Ulrich's Periodicals Directory is the standard library directory and database

Bibliographic database

A bibliographic database is a database of bibliographic records, an organized digital collection of references to published literature, including journal and newspaper articles, conference proceedings, reports, government and legal publications, patents, books, etc...

 providing information about popular and academic magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

s, scientific journal

Scientific journal

In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...

s, newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

s and other serial publications.

The print version has been published since 1932, and was founded by Carolyn Ulrich, chief of the periodicals division of the New York Public Library

New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...

, as Periodicals Directory: A Classified Guide to a Selected List of Current Periodicals Foreign and Domestic.

It is now also supplied on-line as Ulrichsweb, which provides web-based and Z39.50

Z39.50

Z39.50 is a client–server protocol for searching and retrieving information from remote computer databases. It is covered by ANSI/NISO standard Z39.50, and ISO standard 23950. The standard's maintenance agency is the Library of Congress....

 linking to library catalogs. The online version includes over 300,000 active and current periodicals.

Coverage is international, with some emphasis on English-language publications. The information is derived from the publishers and verified by the journal. It includes

• ISSN
• Title and previous titles
• Starting date, place of publication, and publisher
• Cost, availability of electronic versions, subscription terms, and approximate circulation as estimated by the publisher
• Subject information, searchable as subject terms or approximate Dewey Classification, special features, and indexing information
• Indications of whether the publication is available on open access
  Open access journal
  Open access journals are scholarly journals that are available online to the reader "without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself." Some are subsidized, and some require payment on behalf of the author.Subsidized journals...
  
  
• Indication of whether the publication is peer-reviewed, which is taken to include professional magazines with equivalent editorial control of quality.

Earlier published by R.R. Bowker, it moved to CSA

CSA (database company)

CSA Illumina is a provider of online databases, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is now a division of ProQuest, which in turn is now a subsidiary of the Cambridge Information Group...

, a fellow subsidiary of Cambridge Information Group

Cambridge Information Group

Cambridge Information Group is a privately owned group of information services and publishing companies and educational institutions. It was founded in 1971 by Robert N. Snyder and Philip E. Hixon and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. As of 2007, CIG’s operating companies are ProQuest, R.R....

, in 2006. Following the merger of CSA and ProQuest

ProQuest

ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based electronic publisher and microfilm publisher.It provides archives of sources such as newspapers, periodicals, dissertations, and aggregated databases of many types. Its content is estimated at 125 billion digital pages...

, Ulrich's moved to ProQuest subsidiary Serials Solutions

Serials Solutions

Serials Solutions is a division of ProQuest that provides e-resource access and management services to libraries. These products enable librarians to more easily manage electronic resources that serve the needs of their patrons.-History:...

.