SUNCAT: bringing together journal holdings information from across the UK

I’m in the middle of a project at the moment that has meant I have had to access each and every one of our electronic resources, something I don’t get to do all that often, and something I’ve found rather enjoyable: it’s always good to be reminded of what we are able to access.

One of the resources I’ve been accessing this morning is SUNCAT, the Serials Union Catalogue for the UK. SUNCAT’s been around for a long time (in electronic resources terms!) and over the years has grown to include the journal holdings information of 100 of the most important research libraries in the UK, national deposit libraries including the British Library and the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, most of the larger academic libraries, a number of important specialist libraries and the journal listed by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). It also includes the journals holdings of the University of Bolton.

SUNCAT is a searchable database of the holdings of this growing number of libraries. Search for key words across all locations, or narrow the searches to locations. The results will show you where the journals are held, and will also tell in you the format in which they are available. Note that just like here at Bolton, many of these journal will be restricted to members of the home university, but the finding out where things are located is invaluable. Access SUNCAT here.