Skip to Main Content

Social Work

This guide is a collection of resources to make research and library use easier for the social work students, faculty, and staff. It's designed as a central hub of information about the library & its social work-related resources.

Encyclopedia of Social Work

The Encyclopedia of Social Work is the first continuously updated online collaboration between the National Association of Social Workers (NASW Press) and Oxford University Press (OUP). Building off the classic reference work, a valuable tool for social workers for over 85 years, the online resource of the same name offers the reliability of print with the accessibility of a digital platform. Over 800 overview articles, on key topics ranging from international issues to ethical standards, offer students, scholars, and practitioners a trusted foundation for a lifetime of work and research, with new articles and revisions to existing articles added regularly. Use the link below to access this resource on or off campus.

Social Work Reference Center

Social Work Reference Center is written by a respected editorial faculty that creates content using a strict evidence-based editorial policy focused on systematic identification, evaluation and consolidation of the most current clinical research. This database is designed to support social workers and mental health professionals in their decision-making process by providing objective and unbiased information so they can make the best decisions for their patients. Content includes:

  • Evidence-based quick lessons
  • Evidence-based care sheets & summaries of the best and most current clinical data applicable to specific diseases and conditions
  • Clinical assessment tools, including interview guidance, research tools, a questionnaire, or guidelines for observation
  • Continuing Education modules, consisting of course material, an interactive review, and a competency test with a certificate of successful completion
  • Practices and skills checklists
  • Patient education handouts in both English and Spanish
  • Drug information from AHFS Drug Information Essentials.
  • Other subscription journal content through the library

Use the link below to access this resource on or off campus.

Social Work Abstracts

Social Work Abstracts is published by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and contains information on the fields of social work and human services from 1977 to present. The database provides exceptional coverage of over 500 journals in all areas of the profession, including theory and practice, areas of service, social issues, and social problems. It covers topics such as homelessness, AIDS, child and family welfare, aging, substance abuse, legislation, community organization and much more.

Practitioners and researchers in areas such as social sciences, gerontology, welfare, public health, criminology, and education as well as all areas of human services, can benefit from using this database. NASW also maintains the Register of Clinical Social Workers, a directory of clinical social workers in the United States. It contains information such as name, address, telephone number, employer, education, and employment history as well as type of practice and licensing information. Use the link below to access this resource on or off campus.

Social Science & Health Professional Databases

Interdisciplinary and cross-field research and collaboration are at the heart of social work research, in large part because of the nature of the issues and treatments that are being studied. You may find other social science or allied health databases are also very useful in social work research, including but not limited to:

Accessing Library Resources Remotely

Off-Campus Database Access
To access databases from off-campus, you must be a currently enrolled student, faculty member, or staff member with an active CUNY login. When signing into OneSearch or using any York Library databases, you will prompted to enter your CUNY login information. This is the simplest way to connect to library resources, and it's what we recommend.

CUNY Login troubleshooting

  • If you have trouble with your CUNY login, please see the CUNY Login FAQs or contact the York IT help desk via phone (718-262-5311), email (helpdesk@york.cuny.edu), or the Yconnect portal.

VPN troubleshooting

In the past, you may have used the York VPN, but this is no longer recommended for database access. If you are struggling to connect to databases, please make sure you are not logged in to the VPN.

  • If you are using the VPN for other reasons and have issues, contact the IT help desk via phone (718-262-5311), email (helpdesk@york.cuny.edu), or the Yconnect portal.

If you are having any trouble accessing resources remotely, please chat with us for immediate help, visit our FAQs, or email reference@york.cuny.edu.

New York Times Online Access

Registration

The Library is proud to present to all York College students, faculty and staff an 'Academic Pass' to the digital version of The New York Times. The Academic Pass provides you with full access to NYTimes.com and the NYTimes.com smartphone apps* for a period of 52 weeks from the date you activate it.

Go to nytimes.com/passes.

  1. Click on "Register" to create a NYTimes.com account using your CUNY college email address.
  2. At the bottom of the Welcome page, click "Continue."
  3. If your email address is from a CUNY College, you will then see "Check your email." Look for our message, Confirm Your Email Address, which should arrive within 15 minutes.
  4. Click on the link in our confirmation email. This will simultaneously verify your eligibility and grant your Academic Pass, which will provide access to NYTimes.com for your campus designated period
  5. If you don’t get our confirmation email, check your spam filter.  If you still do not receive it, send an email from your school email account to edu@nytimes.com

Smartphone Apps

Your 'Academic Pass' includes access to The New York Times via the NYTimes smartphone apps. To download your smartphone app, visit: nytimes.com/mobile.

Once you have registered and selected your Academic Pass, you can then access nytimes.com from anywhere at any time during the life of that pass from most web capable devices*.

NYTimes.com Academic Pass Benefits

  • Enjoy your access to NYTimes.com from any device
  • Use your NYTimes.com Academic Pass from any location

* Does not include e-reader editions, Premium Crosswords or The New York Times Crosswords apps. NYTimes apps are not supported on all devices. Access to archived articles within the date range 1923-1980 is limited. You must have a valid email address from York College or any other CUNY College. Other restrictions may apply.

Wall Street Journal Online Access

The City University of New York has joined The Wall Street Journal in a collaboration that will provide students and faculty full access to WSJ.  WSJ provides career advice and ties real-world examples into what you learn,  giving you the opportunity to enhance your educational experience and stay ahead.

Wall Street Journal Access benefits include:

  • Unlimited access to WSJ.com
  • WSJ mobile and tablet apps
  • Curated WSJ newsletters
  • WSJ+, a complimentary premium membership for events and other offers

Activate your membership at wsj.com/CUNY

  1. Register for your WSJ account using your York college email address. The email and password you enter will be your future login. 
  2. For Account Type, select Student, Staff, or Professor. If you choose Student, you will need to enter an expected graduation date. If you choose Staff or Professor, you will need to reactivate in one year.
  3. Click Create
  4. You should be redirected to the Complete Your WSJ Membership page, where you can choose to register for WSJ Mobile access, subscribe to newsletters and alerts, or continue to wsj.com right away. A verification email may also be sent to your York email address – if so, simply click the link and enter your password on the page to activate your account.

Once your account is active, you can use any app at now.wsj.com/mobile

  • iPad & iPhone
  • Android tablets and phones
  • Apple Watch
  • Google Newsstand, Amazon Kindle Fire, Flipboard App