Topic Searching
An efficient way to search in the library catalog, WorldCat or any database of articles is to use subject terms, which are standardized.
Subjects can be combined to narrow a search focus, e.g., Colombia AND Panama. Or to broaden : (Nicaragua OR Honduras) AND ecology.
In the library catalog "begins with" or WorldCat Advanced "subject phrase" searches names must be [last name], [first name]. For example : Kirchner, Néstor.
Use topical subject headings to pinpoint specific topics. For example :
- Brazilian literature -- Black authors -- History and Criticism
- Music -- Caribbean Area
- Women -- Peru -- Social Conditions -- Statistics
- Maya architecture
(You can combine subject headings most easily in WorldCat if you use the "more like this" link.)
Working with Latin American & Caribbean topics often means that you have to be more creative. For example, the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) used in most American libraries, divide geography or time periods up in ways that may mean you need to look at different sets of subject headings.
- Panama -- Politics and government -- 1981-
- Panama -- History -- American Invasion, 1989
but, from the other direction,
- United States -- Foreign relations -- Panama
- United States -- Foreign relations -- 1945-1989
If you are working in an index, such as HAPI, or a hispanophone catalog, you'll get to learn different formulations, "Panamá -- Historia -- 1989 (Invasión norteamericana)," for example.
And the difference between Panama and Panama (Panama) ? The former is the country and the latter is the city.
Questions? Take advantage of your friendly local librarian's years of experience and contact Sarah!
Bibliographies
Bibliographies, especially annotated bibliographies, gather together articles, books, and other materials about a particular topic, individual or theme. They are particularly useful for covering research in English done before 1980, books or articles not published in the US, or research in languages other than English.
The subject heading for bibliographies is Bibliography. Because it's singular (unlike Dictionaries or Handbooks), you have to be careful to make sure you search for it as a subject or else you'll also see every book that includes a bibliography at the end of it.
Examples :
- Salvador Allende : el político, el estadísta : bibliografía comentada y temática de más de 200 libros byCall Number: F3101.A4N65 1993Publication Date: 1993
Bibliografia machadiana, 1959-2003 by Call Number: PQ9697.M18Z699 2005ISBN: 8531407753Publication Date: 2005- Indígenas y negros en Colombia : bibliografía monográfica byCall Number: Z1209.2.C64H47 2003Publication Date: 2003
Important Microform Sets
- Guide to Microform Sources for History and Political Science in the University of Chicago LibraryIncludes annotated citations for source materials in microform, including materials from national and other archives, collections of personal papers and other manuscript collections, and collections of books, pamphlets, serials, newspapers, and official documents. Chapter on sources for Latin America includes some 140 collections. Index of subjects, authors, and titles.
- Guide to Representative Reference Materials for Latin American Studies in the University of Chicago Library.Includes citations to print sources and CD-based electronic sources, and links to networked sources. Short version, including about 50 important titles. More comprehensive version, listing about 500 items.
- Colección Clásicos TaveraDigitized works on the history of Iberia, Latin America, the Atlantic Islands, and the Philippines. The portions the University of Chicago holds to date comprises 792 titles, 987 volumes, and 2253 manuscript documents, for a total of approximately 335,000 pages on 34 CDs. Many of the works are scarce and infrequently held in libraries in print form. The guide has two parts, a guide to the contents of each of the CDs we hold, and an author/title alphabetical index of the works in the collection.
Other Library Catalogs
- Red de Repositorios LatinoamericanosFind full-text publications in on-line depositories across Latin America
Terms for primary sources
The following terms are found in the subject headings of records for published primary sources.
- sources
- diaries
- correspondence
- personal narratives
- biography
- pamphlets
- oral histories
- speeches
- interviews
- maps
- census
- archives
- caricatures and cartoons
- pictorial works (for compilations of photographs or other visual materials)