City, Anti-City, and Utopia: Building Urban America
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Professor: Jill Pearlman |
The purpose of this guide is to help you locate the library's information resources most useful for research in this class. The library's reference librarians will be glad to assist with specific questions. You may also consult Ginny Hopcroft by phone x3298 or via email at ghopcrof@bowdoin.edu. ghopcrof@bowdoin.edu for individual help.
Research Strategies
Please read the overview of Library Research and Navigation to familiarize yourself with the process of library research. Below you will find some additional research tips:
- When you find a relevant source, check the subject headings in the catalog record, or the descriptors in an index citation, to find additional search terms.
- Use both subject and keyword searching in any electronic database, including the library catalog. Because different parts of the bibliographic record are searched, you will receive different results.
- Check for footnotes and bibliographies in books and journal articles. They can provide other relevant sources for your research.
- Browse the library stacks in your subject area.
- Begin research EARLY. Interlibrary loans always takes at least a few days; for very specialized items, such as microfilm of old newspapers, several weeks may be necessary.
The Library Catalog (OPAC)
The on-line library catalog is the primary source for accessing the collections of the Bowdoin College Libraries. The catalog contains electronic bibliographic records for books, periodicals, video and sound recordings, and for information in electronic formats. For both the government documents collection and the special collections area, specialized indexes may need to be consulted since the records for those collections are only partially entered into the library catalog.
Most research begins with a subject search. This function is very powerful and flexible in an on-line catalog, but the best search results are still obtained by use of the standardized subject headings found in the Library of Congress Subject Headings volumes. For example, the word urbanization retrieves multiple entries, while the word "cities" locates no titles; the latter term is not an "official" subject heading. Keyword searching (under the heading "Word") searches different parts of the electronic bibliographic record and can often locate additional information.
Examples of useful subject headings for this class:
- Architecture--United States
- Urban Geography
- Public Housing--United States
- Cities and Towns--United States
- Landscape Architecture--United States
- Landscape
- Nature Conservation--United States--History
- City Planning - United States
Reference Sources
- Comprehensive urban planning; a selective annotated bibliography.
- Main Ref Z5942.B7 1970
- Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates
- Main Ref E174.5 .C3 1993
- Encyclopedia of American Social History
- Main Ref HN57 .E58 1993
- Encyclopedia of Urban America
- Main Ref HT123 .E5 1998
- International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
- Main Ref H41 .I5 1991
- National Register of Historic Places
- Govt Ref I 70.17:1976
- References on city and regional planning. Selected with the assistance of the Dept. of City and Regional Planning, M.I.T
- Main Ref Z5942 .S47 1959
- World Encyclopedia of Cities
- Main Ref HT108.5 .K87 1994
Indexes and Databases
Some of these databases are strictly bibliographic indexes; that is, they provide citation only. Others contain the full text of journal articles for their indexed publications. To find whether Bowdoin Library provides access to an individual journal, either use the "Check Availability @ Bowdoin" link in the database or type the journal name into the Library Catalog under "Find Journals."
- LexisNexis Academic
Indexes & Databases - LexisNexis Academic is a full-text web database of news and legal information. This database provides access to both current news and up to 25 years of retrospective news, both domestic and international. Under the News heading you search separate files for the most current news, World news, U.S. news, etc. Under U.S. news you can find many regional newspapers, not otherwise available. Articles may be downloaded to a disk, e-mailed to your account or printed from the browser.
- America History and Life
Indexes and Databases - This source indexes articles, books and dissertations about the history of the United States and Canada published throughout the world. It is a subject index which provides citations and abstracts for the works indexed. The Bowdoin Library has America: History and Life in two formats. Both versions index scholarly historical research published between 1964 and the present.
- Art Abstracts
Indexes and Databases - This index cites articles from more than 290 key international periodicals; coverage includes English-language arts publications, periodicals, yearbooks, museum bulletins, competition and award notices, exhibition listings, interviews, film reviews, and more. Covers periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish, September 1984 to the present.
- Arts and Humanities Search
Indexes and Databases - Arts and Humanities indexes the contents of scholarly periodicals and books in the arts and humanities, published from 1980 to the present. The scope is international.
- Avery Index
Indexes and Databases - This index provides access to the contents of architecture periodicals, most not indexed elsewhere. It is international in scope and includes articles published from 1978 to the present.
- Essay and General Literature Index
Print Periodical Index Area - This excellent, old index is unusual because it emphasizes the contents of books (i.e. chapters or sections). A few periodical articles and monographs are included. Access points are author, title, and subject. Subject matter covered includes literary, social and historical topics.
- Academic Search Premier
Indexes and Databases - Academic Search Premier indexes over 1800 English language journals in social sciences, humanities, and science, as well as general interest magazines and several important American newspapers. It covers articles published back to 1980. About 40% of the articles are available in full-text.
- MLA International Bibliography
Indexes and Databases - The MLA International Bibliography, produced by the Modern Language Association of America, consists of bibliographic records pertaining to literature, language, linguistics and folklore and includes access to scholarly research in over 3,000 journals, relevant monographs, working papers, proceedings, bibliographies and other formats in a variety of languages.
- Government Documents Monthly Catalog
Indexes and Databases - U.S.Government Documents may be an excellent source of research material for this class. Information on historic building preservation, National Park Service reports on urban national parks, or congressional reports on urban problems are a few examples of the kinds of material published by the Government Printing Office. In this library our government publications are accessed partially through the catalog and partially by Marcive Web, an internet version of GPO's Monthly Catalog, which indexes all U.S. Government Documents published since 1976.
- The Monthly Catalog may be searched by keyword, subject, and issuing agency. When you identify a useful document in this database, please make note of the "Sudocs" number. The publications in Bowdoin's Government Collection are arranged by the Sudocs classification scheme, and you can locate your document on the shelf with this number.
- For government publications issued prior to 1976, paper volumes of the Monthly catalog can be consulted. A cumulative subject and name index to the Monthly Catalog for the years 1900 to 1970 can be used to narrow the search to a specific yearly volume. Consult Ginny Hopcroft, the Government Documents Librarian, for assistance with this process.
- Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS)
Indexes and Databases
Print Periodical Index Area - PAIS includes "publications on all subjects that bear on contemporary public issues and the making and evaluation of public policy, irrespective of source or traditional disciplinary boundaries." Sources may be periodical articles, books, government documents or the reports of public and private organizations in the U.S. and internationally.
For the years from 1901 to 1977, PAIS is available in print format in the periodical index area. It is one of several sources providing access to primary source articles from the early twentieth century. - Periodical Contents Index
Indexes and Databases - This source provides online indexing to nearly 2400 periodicals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, published from 1770 to 1990. The index presently has 9 million entries and continues to add more. It provides on-line indexing access to many of the Library's 19th and early 20th century journals.
- Poole's Index
Print Periodical Index Area - Poole's Index is a subject index to British and American periodicals of the nineteenth century, created by William F. Poole, Librarian of the Newberry Library of Chicago from 1850 to 1890. Recent indexers have made Poole's easier to use by compiling an author index and a volume/year key. This index provides excellent subject access to periodical articles of the nineteenth century, significant primary source material for this course. Bowdoin Library owns many of these nineteenth century periodicals in its collections.
- Reader's Guide
Indexes and Databases
Periodical Index Area - The Reader's Guide is an easy-to-use author/subject index to a broad range of U.S. general interest journals and magazines. A special value of the Reader's Guide for this class is its historical coverage. It goes back to 1895, and indexes many journals held in the Library's collections.
- Social Sciences Index
Periodical Index Area - Like the Reader's Guide, Social Sciences Index is published by the venerable H.W. Wilson Co. and is similarly easy to use. It is an an author/subject index to the scholarly literature of the social sciences. Many of the possible research topics for this class are social history, and substantial relevant material is included in this index. Social Sciences Index began in 1907, so it is another source providing access to period early twentieth century scholarship.
- Sociofile
Indexes and Databases - Sociofile is a scholarly index for books and journal articles in the field of sociology. Sociofile is international in scope, providing access to 1800 journals published worldwide, dating from 1974 to the present.
Locating Primary Sources
A primary source is usually first-hand information from a person who observed or participated in an event. Primary sources can include information written or gathered at the time of an event by an individual observer or facts recorded by an official agency. The distinctions between primary and secondary sources are sometimes ambiguous, but one usual characteristic of primary sources is a strong element of contemporaneity, i.e., being written at the time of the event.
Some examples of primary sources:
- diaries, memoirs, letters
- official documents and records
- original manuscripts
- period newspapers
- period books and articles
- legal cases, transcripts, minutes, hearings
- interviews, oral histories
- research data and reports
Suggestions for locating primary sources in the Library:
- Do some background secondary reading in a specialized encyclopedia or other reference work for your place/time period to locate key names or background information.
- Check bibliographies of books or articles.
- Do a keyword search in the Library Catalog, using a primary source format word as one term--letter*--and a name of a prominent person--Siddons--as the second term. Or simply search one term or name--"Berlin History" or "Eiffel Tower"-- as a keyword, even if it appears as a subject heading.
- When you locate books on your subject, don't hesitate to browse the shelves in that area. (Random discoveries can be useful.)
Selected Internet Sources
- Cyburbia: The Urban Planning Portal
http://www.cyburbia.org - Substantial list of links to internet resources for the "built environment" - planning, urbanism, architecture, etc.
- Library of Congress, American Memory Site: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ammemhome.html - Especially notable for this class is the collection of digitized photographs at this site.
- Making of America: Digital Library of Primary Sources
http://www.umdl.umich.edu/moa - A collection of full-text documents from the 19th century.
- Planning Resources on the Internet: UC Berkeley
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/cityweb.html - Nicely organized collection of sites on urban and regional planning; includes a section on the environment.
- Project for Public Spaces
http://www.pps.org/core.html - This site offers full-text information on public access including building, parks, central squares, public art, etc. It also provides links to related sites.
- Urban History Website
http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~urban/ - This website offers both links and information for a range of urban history subjects.
- Urban Planning, 1794-1918: An International Anthology of Articles, Conference Papers and Reports
http://www.library.cornell.edu/Reps/DOCS/homepage.htm - Well organized moderately-sized collection of primary source documents.
Citation
It is important to document sources accurately and in correct format. Here are some links and books providing guidelines for proper citation:
- Style Manuals
- http://library.bowdoin.edu/eref/write.shtml
- The Chicago Manual of Style
- Main Libr Reserve 130a
- MLA handbook for writers of research papers / Joseph Gibaldi
- Main Libr Reserve 135
