Information Gateway to Geography
GMU-Department of Geography | GMU-GIS Center | | GMU Libraries-GIS Data Services | GMU Libraries- Government Documents| GIS Blog
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Library Services WRLC Catalog (Aladin) Ask-a Librarian (Online Chat) E-Journal Finder (Online or Not) New Books and Journals Received
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Reference Resource in Geography (Print and Online): Find Articles through Indexes and Databases List of Online Journals in Geography Library Instruction Material for
GMU Geography Courses Selected Internet Resources for Geography and GIS Questions, and Comments to Joy
Suh, Geography Liaison Librarian. |
1) GMU Online Catalog
To see whether the libraries own a certain book, first go to the GMU Library catalog. You can search by author, title, subject, or keyword. Once you retrieve some records, check the "call number," which is assigned by the Library of Congress Subject Heading, and the "location" to locate the item on the shelf. Extra description such as "Reference" and "Government Documents" will indicate that the item is held in the Reference Area or Government Documents area. The "Status" will tell you whether the item is checked out (charged) or not (not charged). To see whether the libraries own a certain journal, you can search the journal title by title on the library catalog. The "Library Holdings" will indicate which issues are being available in our periodical unit. When the journal is available online, "Electronic Access" on the bibliographic record will provide the URL to link to that journal.
2) WRLC Online Catalog
When the GMU Libraries do not own a certain book, check the WRLC catalog (Aladin). WRLC is a consortium of Washington DC Area Libraries. If the item you need is available at one of the consortium library such as George Washington University, you can check out the item yourself at the GWU library or have the item sent to one of the GMU Libraries through online request by clicking on "REQUEST" on the tool bar of the holding record of GWU. Online request usually takes two working days. In order to get the item from the WRLC Libraries, you must have a valid GMU ID. If you are a first time library user, you must activate your ID at one of the library circulation desk.
3) Worldcat
Finally, if the item you need is Not in GMU and Not in a WRLC library, you need to search the Worlcat catalog, which is a worldwide union catalog created and maintained by OCLC. Then, you request the item to GMU Libraries' ILL services (see more info on ILL services)
Find Articles through Indexes and Database
If you want to find articles in journals or newspapers for a topic that you are looking for, you need to search that topic in a specific index or database that covers various journals and literature related to your topic. The following databases are useful for geography and GIS related research.
GEOBASE (1980--):Online version of Geographical Abstracts. Provides Indexes and abstracts over 2200 journals and the literature of geography, GIS, geology, and environmental sciences.
GEOREF (1785--): Indexes and abstracts over 22000 journals in geology, physical geography, and earth sciences.
INGENTA (1988--): Indexes, abstracts, and full-text articles for multi-disciplinary journals. 56 FULL-TEXT geography journals are available through this database such as Annals of AAG, Political Geography, Journal of Historical Geography, Applied Geography, Journal of Economic Geography, and Journal of Regional Science, etc. See E-Journal List in Geography for the list
WEB of Science (Social Sciences Citation Index, 1980--): Indexes and abstracts of the journals in multidisciplinary. Also provides articles in which the work appeared (through cited work index)DIGITAL DISSERTATION (1997--): Access to Full-Text dissertations published since 1997 in pdf format.
DIGITAL DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS (1861--): Access to citations and abstracts for every title in the Dissertation Abstracts Database.
LEXIS/NEXIS ACADEMIC: A great resource to retrieve online newspapers and magazine articles. Also access to business, legal, medical, and congressional information.
To access these databases, go to "DATABASE" from the library home page (library.gmu.edu) and search the name of the databases under Alphabetical List of Databases. For Off-CAMPUS users, see How to Access Resources from Off-Campus Computers (http://infosparc.gmu.edu/lso/proxy.html)
Library Instruction Materials for Geography Courses
Geography 579 (Remote Sensing): Online Global and Satellite Image and Atlas
Geog 416/517 (Satellite Images/Remote Sensing): Looking for Global Stellite Image Data?
Geog 590 (Land Use Modeling): Looking
for Geo-Spatial Data?;
Mapping Census 2000 with
ArcView 3.x or ArcGIS
Web Resources for Geography and GIS
American Factfinder: access to 1900 and 2000 Census online. Generates tables in excel format.
ESRI Census Tiger/Line Data: offers free downloadable boundary data for 1990 and 2000 Census County, Census Tract, and Block, Congressional District (106th), and School and Voting Districts. All are in shape file format.
GeoState (Univ. of Virginia): access to Virginia geospatial data and other national statistical data.
Geospatial Datasets (via University of Colorado): A comprehensive online data collection site from Census to USGS's Land Use.
Geodata.gov: One stop to access to maps and geospatial data at all levels of government
GIS Data Depot: Free downloadable USGS DEM, DRG, and DOQ.
GIS.COM: Internet resources for GIS
Geography Newsgroups and Listserves (via University of Colorado)
Internet Resources in Geography (via University of Texas): US Gazetteer, Geographic Names Information System, National Climatic Data Center(NCDC), and much more.
National Atlas: provides interacting mapping and downloadable data.
USGS National Map: Cascading the nation's topographic map.
VGIN (VA Goegraphic Information System): Information on VA spatial data and GIS.
Professioanl Associations and Research Organizations in Geography
GMU holds a campus license for ESRI GIS software such as ArcView and ArcGIS. You can start to learn basic ArcView and Advanced ArcGIS through the Web-based modules. This Web-based training courses are available to GMU affiliates at no cost. If you need to receive password and the information you need to get started, please contact Ron Hull (at 703-993-3599) to get a registration code number for a specific course. The Libraries government document unit has two workstations installed with ArcView 3.x and ArcGIS 8.x software. So click on ESRI Virtual Campus and enjoy mapping.