Communication, Innovation & Education (Honors Service and Social Entrepreneurship)

What is a trade journal?

"Trade journals contain articles on current news and trends for a specific industry or profession and are written by authors with knowledge in the field for practitioners. Articles report general news, trends, and opinions, rather than advanced research, and are not peer-reviewed." --definition from the UTSA Libraries "Scholarly vs Popular" research guide

Articles found in trade journals can be scholarly, but they won't be peer-reviewed. For the purposes of your research, it's fine to take a look at some trade journals to see what's currently being done in these fields. Libraries and schools, in particular, have really taken to the maker movement, so trade publications in the fields of librarianship and education have quite a few articles that discuss makerspaces.

Suggested trade journals

American Libraries
American Libraries, the flagship magazine of the American Library Association, is published bimonthly, six times a year, with four quarterly digital supplements, by the American Library Association. The magazine is sent to some 65,000 individuals and organizations worldwide. ALA members receive American Libraries as a perquisite of membership.

Education Week / EdWeek This link opens in a new window
Access premium education news content on the edweek.org site, including full issues of Education Week, 25 years of archives, The Daily News, and the Education Counts database.

School Library Journal
The School Library Journal is an American monthly magazine with articles and reviews for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology and multimedia.

Chronicle of Higher Education This link opens in a new window
No. 1 source of news, information, and job opportunities for college and university community. Contains full content of current issue; essays, daily news and advice columns; archived issues since 1989 searchable by keyword; discussion forums; salary databases; and data from the Almanac of Higher Education. Register to receive RSS feeds or email newsletters. Updated daily.

How to browse/search trade journals through UTSA Libraries

If you already know the name of the publication you're looking for, just search for it using the Journals tab on the home page. If not, follow the instructions below:

Go to the library website at lib.utsa.edu, then follow this pathway: Databases>P>ProQuest>Publications.

Under "Source type" on the left, click "More". In the Source Type pop-up box, find the Trade Journals row and click the check box under "Include". Hit "Apply".

Now you can see a list of the 3,100+ trade publications we have access to as UTSA faculty/staff/students. You can either browse through them or search for topics in the search bar. Make sure the filters are still applied as you conduct your searches! They sometimes randomly become unchecked!