Revisions -- Resources on the Librarys Web Page - www.lib.mtu.edu

Exploring Michigan Tech

UN2001 Instructor: Casey Rudkin; email: casey@mtu.edu

Librarian: Amanda Binoniemi; email: abinonie@mtu.edu; 487-1814

Librarian & Assistant Archivist Julie Blair; 487-2505

 MTU Archives & Copper Country Historical Collections; email: copper@mtu.edu

Government Documents Librarian: Rhianna Williams e-mail: rlwillia@mtu.edu, 487-2698

 

 

MTU Library Catalog: ils.lib.mtu.edu

Contains records of materials owned by the MTU Library.

Two search interfaces, Basic and Keyword allow the user to search for items by author, title, subject, call number, ISBN/ISSN, or keyword(s.) Catalog records include bibliographic and location information for items retrieved in your search. Use the Location, Status, Call Number information to find an item in the Library Collections. Some possible Library of Congress Subject Headings to use in a Basic Subject search:

 

Copper mines and mining Michigan Keweenaw Peninsula History	Michigan Technological University History
Copper Country (Mich.) History	Upper Peninsula (Mich.) History
Local history

The MTU Archiveshouses a wide variety of print, graphic and manuscript resources. Subject coverage includes the University, the Copper Country and surrounding area, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. A closed-stack library: See http://www.lib.mtu.edu/mtuarchives for collection overview. Registration form defining the research topic required for every research project to assist Archives Reference Service.

 

Archives MTU Photo and Vertical Files A good starting point for information on campus topics.

 

Tech related items from the collection: MTU Alumnus magazine, the Keweenawan (yearbooks), student/faculty directories, course catalogs, athletic newsletters, the Michigan Tech Lode (on microfilm). Oversize/Map collection has campus maps and some architectural drawings of campus structures.

 

Keweenaw Digital Archives Over 6000 historical images of Michigan Tech and the surrounding community. Can download JPGs for use in papers and presentations.

 

Reference & Other Library Resources:

The book titles listed here can give you definitions of terms and background information on your subject.

Guide for the writing of local history F565.2 .C85 ARCH

The pursuit of local history: readings on theory andpractice E160 .P87 1996 RESERVE

American decades E169.12 .A419 1994 REF

Annals of America E173 .A793 REF

Greenwood encyclopedia of daily life GT31 .G74 2004 REF

Michigan Tech centennial, 1885-1985 LD 3328 .H3 1985 ARCH & Reserve

 

The periodicals listed below cover the subject area of Michigan history:

Historical collections; Michigan historical collections F561 .M64 ARCH & Serials (Garden Level)

Michigan history; Michigan history magazine F561 .M63 ARCH & Serials

 

Periodical & Newspaper Indexes in Print

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (1900-1991) - AI 3 .I6 PRINT INDEXES Continued online in FirstSearch.

Nineteenth century Readers guide to periodical literature AI 3 .R15 PRINT INDEXES

New York Times Index (1913- ) - AI 21 .N5 PRINT INDEXES; The New York Times newspaper is available on microfilm back to 1919.

Applied Science & Technology Index (formerly Industrial Arts Index) (1913-1991) - T 8 .E6 PRINT INDEXES (Continued online in FirstSearch as ASTA)

Engineering Index (1892-2001) - T 8 .E51 PRINT INDEXES Online version is Compendex.

 

 E-Resources - Access to electronic indexes/abstracts, online books, e-journals and selected websites.

To find citations to recent articles from journals, conference proceedings, and other publications, go to the Librarys web page at http://www.lib.mtu.edu/ and select E-Resources & E-Alerts.

E-Resources are searchable by name or keyword using the box at the top of the screen, or by subject area or collection using the pull-down menus lower down on the screen. Here are some of the databases that may be useful for this course.

FirstSearch

WorldCatInternational catalog of books, periodicals, papers, websites.

AHSearch Indexes the world's leading arts and humanities journals and selected articles from social science and science journals.

Periodical Abstracts Indexes and abstracts popular and academic periodicals.

Readers Guide to Periodical Literature General and popular periodicals.

 

JSTOR Contains scanned images of over 200 scholarly journals in a variety of academic disciplines. Includes journals in history.

 

COMPENDEX Engineering research covering engineering and applied science. Coverage: 1884 Present.

Google Scholar Web search engine designed specifically to locate scholarly literature. Access via Databases.

 

Government resources:

Remember that there may be Government Documents that deal with the topics that you are working with so be sure to utilize the paper and web sources for these. The core of this Federal documents collection began with the personal depository collection of Senator J.A. Hubbell (one of only two such personal depositories in the history of the Federal Depository Program). This depository was established in 1876, roughly nine years before the founding of the Michigan Mining School, which is the predecessor of today's Michigan Technological University. This makes it one of the oldest depositories in the state. Thus the MTU Library Government Documents collection is both a historical and a current research resource. It is particularly strong in early mining and mining engineering documents. Please remember that many items prior to 1976 are NOT in the online catalog!

Michigan Tech was also a Michigan State Depository Library that houses Michigan State government publications. They are housed on the third floor.

For assistance using the document collections, see the Reference Desk on the second floor.

Websites:

USA.gov: www.usasearch.gov. This is the official government site that searches over 87 million sites. Can search for just federal, federal and a specific state, federal and all states, all states, or a specific state. Advanced search gives the most flexibility. See also note about government resources above.

 

American Memory: http://www.loc.gov/. This is the main page of the Library of Congress. Click on American Memory to get to the search page. American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.

 

National History Day: http://www.nationalhistoryday.org Website of useful information for history research. Project lay-outs, Roadmap and Storyboard among features.

 

ANSWER (The Library of Michigan's catalog) or link to the Michigan Electronic Library (MEL) or Michigan government information. Helpful for locating older Michigan documents.

 

 MelCat State-wide catalog of books, videos, CDs, DVDs and more available for direct interlibrary loan. Some materials that are not generally available through traditional interlibrary loan are available through MeLCat. These include videos, DVDs and CDs. Tech Express card required for use. http://elibrary.mel.org/search.

 

Making of Modern Michigan, The

Scope: Collections include extensive photograph and postcard collections, personal papers such as diaries and scrapbooks, oral history interviews, sound and video files, and documentation on local organizations. The subjects covered are even more diverse: the immigrant communities, the mining and lumbering industries, rural and small-town life, and much more.

 

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) To request material not available at the J. Robert Van Pelt Library

To request books and articles from other libraries, complete the appropriate New Request form, available by selecting Interlibrary Loan on the Library's website and logging into ILLiad (Inter-Library Loan Internet Accessible Database). When using ILLiad for the first time, click on First Time Users to set up your account; youll need your MTU User ID and Password as well as your Tech Express card number.

 

ILL requests may also be made directly through most research databases such as WorldCat.  Follow the HuskyFetch menu options and select "Get Item from another Library via ILLiad."  Please be sure to check the JRVP Library holdings before submitting a request directly from a database. Many index databases also allow ILL requests through their sites. Note: The ILL process can take time (longer than 10 days in some cases.) Plan your research time accordingly.

 

Evaluating Information Sources: The following sites can help evaluate different types of resources. They are produced by other institutions.

Identifying Research Articles and Refereed Journals: http://gateway.library.uiuc.edu/lsx/tutorial/section3.html

Evaluating Web Sites: <http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/webeval.html>

Primary/Secondary/Tertiary Sources: http://www.library.jcu.edu.au/LibraryGuides/primsrcs.shtml

 

For Assistance

 For online library tours, guides, maps, and tutorials, select Tours, Tutorials, and/or Maps on the Librarys website.

 For a copy of this guide and for lists of resources recommended for specific classes, select Course Guides.

For individual assistance or instruction from a librarian, visit the Reference & Information desk on 2^nd floor, phone 487-2507, or use e-mail or instant messaging by clicking Ask a Librarian on the Librarys website.