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Susan Turkel, Outreach and Information Technology Librarian (BMC)

Sections:

Searching for books or journals in print
Reference Works
Searching for scholarly journal articles
Finding primary sources
Searching for articles from foreign newspapers
Searching for historical news
Getting human help!

Related Subjects:

Databases A-Z:

Other:

HIST 336 : Topics in African History: Social and Cultural History of Medicine (BMC)

Searching for books or journals in print:

Tripod library catalog

For locating books, journals, videos, and electronic resources held at Tri-College libraries. You can mark and then email or print records for multiple items. Use the request option to ask for items from Haverford or Swarthmore. Delivery is usually within one or two days.

Subject and Keyword searches can include:

country or region names: Africa, Kenya, Uganda
illness names: smallpox, malaria, hiv infections, aids disease
subdivisions of subjects: history, travelers writings

WorldCat

Provider: OCLC

A catalog of the holdings of books, journals, and other materials held by OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) member libraries. Includes manuscripts, maps, films and sound recordings. WorldCat is useful for locating material on your topic held by libraries outside the Tri-Colleges.

Interlibrary Loan and E-ZBorrow

The books and articles you need for your research may not be available from a Tri-College library. We have two systems to help you retrieve the materials you need. See this page to place your requests.

Reference Works:

MEDICINE

Merck Manuals

Online versions of the home and professional editions of these well-regarded medical encyclopedias.

MedlinePlus

Carefully selected resources on hundreds of health topics from the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, and other government agencies and health-related organizations.

CULTURES and COUNTRIES

CIA world fact book

A good source for quick background information on the countries of the world.

WDI online.

Contains data covering 225 countries and 18 regional and income groups. An extensive collection of data includes mortality, literacy, health, and other indicators. Covers 1960-present.

Encyclopedia of world cultures

Publisher: Boston, Mass. : G.K. Hall, c1991-c1995.

Reference Area (B, H, S): GN307 .E53 1991

This ten volume encyclopedia is organized by area of the world. It provides detailed background information on cultures, including demographics, customs, kinship, economy, and medical practices.

OTHER RESOURCES

World Health Organization

The website of the United Nations specialized agency for health. Has sections by country and by health topic.

Searching for scholarly journal articles:

ProQuest Research Library

Provider: ProQuest

Provides citations and full-text magazine and journal articles in a wide variety of disciplines, both scholarly and popular. Covers 1971-date.

Historical abstracts

Provider: EBSCO

Provides abstracts of journal articles, books, book reviews and dissertations that cover world history from 1450 to the present (excluding the U.S. and Canada which are covered in "America: History and Life"). Includes publications from 1953-present.

JSTOR

Provides full-text and page images from many of the top journals in most academic disciplines. Coverage is from the inception of the journal through three to five years ago.

Africa-wide

Provider: NISC

Offers access to multi-disciplinary information on Africa including books, journal articles, maps and music recordings. Some materials are in full-text. Covers 19th century-present.

PubMed

Provider: NCBI

PubMed includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. PubMed includes links to full text articles and other related resources.

Sociological abstracts

Holdings:
1963-

Publisher: Bethesda, Md. : Cambridge Scientific Abstracts,

Provider: CSA

Provides abstracts of journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations and conference papers in the fields of sociology, social work and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Records added after 1972 contain in-depth abstracts of journal articles. Covers 1963-present.

Anthropology plus

Anthropology Plus combines Anthropological Literature from Harvard University and Anthropological Index from the Royal Anthropological Institute. It contains citations to journal articles, reports, and edited works in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological, and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, and more. Covers the late 19th century to the present.

Finding primary sources:

There are many types of resources that can be analyzed as primary sources for your research project. Examples include:

newspaper articles from the time of the event
European travellers' accounts
government published sources (census records, statistics, etc.)
statistics from WHO and the World Development Indicators

One of the best places to find primary sources is the BMC Library's Special Collections department.   Among many other treasures, Special Collections has a large collection of Eurpoean travel accounts from before 1850.

This is the guide to accounts from travels in Africa: http://www.brynmawr.edu/library/speccoll/guides/travel/africa.html

Visit Special Collections on the second floor of Canaday during these hours:

     Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 9:00 am - 4:30 pm
     Wednesday: 9:00 am - 9:00 pm (when classes are in session)

Searching for articles from foreign newspapers:

AllAfrica.com

Provides daily news and information in English and French from across the African continent. Covers 1996-present (BMC & SC), last 30 days (HC).

Access world news

Provider: NewsBank

Newspaper collections from NewsBank provide full-text articles from the electronic editions of record for more than 700 newspapers around the globe, including the NY Times (2000-present). Database covers 1977-present.

Other foreign news

This page links to subscription and free resources for online newspapers and news articles.

Searching for historical news:

The New York times on the Web

Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1851-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1851-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1851-present.

Publisher: [New York, N.Y.] : New York Times.

[Select the link for your college, then select ProQuest Historical Newspapers]

Offers full-page-images and article images from the New York Times from its first issue in 1851 to three years before the current date.

Washington post (Washington, D.C. : 1974)

Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1877-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1977-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1877-present.

Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The Washington Post Co.,

[Select the link for your college, then select ProQuest Historical Newspapers]

Offers full-page-images and article images from the Washington Post. The collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue, cover to cover, in downloadable image files. Covers 1877 - 1991.

Getting human help!

If you need help: ASK A LIBRARIAN!!! Please come see us and we will help you with your research. Canaday Library Reference Desk Hours:

    Mon-Wed 10am-noon / 1-5pm / 7-10pm

    Thu-Fri      10am-noon / 1-5pm

    Sat-Sun   1-5pm

Reference Desk telephone: (610) 526-5279

Ask a Librarian - Fill in the form, give us your email address, and we will answer within 24 hours!