Dual Enrollment  Tags: dual_enrollment  

Criss Library catalog

The Criss Library catalog is a database which contains records describing the books, government documents, videos, music scores, CDs, and other materials owned by the library. There are tens of thousands of items in the library which may be used as primary sources for historical research, and the catalog can often help you identify them. Stay alert to clues which indicate that an item contains primary sources; for example, click on the following links to see catalog records:

Papers of Alexander Hamilton

Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers

Roman Documents from the Greek East: Senatus Consulta and Epistulae to the Age of Augustus

Documents of German History

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture

Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China

Reversing the Gaze: Amar Singn's Diary, a Colonial Subject's Narrative of Imperial India

Puritan Family Life: The Diary of Samuel Sewall

Each of these books, or sets of books, present copies or transcriptions of primary sources. They typically include explanatory material to help the reader understand them, and the notes often provide leads to finding additional material. Publications like these appear throughout Criss Library's collections, so watch for them as you search the catalog or browse among the shelves.

If your research involves a particular person, search that person's name as an author to see if the library owns books containing that person's work. Note above, for example, the Papers of Alexander Hamilton.

Watch for records in which the word Sources appears in a subject field, because catalogers apply the word Sources to indicate that a publication contains historical primary sources. For example,

United States History Colonial Period, 1660-1775 Sources

Historians who compile a collection of primary sources often use the phrase documentary history in the title. For example, you may click here to retrieve a list of over 300 books which follow this convention.

The library of the University of California, Berkeley, has developed a search strategies guide which offers many more suggestions like these, and you may review it by clicking here. Primary sources representing many times, places, and topics are available in Criss Library, and they can often be identified by searching the catalog. I recommend that students prospect and browse for primary sources before they settle on a paper topic. Matching one's interest to the available primary sources can make research easier, especially when time is a concern given competing demands from other classes.

WorldCat

Criss Library subscribes to the WorldCat database, which incorporates catalog records from thousands of libraries across North America and Europe. The search strategies described above apply to WorldCat as well, so students may considerably extend the reach of their catalog searches.

WorldCat often retrieves records for items not owned by Criss Library, but in many cases the Interlibrary Loan office can borrow copies for students to use. When a record displays in WorldCat, the Interlibrary Loan icon () appears just above it. Click this icon to retrieve a template for submitting an Interlibrary Loan request.

Criss Library does not charge for Interlibrary Loan service, but lending libraries set the terms of a loan. They may, for example, specify that items may be used only at Criss Library and that they may not be checked out to take home. Due dates for Interlibrary Loan items are set by the lending library, and libraries may refuse to loan rare or unique materials. Most Interlibrary Loan books arrive in a week to ten days, but it can take much longer if items are shipped overseas. If one's research must depend on Interlibrary Loan, then it is very important to identify such materials early to allow time for them to arrive.