Skyline College Library

Researching California State & Regional Government

Finding Books
Databases for Finding Magazine, Journal & Newspaper Articles
Selected Web Sites


Books:

Recommended Books: on Reserve at the Check Out Desk:

• California Government and Politics Today by Mona Field & Charles P. Sohner. Call number: JK8716 .F54 2002
• California, Its Government and Politics. by Michael Ross. Call number: JK8716 .R67 2000
• California : The Politics of Diversity. by David G. Lawrence. Call number: JK8716 .L39 2000
• Politics & Government in California by Bernard L. Hyink & David H. Provost. Call number: JK8716 .H95 1996
• Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future. by Peter Schrag. Call number: JK8716 .S37 1998
  

Using the Catalog to Look for Library Books

The PLS Online Catalog is the online catalog to find books in Skyline Library and in all libraries in the Peninsula Library Sytem.

• Type in the name of your topic in the search box and click the Search button.
• Type the subject heading listed below in the search box and click the Search button.
  • California - politics and government
• The search results will show books and other materials in all libraries in the Peninsula Library Sytem.
• Limit your results to books at Skyline Library by clicking on the Limit button at the right side of the page and then scroll down to near the bottom and click on Skyline College Library and then click OK.

Magazine, Journal & Newspaper Databases (to access articles):

InfoTrac OneFile Database: excellent general periodical database.
Available from off-campus--as long as you have a library card (library card bar code number is required). 

• To search only for articles that include the full text (the whole article) in the database, check the "articles with text" box under "Limit the current search" (below the text entry box)
• To narrow searches, combine concepts with AND.
• Once you find one article specifically on your topic, click on any relevant subject headings (near the bottom of the article page) to find more articles on that topic.
• Try one of the following searches:
  • California government and regional*
  • California regional government

InfoTrac Newspapers Database: newspaper database including articles from the S.F. Chronicle, N.Y. Times, L.A. Times, & 7 other national & international newspapers.
Available from off-campus--as long as you have a library card (library card bar code number is required). 

• To search only for articles that include the full text (the whole article) in the database, check the "articles with text" box under "Limit the current search" (below the text entry box)
• Try using the same search words as shown above for the OneFile database
• To narrow searches, combine concepts with AND.

Proquest Newspapers database: a database of full-text articles from many of the most important newspapers in the country--New York Times, S. F. Chronicle, S. F. Examiner, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, L. A. Times & Christian Science Monitor--as well as some regional papers from Northern California. Only available from on campus.

• Try using the same search words as shown above for the InfoTrac databases
   

Recommended Web Sites:

Regional government:

Association of Bay Area Governments - (ABAG): http://www.abag.ca.gov/

Southern California Association of Governments - (SCAG): http://www.scag.ca.gov/

Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) - http://www.sacog.org/

Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments - (AMBAG): http://www.ambag.org/

Tahoe Region Planning Agency – (TRPA) http://www.trpa.org/

Initiative, Referendum & Recall:

Article 2 of the California Constitution: See Section 8 (Initiative), Section 9 (Referendum) and Section 13 (Recall).

The California Initiative Process: A Select Bibliography http://www.igs.berkeley.edu./library/bibliog/initiative.html: List of print sources and web links prepared for the conference, "Proposition 13 and Its Progeny: Is California Suffering from an Excess of Democracy?" held at the University of California Institute of Governmental Studies, April 1-2, 1998. It is in two parts: books and articles published in the past ten years, and Internet resources.

A Guide to Recall for County, School District, Special District and Local Judicial Offices http://regrec.co.la.ca.us/voter/recounts_recalls_ini.htm: by the Los Angeles County Office of the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

Procedure for Recall of State and Local Officials http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/recall.pdf: prepared by the Office of the California Secretary of State, revised January, 2001. In .pdf format (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

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last revised: 8-20-03 by Eric Brenner, Skyline College, San Bruno, CA