Reference Collection | Catalog
Indexes and Databases | Internet Resources | Interlibrary Loan | Citation Guides

Encyclopedias and other reference works provide background reading on your topic and related issues, bibliographies, names of authorities and important works in the field, and occasionally related websites.

Specialized Encyclopedias, Handbooks, and Dictionaries:

Advertising/Marketing:

The advertising age: encyclopedia of advertising 3v. [RR HF5803 .A38 2003]

Major marketing campaigns annual.[RR HF5837 .M35]

Dictionary of marketing and advertising. [RR HF5415 .R577 1995]

The ad men and women: a biographical dictionary of advertising. [RR HF5810.A2 A3 1994]

Encyclopedia of consumer brands. 3v. [RR HF5415.3 .E527 1994]

Media:iedia

Encyclopedia of children, adolescents, and the media 2v. [RR HQ784.M3 E53 2007]

Handbook of children and the media. [RR HQ784.T4 H36 2001]

History in the media: film and television [RR PN1995.9.H5 N54 2006]

Encyclopedia of television 4v. [RR PN1992.18 .E53 2004]

Encyclopedia of media and politics [RR P95.82.U6 E47 2007]

History of the mass media in the United States: an encyclopedia. [RR P92.U5 H55 1998]

Violence and the media: a reference handbook [RR P96.V5 N48 1996]

Encyclopedia of social issues 6v. [RR HN57 .E59 1997]

History/Popular Culture:

American eras.8v. [RR E168 .A5118 1997] From Early American period to 1899.

American decades. 10v. [RR E169.12 .A419 1994] From 1900 to 1999.

This fabulous century. 8v. [RR E161 .T55 1969] Spans 1920 to 1970.

St. James encyclopedia of popular culture. 5v. [RR E169.1 .S764 2000]

Social Issues/Social Policy:

CQ Researcher
Provides in-depth coverage of health issues, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. Includes overviews, pros and cons, and lengthy lists of other sources.

Lgbt, encyclopedia of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history in America. 3v. [RR HQ76.3.U5 E53 2004]

The Encyclopedia of propaganda. 3v. [RR HM263 .E53 1998]

Catalog

Bridge catalogs resources available at St. Olaf and Carleton libraries. Use Bridge to search for books and periodicals, but not chapters within books or articles within periodicals.

• Use a Keyword search if you do not know the subject or you wish to combine more than one idea, e.g.["advertis* AND controvers*] Use asterisk (*) to search various endings (e.g. "controvers*" will retrieve "controversy, controversies, controversial" etc.)
• Once you have found a key reference, explore the subject by clicking on the link in the catalog.
• Use the limiting option to search for different types of material (e.g. videos, DVDs, government documents), or specific publication dates.

You may request materials housed at Carleton directly from Bridge by clicking on the button.

Interdisciplinary:

Academic Search Premier
A multidisciplinary database with access to over 8040 scholarly and popular publications, many in full-text. Covers 1975 to present.

MasterFILE Premier
A general multidisciplinary database to mostly popular publications. Includes biographies, reference books, primary source documents, maps and photos. Covers 1975 to present

JSTOR --An index to and full text of select, academic journals.

Project Muse -- An index to and full text of journals published by Johns Hopkins University Press and other scholarly publishers.

For text and images from early American magazines and journals:
American Periodicals Series Online 1740-1900 -- A collection of digitized magazines and journals published in the United States between 1741 and 1900. APS includes more than 1,000 titles such as Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine, the first American professional journal, and numerous popular magazines.

Disciplinary:

History:
America: History & Life -- An index to approximately 2,800 journals, plus dissertations and books in North American History. Indexes literature published from 1964 to the present.

Sociology:
PAIS: Public Affairs Information Service-- An index to public policy and public affairs articles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories. Covers 1972 to the present.

Sociological Abstracts -- An index to 2600 sociology journals plus book abstracts and review citations. Covers 1963-present.

Business:
Business Source Premier -- Indexes approximately 3800 business journals with full-text for over 1100 publications. Covers 1922 to present.

Language/Communication:
Communication Abstracts -- A database with abstracts to journal articles and books about communication.

MLA International Bibliography -- The major index to literature journals. Subjects include language and linguistics.

Film/Television:
Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text -- Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text is the definitive online tool for film and television research.

Art (Images):
ARTstor -- A "repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images and related data." Covers architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design from many cultures.

Newspapers:

LexisNexis Academic
Excellent source for full-text articles in national and international newspapers. Provides access to a wide range of news, business, legal, and reference information.

New York Times (1851 - 2003) -- Offers "full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue."

Remember to evaluate each site critically for authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, and coverage.

Based on "Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask." UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops. 7Jan. 2005. 14 Feb. 2005. <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html>, and "Evaluating Web Sites." The Ohio State Univeristy Libraries. 14 Feb. 2005. <http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/>

A few good directories that evaluate web contents:

Librarians' Index to the Internet -- "A searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 14,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries."

Infomine: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections -- "A virtual library of Internet resources relevant to faculty, students, and research staff."

The Scout Report Archives -- "A searchable and browseable database containing critical annotations of carefully selected Internet sites and mailing lists."

Use alexa.com service to glean more information about a Web site, including traffic ranking, statistics, and other pages that link to it.

A few fun sites to see:

Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850 - 1920 -- "Images of over 9,000 advertising items and publications which show the rise of consumerism in America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the increasing power of the advertising profession. There are eleven collections offering background information. All categories are individually searchable, or you can search the entire collection by keyword or illustration. Soap, tobacco, and beauty products are just some of the ads included here. From the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History, Duke University. "

Advertising Educational Foundation -- "The Advertising Educational Foundation is the advertising industry's provider and distributor of educational content to enrich the understanding of advertising and its role in culture, society and the economy."

Advertising World -- "A browsable and searchable directory, arranged topically, of briefly annotated links for advertising and marketing professionals, students, and teachers. From the University of Texas at Austin, Department of Advertising."

Fifty Years of Coca-Cola Television Advertisements -- This site features "a variety of television advertisements, never-broadcast outtakes, and experimental footage reflecting the historical development of television advertising for a major commercial product." Interesting examples of stop-motion filming, lighting studies, and international commercials. Searchable and browsable. From The American Memory Project at the Library of Congress.

The Nineteenth Century in Print
"This collection presents twenty-three popular periodicals digitized by Cornell University Library and the Preservation Reformatting Division of the Library of Congress. They include literary and political magazines, as well as Scientific American, Manufacturer and Builder, and Garden and Forest: A Journal of Horticulture, Landscape Art, and Forestry. The longest run is for The North American Review, 1815-1900."

Any item not owned by St. Olaf or Carleton may be ordered through Interlibrary Loan(ILL) provided you allow enough time (a week on average).