Native American Studies - Law & Government: Books

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

Keyword search

Keyword searches can be simple -- searching across the full catalog record:

 
• native language revival
• Delgamuukw
  

Or complex & field-specific (the "S:" in this example limits the search to the subject fields; the wildcard/truncation character "*" finds word stems):

• (s:Indian* or s:trib* or s:indigenous or s:aborigin*) and (s:politic* or s:law* or s:government* or s:court*) and s:fishing
  

When searching the library catalog, pay attention to the subject headings assigned to relevant titles. Refining your search using the same subject heading terminology may yield more precise results.

Subject search

We use standardized subject headings to describe the content of our collection.  Browsing the headings in subject search results can be especially useful for broad or unfamiliar topics.  Subject searches also tie in to a cross-referencing system, pointing to alternative or related headings. [Keyword searches don't tie in to these cross-references.]

The Library of Congress uses the heading "Indians of North America" to describe the broader Native American community.  This heading is usually qualified with subheadings -- usually set off with hyphens to indicate geography, time period, topical subdivision, etc.

• Indians of North America -- Government relations -- 1869-1934
• Indians Of North America -- New Hampshire.
• Indians of North America -- Legal status, laws, etc.
• Indians of North America -- Politics and government

"Indian" also qualifies many specific headings, either as a main heading (e.g., Indian Art ) or a sub-heading (e.g., American literature -- Indian authors.)

Related headings include:

• Indian courts
• Tribal government
  (heading is international in scope - check regional subheadings)

In addition to these broad headings, try searching by individual community or cultural topic.

• Hopi Indians
• Lakota dialect
• Off-reservation boarding schools
• Potlatch
• Saint Regis Mohawk Indian Reservation (N.Y.)
• San Ildefonso Pueblo (N.M.)
• note: For works on specific communities, most headings follow the format "[community/tribe] Indians", e.g., "Cree Indians".

Also be aware of these common subheadings applied at the pan-Indian & individual level:

• Law and legislation
• Tribal citizenship
• Land tenure
• Claims
• Civil Rights

Relevant titles fall throughout our collection, but the key call number sections are:

• E 91-93 range [Government Relations -- 91=General; 92=Canada; 93=US]
• E 98.T77 [Tribal Government]
  
• KF 8201-8210 range [US Federal Indian Law]
• KF 8220-8224 range [US Tribal Law]

Our general stacks collection is large enough to make browsing a bit unwieldy, but you can browse online catalog records using the catalog's Library of Congress Call Number search.

Rather than searching a database, try browsing a print bibliography on the subject.