How To Locate a Consumer Reports Article

How To Locate a Consumer Reports Article

Consumer Reports (CR) is one of the more popular journals Bangor Public Library owns in print. CR is used to locate comparisons of products across a spectrum of variables, from price to durability, to extra features & service plan options. So, if you're looking, for example, for the right refrigerator for you, CR is among your best bets for the information you need.

Did you know, however, that most CR articles are available to you on-line? As a Bangor Public Library cardholder, you have on-line access to almost all articles published in Consumer Reports since 1991. One exception to this is that the full-text of articles are "embargoed" for three months after the print issue street release. This means, for example, that currently only up to June 2007 is available on-line to our card holders in full-text or PDF.

If you are not familar with how to locate an article on Marvel! or within Consumer Reports, take a look at the following brief & illustrated guide.

1)Access Marvel! on the Bangor Public Library website (http://www.bpl.lib.me.us/) or through http://libraries.maine.edu/mainedatabases/. 2) The database providing access to Consumer Reports is Academic Search Premier. It is the first database on the alphabetical list of databases.

3) To limit your search to Consumer Reports articles, you can either electronically add Consumer Reports by

a) Selecting Publications.

b) Typing Consumer Reports in the Browse Publications box & clicking on browse.

c) Clicking the box next to Consumer Reports & clicking on Add.
d) Now, that Consumer Reports is in the "Find" box, click on Search.
e) Or, you can manually type in (JN "Consumer Reports") in one of the three search boxes.

4) Once you have limited your search to Consumer Reports, now you can add a search term, such as refrigerator into your search. Click Search or just hit "enter."5) On your results page, you may see either an Article Linker tag, PDF Full Text tag, or an HTML Text tag in the results of your search. The Article Linker results are those that are currently embargoed & are not available yet in full text on-line (but Bangor Public Library does own in print). The PDF Full Text results will provide easy links to magazine quality reproductions of Consumer Reports articles.
6) If you need further assistance with this search or for other tips on how to use this or other Marvel! databases, contact a reference librarian (reference@bpl.lib.me.us or 207-947-8336 x 130) at the Bangor Public Library.