 illustrations and 150 maps, in seven major sections including best practice, a management library, business thinkers and management giants, a business dictionary, a world business almanac, and a guide to business sources. See Enterprise Information Systems on pages 139 and 140.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD38.15 .B878 2002.

  • The IEBM handbook of information technology in business.
    This nearly-900 page handbook covers information technology and software in terms of business environment, conceptual support, hardware and software tools, and strategic applications.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5548.2 .I22 2000.

    Foster Business Library Books:

    The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of over 70,000 books on all business topics. To search for materials on all three campuses of the University of Washington, go to the UW Libraries Catalog, in the upper left corner of the Foster Business Library homepage. Search by keyword, title, author, series, etc.

    To limit the results of your search just to materials in the Foster Business Library collection, use the Modify or Limit options at the top of the search results and change the library location to Foster Business Library. Availablity is indicated on the right of each online catalog record. First, note in which collection, within Foster, your materials are in, since the library has ten different Collections, each in a different location and often with differing arrangements. "Available" indicates that the book should be on the shelves under that call number and available for you to check out. "Due" and a date indicates that the book is already checked out to someone and is due back on the date indicated; you can have the "Request/Place Hold" feature to recall the book for your use.

    If the material you want is not in the collections of the University of Washington, you can use the "Search Summit" feature to repeat your search in the combined holdings of over thirty cooperating libraries in Washington and Oregon. Use the "Request This Item" feature in Summit to have books in those library sent here to Foster for you to check out.

    The Foster general stacks collection is located south of the main part of the Foster Business Library, through the two pass-throughs into the basement of Balmer. The arrangement is by call number, from A (at the east end, near the Copy Center) to Z (at the far west end).

    Click on the subject headings below for Foster Business Library materials on these subjects:

    Some examples of Foster Business Library titles from these searches include:

    Foster Business Library Periodicals:

    Foster Business Library Articles:

    Articles in academic journals, magazines, trade periodicals, and newspapers are one of the best sources for any kind of research. While the Foster Business Library offers a large periodicals print collection, comprising over 800 titles, articles are most easily accessed online, 24/7, in such fulltext article databases as EBSCO Business Source Premier, Factiva, LexisNexis Academic, Newsbank Infoweb, and ProQuest Databases. These article databases are available in the library or from off-campus, and provide access to over 10,000 periodicals and millions of articles.

    Library access to most ProQuest databases will terminate at the end of spring quarter 2008, except for ProQuest NewsStand, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Historical New York Times, and the Historical Wall Street Journal. For more about this change, see UW Libraries Providing New Databases. After this change, comprehensive article searches should be performed in EBSCO Business Source Premier, Newsbank Infoweb, and ProQuest NewsStand. Also, after this change, links to the articles below will be broken.

    ProQuest Databases:

    This database--actually, a family of over two dozen databases--offers full text articles for over 10,000 publications, including scholarly journals, magazines, trade and industry periodicals, newspapers, and reports on a very wide range of topics. To find articles on specific topics, search by word or phrase by keying your search phrase into the search box--or search for your topic in the Topic Guide.

    Your search terms will be highlighted in red in each article.

    Go to Topic Guide to search for articles on such subjects as:

      SUB(Information Systems)   (Over 37,000 articles)
      SUB(Information Technology)   (Over 45,000 articles)
      SUB(Knowledge Management)   (Over 3,000 articles)
      SUB(Management Science)   (Over 4,600 articles)

    Examples of articles, from the searches above, include:

    Help:

    10 February 2004; updated 3 October 2007.   Peter Stevens, Business Librarian, stevens@u.washington.edu, 2-6-543-4360.