When you want to trace an unfamiliar periodical these are the volumes to search first. They include full details of periodicals which appear regularly and irregularly. Both include names and addresses of publishers. International Books in Print may be useful, backed up by the French and German national bibliographies. FirstSearch is probably the best database to search for books and articles.
Searches are thus free.
Searches can then be downloaded and printed out via E-mail. FirstSearch can be used to see which libraries have a copy of an item described in the FirstSearch record. You can ask for references to named authors and can limit the search to a particular year. In both cases Dewey indexing can be used to search particular areas of study. To use the service you must be a member of a subscribing institution and have access to the appropriate username and password for your institution.