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Anthropology: Find Books

Start your research using the best resources recommended by the subject librarian for anthropology. Here you’ll find the key indexes to the academic literature, full-text databases, and documentary film collections.

WorldCat

WorldCat is the union catalog of all libraries in the huge library network called "OCLC."  Most items are cataloged using the same Library of Congress subject headings used at Dartmouth.  Items not available in the Dartmouth collection can be requested via : Interlibrary Loan & BorrowDirect

 

 
Search for an item in libraries near you:
WorldCat.org >>

Browsing by call number

Our general stacks collection is large enough to make browsing a bit unwieldy. Browsing the reference collection may prove more useful as a starting point, but once you identify a book in the general collection, be sure to browse the shelf nearby for additional useful titles.

Relevant titles fall throughout our collection, but most material falls in the GN call number range, broken down as follows:

  • GN 49-298 (Physical Anthropology)
  • GN 301-674 (Cultural Anthropology)
  • GN 700-890 (Prehistorical Archaeology)

 

Most of the GN collection is housed in the Annex (back room) on Baker Stack Level A

Related areas include: CC (Archaeology); D-F (History & Area Studies); DA-DR (Europe); DS (Asia); DT (Africa); DU (Oceania); E-F (Americas); GR (Folklore); GT (Customs & Holidays)

Relevant bibliographies can be found in the Z5111 through Z5118 section

Searching the library catalog by subject

A simple keyword search is usually the best first step, but take note of subject headings assigned to relevant items. Running another search using newly discovered subject headings may yield more precise results.  If just starting your research, browsing the headings associated with a particular topic can be a useful way to see how it's been approached.

If you need to find information on a specific community, first try searching the name of the cultural group or location:

 

Subject headings are often further qualified by subheadings:

  • Anthropological aspects [to qualify topical headings ; e.g., Aging -- Anthropological aspects]
  • Social life and customs [to qualify classes of persons, cultural, or geographic headings]
  • Excavations (Archaeology) [to qualify geographic headings]
  • Antiquities [to qualify geographic headings]

 

There are a huge number relevant general headings in addition to the simple "Anthropology":