Subject Librarian
Lucinda M. Hall
Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Course description
Humans have radically altered the distribution of water on Earth. We’ve built cities in deserts supplied with water from hundreds of miles away, extracted enough groundwater to alter the Earth’s gravitational field, and dammed sixty-five percent of global freshwater flows. This course will: 1) Introduce students to the physical geography of water, 2) Survey human interactions with water through case studies from around the world, and 3) Explore how climate change and population growth will affect future water availability and quality. Exercises, lectures, and assignments will emphasize synthesizing and distilling complex scientific ideas with clarity. Assignments will include reading reactions, a discussion presentation, an opinion editorial that addresses a facet of water management, and a research paper focused on a pressing water-related scientific or policy issue. Drafts of the opinion editorial and research paper will receive peer and professor feedback in a workshop setting.
[Source: IWR, 04/01/2025]
In the Library's collections
Books about water are scattered throughout the collections in various libraries. Most resources are held in either the Kresge Physical Sciences Library or Baker/Berry Library.
Here are some useful subject headings for searching in the online catalog:
- hydrologyThe call number range is GB 651 through GB 2998.
Introductory reading(s)
The big thirst: the secret life and turbulent future of water by Call Number: Baker-Berry HD 1691 .F55 2012ISBN: 9781439102084The water coming out of your kitchen tap is four billion years old and might well have been sipped by a Tyrannosaurus rex. Rather than only three states of water, liquid, ice, and vapor, there is a fourth, molecular water; fused into rock 400 miles deep in the Earth, and that's where most of the planet's water is found.
Downstream: reimagining water by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781771122139Downstream: Reimagining Water brings together artists, writers, scientists, scholars, environmentalists, and activists who understand that our shared human need for clean water is crucial to building peace and good relationships with one another and the planet. This book explores the key roles that culture, arts, and the humanities play in supporting healthy water-based ecology and provides local, global, and Indigenous perspectives on water that help to guide our societies in a time of global warming. ...
The improbable primate: how water shaped human evolution by Call Number: Baker-Berry GN 281 .F55 2014ISBN: 9780199658794In The Improbable Primate, Clive Finlayson takes an ecological approach to our evolution, considering the origins of modern humans within the context of a drying climate and changing landscapes.
Introducing physical geography by Call Number: Baker-Berry GB 54.5 .S77 2013ISBN: 9781118396209Publication Date: 6th ed.Introducing Physical Geography is known for its clear writing, distinctive photos and illustrations and a strong supplements program. The text continues its tradition as a great book to help non-science readers visualize and understand earth processes and learn the basic language of physical geography. The new edition features a strengthened "Eye on Global Change" coverage and coverage of the geographers tool box.
The social life of water by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780857459664Everywhere in the world communities and nations organize themselves in relation to water. We divert water from rivers, lakes, and aquifers to our homes, workplaces, irrigation canals, and hydro-generating stations. We use it for bathing, swimming, recreation, and it functions as a symbol of purity in ritual performances. In order to facilitate and manage our relationship with water, we develop institutions, technologies, and cultural practices entirely devoted to its appropriation and distribution, and through these institutions we construct relations of class, gender, ethnicity, and nationality. Relying on first-hand ethnographic research, the contributors to this volume examine the social life of water in diverse settings and explore the impacts of commodification, urbanization, and technology on the availability and quality of water supplies. ...
Water 4.0 by Call Number: Baker-Berry Popular Science GB 659.6 .S44 2014ISBN: 9780300176490Turn on the faucet, and water pours out. Pull out the drain plug, and the dirty water disappears. Most of us give little thought to the hidden systems that bring us water and take it away when we're done with it. But these underappreciated marvels of engineering face an array of challenges that cannot be solved without a fundamental change to our relationship with water, David Sedlak explains in this enlightening book.
Water: a global history by Call Number: Baker-Berry TD 345 .M635 2015ISBN: 9781780235011Other than air, the only substance more vital to life is water. Our bodies brim with it, and if we're deprived of it for even a few days, the results can be fatal.
Selected book title(s)
Bottled and sold: the story behind our obsession with bottled water by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781597265287Peter Gleick knows water. A world-renowned scientist and freshwater expert, Gleick is an environmental visionary. And he drinks from the tap. Why don't the rest of us? Bottled and Sold shows how water went from being a free natural resource to one of the most successful commercial products of the last one hundred years--and why we are poorer for it. It's a big story and water is big business. ...
A future history of water by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781478003892Based on fieldwork among state officials, NGOs, politicians, and activists in Costa Rica and Brazil, A Future History of Water traces the unspectacular work necessary to make water access a human right;and a human right something different from a commodity. Andrea Ballestero shows how these ephemeral distinctions are made through four techno-legal devices--formula, index, list and pact. She argues that what is at stake in these devices is not the making of a distinct future; but what counts as the future in the first place. ...
Handbook on water security by Call Number: Baker-Berry HD 1691 .H3533 2016ISBN: 9781782548003Water security has received increasing attention in the scientific and public policy communities in recent years. The Handbook on Water Security is a much-needed resource that helps the reader navigate between the differing interpretations of water security. It explains the various dimensions of the topic by approaching it both conceptually and thematically, as well as in relation to experiences in different regions of the world. ...
A history of water by Call Number: Baker-Berry GB 671 .H57 2006ISBN: 9781850435938These three volumes present an original exploration of all aspects of water--social, cultural, political, religious, historical, economic and technological--from ancient times to the present day. Among the varied themes, the contributors examine the changing histories of water as a private or common good; the politics of water at local, urban, national and international levels; water in cities, great river plans, dams, river biographies, and cultural constructions of water; and images of water in religion, myth, literature and art. ...
The human right to water: significance, legal status and implications for water allocation by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781849466622The United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council recognised the human right to water in 2010. This formal recognition has put the issue high on the international agenda, but by itself leaves many questions unanswered. This book addresses this gap and clarifies the legal status and meaning of the right to water through a detailed analysis of its legal foundations, legal nature, normative content and corresponding State obligations.The human right to water has wide-ranging implications for the distribution of water. ...
What Is water?: the history of a modern abstraction by Call Number: Baker-Berry GB 665 .L56 2010ISBN: 9780774817028We all know what water is, and we often take it for granted. But the spectre of a worldwide water crisis suggests that there might be something fundamentally wrong with the way we think about water. Jamie Linton dives into the history of water as an abstract concept, stripped of its environmental, social, and cultural contexts. Reduced to a scientific abstraction - to mere H20 - this concept has given modern society license to dam, divert, and manipulate water with apparent impunity. ...
Other library resource(s)
Blue gold: world water wars by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #11301ISBN: 9780793670208Blue Gold: World Water Wars examines environmental and political implications of the planet's dwindling water supply, and posits that wars in the future will be fought over water. The film also highlights some success stories of water activists around the world and makes a strong case for community action.
Water from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199874002Water is intrinsically multifaceted and multidisciplinary. Within geography, it spans both human and physical dimensions and is present in almost every subdiscipline of geography (e.g., political geography, feminist geography, urban geography). This article focuses primarily on human geography approaches to water, which includes topics such as management, meaning, power, and social relations.
Water, the drop of life by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #12081Six part series explores the complex global issues of water use and conservation and provides an in-depth look at water's role in agriculture, industry, religion, and transportation. It attempts to show how important and vulnerable the world's fresh water supply is.
Finding scholarly articles & journal title(s)
Articles and other writings about Water can be found in many publications. Our collection includes several journals which look at Water exclusively. To find articles, you can search a variety of indexes such as Water Resources Abstracts, World Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Abstracts or Web of Science.
WaterCall Number: Electronic journalWater is an international and interdisciplinary open-access journal covering all aspects of water, including water science, technology, management and governance.
Water resources abstracts by Call Number: Electronic resourceAn article index for all things related to water.
World agricultural economics and rural sociology abstracts by Call Number: Electronic resourceThis database covers agricultural economics to farm economics, food industry and rural sociology from 1973 to the present.
The web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Internet resource(s)
- Water resources mission area
Water information is fundamental to national and local economic well-being, protection of life and property, and effective management of the Nation’s water resources. The USGS works with partners to monitor, assess, conduct targeted research, and deliver information on a wide range of water resources and conditions including streamflow, groundwater, water quality, and water use and availability. - USGS Water Science SchoolFrom the U.S. Geological Survey, information and other resources about water.
- Water Resources from GreenFacts
How can water resources be managed sustainably while meeting an ever increasing demand? - Water Resources Division from the National Park Service
The Water Resources Division (WRD) was established to provide sound science to parks for the protection and management of water and aquatic resources.
Citing and Tracking Your Bibliographic References
Use this guide to help you learn how to correctly cite and keep track of the references you find for your research.
Keeping up with Geographical journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Geography? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.