Library Research in Anthropology ANTH 401

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Library Research in AnthropologyANTH 401

• Charlotte Johnson Jones
• Reference Social Sciences Librarian
• Simpson Library
• University of Mary Washington
• Fall 2006

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An OverviewLibrary Research in Anthropology

• Use reference books to locate background
  information about specific cultures, about the
  history of anthropology, and about concepts,
  terminology, and theories in anthropology.
• Use Library of Congress Subject Headings in the
  library catalog to find circulating books on
  specific aspects of culture, such as kinship,
  initiation, or religious practices.
• Use keyword searching in the library catalog to
  find circulating books on specific cultures.
• Do an Author Search in the library catalog to
  find circulating books by specific theorists or
  ethnographers.
• Use AnthroSource to locate articles from AAA
  publications.
• Use Anthropological Index Online and
  bibliographies to identify other articles worth
  locating.
• Use the Journal Finder tool to track these down.

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Library Research in AnthropologyUsing Reference
Books
? Use reference books to locate background
information about specific cultures, about the
history of anthropology, and about concepts,
terminology, and theories in anthropology.

• Search Tips
• Use the bibliographies in reference books to
  track down more sources on your topic or culture.
• See a good book cited? Do a Basic Search in the
  catalog for the title to determine if the library
  has the book.
• Found it? Browse the shelves nearby for similar
  titles.
• Use the Journal Finder tool to find articles
  cited in bibliographies.
• Or determine the Library of Congress call number
  for your geographic region and browse the shelves
  around it.

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Library Research in AnthropologyThe Simpson
Library Collection
Simpson Library has thousands of sources to
support the study of anthropology. In the library
are ethnologies and books about the theory and
the history of the discipline, as well as about
religion, art, folklore, and many other aspects
of human life society and culture.
The catalog
Subject Research Guides
Find articles
http//www.library.umw.edu
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Library Research in AnthropologyUsing Subject
Headings
? Use a Library of Congress Subject Heading
search in the library catalog to find circulating
books on specific aspects of culture, such as
kinship, initiation, or religious practices.
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are
part of a controlled vocabulary, a standardized
list of words and phrases used to describe books
in the catalog. Using standardized subject
headings ensures that all books about a
particular topic will be found in a search--no
matter what terms the author or the searcher
might use naturally. For example, the books
Filiation and Affiliation and Marriage in Tribal
Societies are both given the subject heading
kinship. A subject heading search for kinship
will find both books. Finding both with a keyword
search would be difficult, since their titles
dont have any keywords in common.
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Library Research in AnthropologyA Basic Subject
Heading Search
To find books about specific aspects of culture
or about theories in the study of anthropology,
choose Basic Search in the catalog, choose
Library of Congress Subject Heading from the
dropdown menu, and enter one of these headings
For example
Ethnology Inheritance and
succession Initiation rites Kinship Magic Marriag
e customs and rites Material culture Materialism R
eligion Rites and ceremonies Shamanism Structurali
sm
Note that there may be other relevant LC subject
headings besides the ones on this list. Try a
search term on your own or ask a reference
librarian for suggestions.
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Library Research in AnthropologyA List of
Subject Headings
Notice that the subject Magic is divided by
geographic regions and by cultures. Africa is a
region. Assyro-Babylonian is a culture. One
region may contain many cultures. Or one culture
may cross many geographical boundaries.
Click here to scroll through the rest of the
Magic subject headings.
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Library Research in Anthropology Details of a
Subject Heading
Click the sign to learn more about what the
subject heading Magic covers . . . and to see
related headings. (This is a good way to find
other search terms.)
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Click to Find the Titles of Books
These are just two of the books you find when you
click on the subject heading Magic. Notice this
is a classic work in anthropology . . . and,
because it is a NetLibrary e-book, you can read
and search within it online.
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Library Research in AnthropologyUse Keywords to
Find Cultures

• ? Use keyword searching in the library catalog
  to find circulating books on specific cultures.

A keyword search is different from a subject
heading search. A keyword search finds books in
which the keyword appears in the title, in the
subject heading, in the authors name, and
sometimes even in individual chapter titles.
Keyword searches often find more odd or
irrelevant results than subject searches but a
keyword search throws the kind of wide net that
may be needed to locate items about obscure
cultures.
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Library Research in AnthropologyUse Additional
Keywords to Narrow
Too many results to manage? Add another keyword,
such as religion, to narrow your search and get
fewer, more focused results.
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Library Research in AnthropologyAnthroSource
AnthroSource, produced by the American
Anthropological Association, provides access to a
relatively small set but focused set of journals,
bulletins, and other periodicalsboth current and
historicpublished by the AAA. The content
searched is all fulltext, either through the AAA
or through links to other providers like JSTOR.
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A Search Strategy for AnthroSource
Begin by bringing up all the articles that are
really about the culture you are researching. Do
this by looking for your culture in the abstracts
OR in the article titles.
Change this dropdown to Abstract. Change AND to
OR.
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Search Within Results
The search returned 59 articles that are about
the Yoruba.
If you like, you can search within these results
for those that have something about a specific
aspect of the culture, e.g. religion.
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Follow links to get full text
In JSTOR use download to get the complete,
searchable PDF document without having to turn
the pages.
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Track Down Referencesfor Other Useful Articles
or Books
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Use Journal Finderto Locate Articles Online or
in the Library
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Search for the Title of the Journal
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Notice All the Online Possibilities
This shows up if the journal is available in
print, microfilm, or microfiche in the library.
(Sometimes that is your next best choice.) Click
this link to open the catalog.
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Again,Search for the Title of the Periodical
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Holdings Are the Issues the Library Has Or Holds

• Never used microfilm or microfiche?
• To get the article write down
• the call number for the journal
• whether the year you need is on microfilm or
  microfiche
• the volume and issue and/or the date the article
  appeared
• the page number for the article
• Take that information to the In/Check Out
  (Circulation) desk at the library and ask for
  help!

Some issues are in microfiche. Some are in
microfilm. Some are in print.
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Now Youre Ready to Use Anthropological Index
Anthropological Index Online searches a database
of articles that have appeared in journals held
in the Periodicals section of The Anthropology
Library at the British Museum. The collection is
large, but the search is very basic, and none of
the articles are in full text.
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Heres a Sample Search
Choose certain publication dates, or All. Type
one keyword in Any Field and another in Title.
(AI doesnt support AND or OR.) Be sure to put
your e-mail address in at the beginning of the
search if you want to be able to e-mail results
to yourself. Search
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Use Journal Finder to See If You Can Get the
Articles through Simpson Sources