Finding Books
To find books within Dartmouth's collection, it's best to start with our library catalog - essentially our inventory. Browsing the shelf by call number works best after having already identified a specific title.
Lost in the stacks? Maps of Baker-Berry are here. Maps for additional campus libraries here.
To find books beyond Dartmouth, try a subject bibliography or a large library network catalog, such as WorldCat. Materials not owned by Dartmouth can be requested through interlibrary loan: Interlibrary Loan & BorrowDirect
If We Don't Own It
or if our copy is checked out...
- BorrowDirect
Request books (only) from small, but strong, group of libraries (Ivies, plus Duke, Johns Hopkins, MIT, & U. Chicago) - Interlibrary LoanRequest articles, books, and other publications you need from a huge network of other libraries.
Library Catalog
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
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":
- Ethnology
- Physical Anthropology
- Archaeology
- Excavations (Archaeology)
- and many more...