Geography Research Guide
Library Catalogs
Use the catalogs below to locate print and audio-visual materials.
- COD Library Catalog : For
items located in the COD Library. To find printed atlases, do
an advanced keyword search like this: ATLAS AND name of location
or topic.
- I-Share (formerly Illinet Online)
: A catalog of items located in 70 Illinois libraries.
- WorldCat:
For items located in libraries in this country and those around
the world. Use it to find citations to important items not held
at the COD Library.
Outline of the Library of Congress Classification System (what COD uses to shelve its books).
Other Nearby Public and Academic Libraries
Reference Works
A List of other Library Reference Books about
Places
Online Texts
- "The Four Traditions of Geography." William D. Pattison. The Journal of Geography. Volume 63. Number 5. Pages 211-216.
- Fundamentals of Physical Geography.
- Geodesy for the Layman. U.S. Defense Mapping Agency, 1984.
- The Geography of Illinois, by Douglas Clay Ridgeley (University of Chicago Press, 1921 - Google Books)
- The Geography of Transportation Systems.
- Geologic Maps Guide. From the US Geological Survey and the National Park Service.
- How to Read Illinois Topographic Maps.
- Illinois: A Geographical Survey.
- Indigenous Landscapes: A Study in Ethnocartography (for Honduras, Panama, and Bolivia, 2001)
- Land Use History of North America. US Geological Society.
- "Mapping Indigenous Lands". Mac Chapin, et al. Annual Review of Anthropology. v.34, 2005, pp.619-638.
- Military Geography for Professionals and the Public. DOD, 1998. (Very slow due to all the graphics.)
- An Outline of American Geography: Regional Landscapes of the United States. (1992)
- Population and Land Use in Developing Countries.
- Understanding Physical Geography.
- Urban Growth in American Cities: Glimpses of U.S. Urbanization. US Geological Society, 2004.
- Using Maps in Geneaology.
Related C.O.D. Library Research Guides
Article Indexes
Please be sure to have your
library
card available before you use these databases from off-campus.
- Academic OneFile (formerly Expanded Academic Index ASAP). An index to over 2500 magazines and journals covering a variety of topic areas including anthropology. This database provides references, abstracts, and many times the full-text of articles. A COD library card is required for off-campus use.
- Academic Search Premier (1984-) An index of over 3000 magazines and journals covering a variety of topic areas. Provides references, abstracts, and sometimes the full-text of articles.
- Blackwell Synergy. This is an index of articles published in journals that are printed by the Blackwell company. A wide variety of topics and journals are covered, but you only get bibliographic citations, no full-text articles. You can select a particular subject area to search in, or you can select a specific journal to search in by clicking on the broad subject, then selecting a small subject area from that next page, then selecting the particular journal title on the third page. You can move through the categories by clicking on the plus sign [+] to the left of the category name.
- Electronic Collections Online (ECO). This service provides citations only to thousands of journal articles.
- The Free Library. A database of free magazine and journal articles.
- Google Scholar. This provides access to many free full-text articles, as well as citations to many other articles.
- Handbook of Latin American Studies. Citations-only database from the U.S. Library of Congress.
- H-NET Scholarly book reviews.
- Illinois Geographical Society Bulletin, Archived full-text issues for 1944-1984.
- IngentaConnect. This is an index to millions of journal articles, book chapters, reports, and more. Most are not available as full-text online items.
- The Journal of Haitian Studies . The COD Library started receiving this journal in the Summer of 2008 (click here for the COD holdings). It is not available full-text online. Click here for the Journal's Homepage, which has links to indexes and table of contents information. Copies of older articles can be obtained for you through the Library's Interlibrary Loan process.
- JSTOR: Scholarly Journals Archive of Older Issues.
- Latin American Periodicals Tables of Contents (LAPTOC). No full-text articles.
- Military and Government Collection of articles.
- Open Access Journals Directory (free full-text journal articles)
- Project MUSE. This database provides citations and abstracts only.
- SCIRUS. A search engine for citations to journal articles and links to web pages.
- FREE ONLINE JOURNALS
- African Geopolitics. Free online journal.
- Antipode journal online website, with some FREE CLASSIC and THEMED articles. FULL-TEXT ARTICES are available from 1998 until one year ago in the "Academic Search Premier" database listed above. This journal is indexed by the "Blackwell Synergy", "Electronic Collections Online", "Google Scholar," and "Ingenta Connect" citation indexes linked below, but they do not contain full-text articles. Copies of the articles may be requested for free through the Interlibrary Loan Service (click here).
- Bulletin of the Illinois Geographical Society, Archived full-text issues for 1944-1984.
- Culture, Society and Praxis.
- GPS World magazine.
- The Industrial Geographer.
- Investigaciones Geograficas: Boletin del Instituto de Geografia . Free online journal (2000-) in Spanish from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM).
- Social Geography. A free online journal.
- More COD Library journal and newspaper article databases.
- Does the C.O.D. Library own the journal that I need?
- Explanation of the Difference Between Magazines and Journals
- How to Read a Research Article.
Country Information
The Canadian Encyclopedia. Reference F 1006 .C 36 1988.
Countries and Their Cultures. Reference GN 307 .C 68 2001.
Countries of the World. Reference G 1. C 88.
Country Information and Statistics, from World Audit.org.
Country Profiles on Yahoo.com
Country Reports.org. A collection of cultural, historical, statistical, and geographic information about countries.
Country Statistics and Reports from the Population Reference Bureau
Country Studies. A series of textbooks on all countries, with chapters on the various features of each country.
Culture and Customs of.... books in a series about different countries and ethnic groups
Eastern Europe: An Introduction to People, Lands, and Cultures. Reference DJK 9 .E 25 2005.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Look up the name of the country, state, or province.
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Latin American and Caribbean Cultures. Reference F 1406 .E 515 2000
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Cultures. Reference DK 510.32 .E 53 2007.
Encyclopedia of India.
Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. Reference DS 4 .L 48 2002.
Encyclopedia of the Developing World. Reference HC 59.7 .E 52 2006
Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Reference DS 43 .E 53 2004
Legal Systems of the World: A Political, Social, and Cultural Encyclopedia. Reference K 48 .L 44 2002.
Maplandia. Lots of different geographical information available at this site.
Nationmaster. You can use this site to find statistics and make charts.
New Encyclopedia of Africa. Reference DT 2 .N 48 2008.
Rankings of Countries by democratic development, press freedoms, human rights, rule of law, corruption, civil liberties, economic freedom, from World Audit.org.
REGIONAL SURVEY SERIES, arranged by country name, with lots of recent economic and political information.
... Africa South of the Sahara. Reference DT 351 .A 37.
... Central and South-Eastern Europe. Reference D 1058 .C 46.
... Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia. Reference D 1058 .E 37.
... Far East and Australasia. Reference DS 1 .F 3.
... Middle East and North Africa. Referece DS 49 .M 5.
... South Asia. Reference DS 334 .S 68.
... Western Europe. Reference D 1050 .W 4.
The World Factbook [CIA]. This official government web site has maps and hard data on all the countries of the world.
World Education Encyclopedia: A Survey of Educational Systems Worldwide. Reference LB 15 .W 87.
World Geographical Encyclopedia. Reference G 63 .E 5213 1995
THE WORLD TODAY SERIES, arranged by country name, with lots of recent economic and political information.
... Africa. Reference DT 1 .D 6.
... Canada. Reference F 1001 .C 1225.
... East and Southeast Asia. Reference DS 502 .H 53.
... Latin America. Reference F 1401 .L 3252.
... The Middle East and South Asia. Reference DS 44 .N 67.
... Nordic, Central, and Southeastern Europe. Reference DL 1 .N 67.
... Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Reference DJK 1 .S 452.
... Western Europe. Reference D 901 .W 47.
The Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life. Reference GN 333 .W 67 2009
The Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies. Reference HC 15 .W 675 2002.
The Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations. Reference G 63 .W 67.
The Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices. Reference BL 80.3 .W 67 2006
Maps for Your Research Projects / Papers / Reports, etc.
For maps that you can copy or print off to go with your research papers, you can always look in our multitude of encyclopedias and atlases, in both the Reference and General collections. In addition, you can take a look at these items as well:
- African History on File. Reference DT 20 .A 6194 1994.
- Asia on File. Reference DS 5 .A 795 1996.
- Charts on File. Reference AG 105 .C 44 1988.
- Environment on File. Reference QH 541.15 .M 64 E 58 1991.
- Geography on File. Reference G 1021 .F 25 1991.
- Historical Maps on File. Reference G 1030 .M 37 2002.
- Latin America on File. Reference G 1540 .T 6 1995.
- Latin American History on File. Reference F 1410 .C 439 1996.
- Outline Maps on File. Reference G 1046 .A 1 F 3 2002.
- Maps on File. Reference G 1021 .M 3.
- State Maps on File. Reference G 1200 .F 3 1984.
- Weather and Climate on File. Reference QC 864 .W 43 2001.
- INTERNET SITES
Internet Sites
- About.Geography. This is a portal to numerous other sites full of information.
- Aerial
Photographs and Satellite Images from the USGS.
- American Attitudes: Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).
- American Geographical Society.
- American Memory: Online Map Collections from the Library of Congress.
- Ancient World Mapping Center at the University of North Carolina.
- Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library, a portal to a wide variety of resources.
- Ask City. This resource is great for business research, as you can plot where businesses are located.
- Association of American Geographers.
- Atlas Nacional de Mexico. (Mapas Tematicos de Mexico)
- Atlas of Canada. (History, politics, exploration, resources, demographics)
- Atlas of Our Changing Environment: One Planet, Many People. From the United Nations Environment Programme.
- Atlas of the Oceans (U.N.)
- Careers in Geography.
- Central Eurasian Interactive Atlas. This also includes statistical data and other types of information.
- Ciudad Juarez Femicide Declassification Project.
- Classicial History maps from Virgil.org.
- Community Statistics by Zip Code.
- County Soil Surveys from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Cultural Maps in American Studies.
- Fire Insurance Maps for Illinois from Sanborn
- Forced Migration Online: A World of Information on Human Displacement.
- GAPMINDER.org. This organization creates online charts and graphs for various socio-economic statistical topics.
- Geography Programs at Illinois Colleges and Universities. Interactive map.
- Geography
Sites from Librarian's Index to the Internet
- Geography:
Definitive Collection of Net Links http://geography.tqn.com/mlibrary.htm
- Geography Network. Online access to maps, data, organizations, reports, and other information.
- Geosource. International sources on geography, demography, environment.
- GIS Atlas for Indiana.
- Global Map Projector. Projects maps onto a globe.
- Global Rural - Urban Mapping Project.
- Global Urban Research Unit (GURU).
- Google Earth! Combine satellite images with maps and photos to visually explore the world.
- Google Maps Mania! Here one can find a list of many different sites that combine Google maps with other data on some topic.
- Graphs - How to make them tutorials.
- Green Infrastructure Mapping in Wisconsin, Illinios, and Indiana.
- Historical Atlas of the 20th Century.
- Historical Maps Online, from the David Rumsey Map Collection.
- Historical Maps Online, from the University of Illinois Library.
- HousingMaps.com. Shows on Google maps where property is for sale or rent.
- IllinoisAtlas.com.
http://www.IllinoisAtlas.com/
- Illinois College and University Geography Programs. Interactive map.
- Illinois County Four Corner Coordinates.
- Illinois Geographical
Alliance. http://www.coe.ilstu.edu/iga/
- Illinois: Geography and Landforms.
- Illinois Historic Maps from the University of Texas map collection
- Illinois Historic State Highway Maps (Illinois State Library)
- Illinois Historical Maps, from the University of Illinois Library.
- Illinois
19th Century Township Plats. http://landplats.ilsos.net/Flash/Welcome.html
- Illinois Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
- Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS)
- Illinois Township Plat Maps, 1804 - 1891.
- InfoPlease Atlas. This site has basic maps and information about the world's countries.
- Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).
- International
Census Data Base http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/ipc/www/idbnew.html
- International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- How Far Is It?
- Land Use Interpretation Database
- Library of Congress Online Map Collections.
- Local Hometown Information.
- Local
Transportation Maps. http://www.rtachicago.com/services/systemmpa.asp
- Map History. http://www.maphistory.info
- Map Machine from National Geographic.
- Map of the World in 1945.
- Mapping History. Maps illustrating the history of many parts of the world.
- Maps
and References (Univ. of Iowa Ctr. For Global & Regional
Environmental Research)
- Migration Information Sources.
- Migration Policy Institute Information page.
- National Geographic. http://www.nationalgeographic.com
- National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB). U.S. Geological Survey.
- National Imagery and Mapping
Agency. http://www.nima.mil/
- Odden's Bookmarks: The Fascinating World of Maps and Mapping.
- Population
and Demography Sites from the Librarian's Index to the Internet
- Regional Studies
Sites from the Virtual Library
- Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Illinois
- Show Mapping. This site creates maps to using statistics on various topics to show how the countries or U.S. states rate when compared to each other.
- Social / Demographic / Economic Statistics Sources. Subdivided into local-, county-, and state-level electronic and printed COD resources. Although developed for marketing classes, it can certainly be utilized for other purposes as well.
- Soil Surveys of Counties from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Sprawl City: Consumption Growth and Population Growth information.
- State and Local Government web sites directory.
- Statistics selected by your Geography from Federal Stats/Map Stats.
- Topographic
Mapping from the USGS.
- Twentieth Century Historical Atlas.
- United Nations http://www.un.org
- United Nations Cartographic Section.
- The United States Geological
Survey [USGS]. http://www.usgs.gov
- The United States
National Atlas. http://www.nationalatlas.gov
- United States National Geospatial - Intelligence Agency (NGA).
- United States Serial Set Maps. From the Library of Congress, it is composed of old maps that appeared in a series of Congressional reports and documents.
- U.S. State Coordinates.
- The Virtual Library of Eastern Europe.
- World Audit.org. Provides rankings of countries by many different subjects.
- The World Bank.
- The World Freedom Atlas.
- Yahoo's
Geography Links. http://www.yahoo.com/Science/Geography
- ZIP CODE information from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Resources For information,
maps, and downloadable data.
- What Is GIS???????
- C.O.D. Geography Department GIS page.
- C.O.D. Library materials on Geographic Information Systems
- About GIS
and GPS. http://geogrpahy.tqn.com/cs/gisgpstech
- ARCUSER online GIS magazine from ESRI.
- Bibliography for GIS, from ESRI.
- The Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (CSISS)
- Chicago
GIS Data. http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/maps/chigis.html
- The Chicago
Regional GIS Clearinghouse and Data Catalog.
- Dictionary of Abbreviations and Acronyms in GIS, Cartography, and Remote Sensing. (Univ. of Cal/Berkeley Library)
- DuPage County GIS data (Illinois Department of Natural Resources)
- DuPage County Government GIS department.
- Encyclopedia of Geographic Information Science. Reference G 70.212 .E 53 2008
- Encyclopedia of GIS (2008)
- The ESRI Press Dictionary of GIS Terminology. Reference G 70.212 .E 87 2001.
- Geospatial Platform. Lots of information from the Federal Government.
- GIS Best Practices Free Essays from ESRI.
- GIS Bibliography, from ESRI. Citations only to journal articles, books, working papers, research reports, etc.
- GIS Cafe. Lots of different kinds of useful information.
- GIS Data Depot.
http://www.gisdatadepot.com
- GIS DAY! Always in November.
- GIS Dictionary.
- GIS Training/Education Community Information Page, from ESRI.
- GIS for Housing and Urban Development. U.S. National Research Council 2003.
- GIS magazines list.
- GIS Online Glossaries.
- Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN) GIS Information.
- Illinois Geographic Information Systems Association (ILGISA).
- Illinois Geospatial Information. http://www.finditillinois.org/geospatial.html/
- Illinois
Natural Resources Geospatial Data Clearinghouse.
- Illinois
2000 Census Data. http://www.illinoisbiz.biz/2000census
- Mapping Census Data with GIS.
- National historical Geographic Information System.
- Spatial Resources for the Social Sciences (CSISS)
- Training/Education Information Page, from ESRI.
- U.S. Department of the Interior
Portal to GIS Data. http://www.geodata.gov
- U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS) GIS Tools.
- Web Mapping Sites. An annotated directory of Internet sites that provide online maps.
- Yahoo
GIS Directory.
Geographic Education
Jamaica Project
Items from the C.O.D. Library about Jamaica
Caribbean Community (CARICOM)/Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA)
Economic Reforms and Poverty in Jamaica. Anders Danielson, 1998.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Jamaica Page. (statistics and reports)
Globalization, Liberalization, and Sustainable Human Development: Progress and Challenges in Jamaica. United Nations, 2001.
IMF Structural Adjustment Programs: The Globalization of Poverty. (2005)
Inter - American Development Bank Jamaica Page
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Jamaica Page.
Jamaica Country Background Notes from the U.S. Department of State
Jamaica Country Information from Altapedia.online.
Jamaica Country Information from World Audit.com.
Jamaican Official Government Information Page.
Jamaica: Political and Economic and U.S. Relations. C.R.S., 2006.
Jamaican Statistics from NationMaster.com
Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC): Jamiaca.
The Organization of American States (OAS).
The Planning Institute of Jamaica. (reports and statistics)
Poverty Impacts of a WTO Agreement. World Bank, 2005.
Public Debt and Productivity [in Jamaica]. IMF, 2006.
The Road to Sustained Growth in Jamaica. World Bank, 2004.
Structural Adjustment - A Major Cause of Poverty. From GlobalIssues.org.
Structural Adjustment in Jamaica, 1981-85. World Bank, 1990.
Structural Reforms, Technological Gaps, and Economic Development: A Latin American Perspective. UN, 2002.
Trade Liberalization and Economic Reform in Developing Countries: Structural Change or De-Industrialization? UN, 2005.
Trade Liberalization: The Jamaican Experience. UNCTAD, 2004.
U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. With statistics and reports.
UNESCO Jamaica Page.
"What did Structural Adjustment Adjust? The Association of Policies and Growth with Repeated IMF and World Bank Adjustment Loans." William Easterly. (2003)
What Makes Reforms Likely? Timing and Sequence of Structural Reforms in Latin America. Inter-American Development Bank, 1998.
World Bank Jamaica Page (statistics, links to online reports and official statements)
Evaluating Web Sites
Citing Sources
Interlibrary Loan
The Library can obtain copies of articles or books from other libraries
for you. Inquire at the Reference Desk. You may also consult journal
title lists from other libraries in the area.
Geography Faculty Internet Homepages
G. Scott Campbell
Joel Quam
Keith Yearman
Reference Desk:
630-942-3364
Dan Blewett, Reference Librarian
Phone: (630) 942-2279 , FAX (630) 858-8757
Office: SRC 3035 E-mail: blewett@cod.edu
