When doing research in print versions of Biological Abstracts, follow these steps:
1. Choose your subject or key terms (e.g. growth hormones)
2. Find the Subject Index of a Biological Abstracts volume; note its date (e.g. June 15 1989)
3. Look for your subject keywords in the index (e.g. hormone or growth)
4. For each abstract you find that you would like to retrieve, write down the abstract number (found next to the keyword and its context)
5. Find the chosen abstracts by searching in numerical order in the appropriately dated volumes of Biological Abstracts
6. Note the information given along with the abstracts that you find: for each article, the abstract gives:
author(s) of the article; title of the journal (usually abbreviated; consult BA’s list of indexed serials at the SMC Library reference desk, or in the Biomedical Library’s reference area: it is entitled Serial Sources for the BIOSIS Previews Database); volume number; issue number; page numbers; date; title of the article (bolded)
7. To find out if the Biomedical Library subscribes to the journal that you need, consult UCLA’s online catalog, ORION2, or MELVYL, the union catalog of all the University of California campus libraries. You can access the catalogs while actually at UCLA library computers (including those of the Biomedical Library), or from workstations in SMC Library, or from any Internet-equipped computer to which you have access.
8. The entries for periodical titles will indicate the call numbers for the periodicals and their locations: Bound periodicals or journals are those given hard covers, like books, to preserve them; Unbound periodicals are those in single, loose issues. The catalog record usually indicates the periodical format by placing the letter B in front of the volume numbers/ dates for bound volumes, and the letter U for unbound volumes.
9. Use the Biomedical Library journal call number chart to find the location of the journals you need.