Introduction

Library of Congress Classification

Materials in Reference Collection

Indexes and Databases

Internet Resources

Introduction

Sports psychology is the study of psychology theories and methods as they apply to sports and play in recreation or exercise settings. Sports psychology may also concern the pursuit of human enrichment or enjoyment of games, as well as enhancement of learning skills and performance.

Library Of Congress Classification

Library materials are organized by a system created by the Library of Congress that groups materials based on what they are about. This LC system uses letters and numbers to determine the call number of a book, which serves as that book’s address within the collection. The advantage of this system is that books about the same subject, say the French Revolution, should be in the same area. Find a good book on your subject and you should be able to find others in the same area.

The Library of Congress system places all books on sports psychology in class BF. Additional materials may be found in G and R. These classes are further broken down into subclasses that define more specific subjects. Some important subclasses are listed below. Click here for a more complete look at the Library of Congress Class BF, Class GV and Class R .

Specific books and other library materials can be found by searching the Online Catalog. This is a catalog that not only lists the collection of the Rockhurst University Greenlease Library, but can also be used to see the collections of the other MOBIUS libraries. For more information about the MOBIUS consortium, visit their website at http://mco.missouri.mobius.edu. One can search by title, author, subject and keyword to find books owned by the library. A good research strategy is called subject heading tracing. This strategy involves first doing a keyword search to find books relevant to a topic. Once a ‘good’ book is found, look at its subject headings. Then do a subject search and type in that subject heading. You should find other books on your topic this way.

Materials In Reference Collection

The library’s reference collection contains materials that are quite useful to students, including dictionaries, encyclopedias and other sources. These reference items include:

Dictionary of Sport and Exercise Sciences
REF GV 558 D53 1991

Directory of Psychological Tests in the Sport and Exercise Sciences
REF GV 706.4 D57 1996

Encyclopedia of Human Behavior
REF BF 31 E5 1994

Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America

Ref. GV 53 E53 2004
This two-volume encyclopedia provides a comprehensive survey of such diverse activities as rodeos, stickball, bowling, auto racing, and more, from the Colonial era to the present. It examines how the pursuit of leisure has changed over time, reflecting shifting social, cultural, political and economic trends in the United States.

Encyclopedia of Sports Science
REF GV 558 E53 1997

Handbook of Health Behavior Research
REF RA 776.9 H363 1997

Survey of Social Science
REF BF 31 S79 1993

Indexes And Databases

Indexes and databases are tools used to find journal articles about a particular topic. Some are used primarily for academic research, while others can be used to find popular articles to practice one’s reading skills. Some are available only in print, while others will be electronic and may even contain the full-text of the article. See our Electronic Resources page for a complete list of electronic indexes and databases.

Psychological Abstracts
(INDEX AREA REF BF 1 P65)
This index gives users access to 1,500 books and 1,300 journals in the English-language annually from all areas of psychology and related disciplines. This index is available electronically as PsycINFO in EBSCOhost. Full text of journals published by the American Pscyhological Association and allied organizations indexed in PsycINFO can be found in a companion databases, PsycARTICLES, in EBSCOhost.

Connect to PsycINFO in EBSCOhost

Connect to PsycARTICLES in OVID

Social Sciences Index, 1974-Present
(INDEX AREA Ref. AI 3 R491)
This is a cumulative index to English language periodicals about sociology and other related fields in the social sciences. The online version is Social Sciences Abstracts.

Connect to Social Sciences Abstracts via WilsonWeb

CINAHL with Full Text: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature
This index to over 2700 journals covers nursing, cardiopulmonary technology, occupational therapy, physical therapy and rehabilitation, respiratory therapy and other health related fields. Full text is available from approximately 300 journals indexed in CINAHL.

Articles are indexed according to the CINAHL Subject Heading List, which is designed specifically for nursing and allied health. This list is based on the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) but is geared toward the nursing and allied health professional.

The library has two versions of this index. The paper version of this index which goes back to 1988. It is updated six times per year. This set is located on the main floor of the library near the main staircase.

Connect to CINAHL with Full Text via EBSCOhost

Index Medicus and PubMed
This index is produced by the National Library of Medicine and covers over 3,000 journals in all areas of medicine.

The library has two versions of this index. The print version of this index, entitled Index Medicus, covers from 1988 to the present, with monthly updates. Companions to the print version include the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings and the List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus. This set is located on the main floor of the library near the main staircase.

The free public electronic version, known as PubMed, is available free on the National Library of Medicine web site at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi. PubMed covers 1965 to the present, with monthly updates. Abstracts of the articles are available on most of the records after 1975.

Alt-HealthWatch

This database is available through EBSCOhost. It indexes articles from over 170 scholarly and consumer-oriented journals, magazines, reports and newsletters related to alternative health care. Also included are pamphlets, booklets and other special material. Many of the materials appear full text in the database.

Connect to Alt-Health Watch on EBSCOhost

Health Source: Consumer Edition

This database is available through EBSCOhost. It includes information on health topics including the medical sciences, food sciences and nutrition, childcare, sports medicine and general health. There are full text articles from approximately 190 journals, as well as abstracts and indexing for articles from approximately 205 general health, nutrition and professional health care publications. Also included are health research books.

Connect to Health Source: Consumer Edition on EBSCOhost

MDXHealth
Abstracted citations from consumer health publications. From 1988 - present. This database is available on Firstsearch.

Internet Resources

For those with internet access, the web is a great way to find resources. From online dictionaries and magazines to recipes and music, the web has it.

The Sport Journal
http://www.thesportjournal.org
This is an electronic, refereed journal, published by the United States Sports Academy in cooperation with the International Coaches Association and the International Association of Sports Academies. It is designed to further the knowledge of sports by allowing professionals in the field to publish articles at this site.

Athletic Insight
http://www.athleticinsight.com
Athletic Insight is a quarterly online journal of sports psychology providing a forum for discussion of topics that are relevant to the field.

Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology
http://www.aaasponline.org
The goal of this association is to promote the development of research, theory and intervention strategies in sport psychology.

The American Psychological Association
http://www.apa.org/
The American Psychological Association is an organization dedicated to the advancement of psychology as a science and a profession. This website has information of interest to health professionals, educators and scientists, students and the general public.