4. Each library has its own hours and they may change on holidays and between semesters - click on the calendar for each library to view a month at a time.
5. Information about citing your sources and links to guides for frequently used citation styles here.
Off-campus Access to Library Resources
Before you can access Library resources from off campus make sure you have configured your computer with proxy server settings.
After you make a one-time change in your web browser settings, the proxy server will ask you to log in with a CalNet ID or Library PIN when you click on the link to a licensed resource.
Beyond the Web
"It's all free on the Internet, right? Why should I go through the library's website to find sources for my paper?"
The Web is a great source for free, publicly available information. However, the Library pays for thousands of electronic books, journals, and other information resources that are available only to the campus community. Through the Library website, you can access hundreds of different licensed databases containing journal articles, electronic books, maps, images, government and legal information, current and historical newspapers, digitized primary sources, and more.
You access these resources through the Internet, using a browser like Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer -- but these databases are not part of the free, public Web. Resources like Lexis-Nexis, Web of Science, Academic Search Complete, and ARTstor are "invisible" to Google. You will not see results from most library databases in the results of a Google search.
All libraries on campus are equipped with "bookscan stations," which allow you to scan documents and save them to a USB drive, or to scan documents and then send them to a printer.
In order to scan documents, you must have the following:
A Cal 1 Card, with money loaded onto it (go here to make a deposit to your Cal 1 Card account). This is not the same as meal plan points! Your Cal 1 Card debit account is a separate fund on your card.
A USB drive (you cannot email a scanned document from a bookscan station; you must save your document to a USB drive)
Scanning and saving to a USB drive is 5 cents a page for students.
Scanning documents and sending them to the printer is 10 cents a page for students. Color printing is 60 cents a page.
In order to send documents to the printer from any of the public computers in the libraries, you must have the following:
A Cal 1 Card, with money loaded onto it (see above)
A document that's on the Web or attached to your email (the public computers in the libraries will not open files from a USB or other drive)
Printing is 10 cents a page for students(black and white). Color printing is 60 cents a page.
Use OskiCat to locate materials related to your topic, including books, government publications, and audio and video recordings, in the libraries of UC Berkeley. OskiCat will show you the location and availability of the items that we own.
Use Melvyl to locate materials related to your topic located at other campuses in the UC system, or worldwide. You can use the Request button to request an item from another library, if we don't own it.
Using Melvyl (but not OskiCat) you can find articles as well as books, easily format a citation for copying into a bibliography, and see images of book covers, when available. Melvyl will also show you the location and availablity of items that we own.
Melvyl has changed as of January 2012, and now includes many more articles. Detailed Melvyl help
ebrary = ebooks
ebrary is our largest collection of full text ebooks, with nearly 50,000 titles on a wide range of subjects. Find them in the UCB catalog, OskiCat (keyword: ebrary or limit to "Available Online"), or search the ebrary site directly:
You do allow embedded content.
Google Books
Google Books contains millions of scanned books, from libraries and publishers worldwide. You can search the entire text of the books, view previews or "snippets" from books that are still in copyright, and read the full text of out-of-copyright (pre-1923) books. Want to read the entire text of an in-copyright book? Use Google Books' Find in a Library link to locate the book in a UC Berkeley library, or search OskiCat to see if UC Berkeley owns the book.
Why use Google Books?
Library catalogs (like OskiCat) don't search inside books; using a library catalog, you can search only information about the book (title, author, Library of Congress subject headings, etc.). Google Books will let you search inside books, which can be very useful for hard-to-find information. Try it now:
Finding Exhibition Catalogs in the Libraries
The UC Berkeley libraries do collect exhibition catalogs (sometimes spelled "catalogues" in the UK, Australia, and Canada) but they can be a little tricky to find. The best way is usually to search OskiCat or Melvyl with the name of the artist, and the word exhibitions (not exhibition). It's usually OK to leave out the term "catalog" or "catalogue," since it's not always spelled the same way.
Example: cao fei exhibitions
If you're looking for exhibitions featuring art from a specific place or time, try searches like this:
[name of country] exhibitions. Example: china exhibitions or china art exhibitions.
Note: Because of the way the items in OskiCat are described using the Library of Congress classification system, the search terms china art will usually get you more results than chinese art!
You can also use 20th century or 21st century (not "twentieth century" or "twenty-first century") as a search term: art china 21st century exhibitions. In addition, the database Art Full Text also contains digitized exhibition catalogs. (If you're off-campus, you'll need to set up off-campus access to use this tool).
Art Images and Art History Databases
ARTstor A repository of more than 1 million digital images and associated catalog data. The collection is designed to be used by students and faculty for teaching and research in art history, as well as many other disciplines. Includes several collections such as: The Mellon International Dunhuang Archive; Native American Art and Culture from the Smithsonian; the Hartill Archive of Architecture and Allied Arts, etc. Short instructional videos are available online. See: Intro to the new ARTstor, Downloading images to PowerPoint, Batch download tool, and Making an image group.
Grove Art Online Online version of the 34-volume Grove Dictionary of Art; also includes The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms,Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and
The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Contains articles on every aspect of visual arts including painting, sculpture, graphic arts, architecture, decorative arts and photography. Also includes biographical information on major artists, bibliographical references and links to images. (Part of the Oxford Art Online suite.)
Art Full Text Indexes over 300 international publications, including journals, yearbooks, museum bulletins, film reviews, bibliographies, conference reports, review articles, interviews and exhibition listings, in a variety of languages. Covers the fields of archaeology, architecture, art history, city planning, computer applications and graphics, crafts, film, folk art, graphic arts, industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture, museology, painting, photography, sculpture, television, textiles, and video.
ARTbibliographies Modern (ABM) Indexes journals, books, essays, exhibition catalogs, dissertations, and exhibition reviews. Coverage extends from artists and movements beginning with Impressionism in the late 19th century, up to the most recent works and trends in the late 20th century. Photography is covered from its invention in 1839 to the present.
Art Index Retrospective Indexes publications in the fields of archaeology, architecture, art history, city planning, computer applications and graphics, crafts, film, folk art, graphic arts, industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture, museology, painting, photography, sculpture, television, textiles, and video. Includes citations to art reproductions. Provides citations from Volumes 1-32 of the print counterpart, Art Index.
Where's the PDF?
Many article databases contain information about articles (citations or abstracts), not the entire text of the article. Once you've used an article database to find articles on your topic, you may need to use in order to locate and read the full text of the article. The UC-eLinks button appears in nearly all the databases available from the UCB Library website.
UC-eLinks will link you to the online full text of an article if UCB has paid for online access; otherwise, UC-eLinks will help you locate a print copy on the shelf in the library. If UCB doesn't own the article in print or online format, UC-eLinks can also help you order a copy from another library.
For more information, watch this video tutorial (about 4 min.)
You can also set up UC-eLinks to work with Google Scholar. For more information, watch this video tutorial (about 2 min.)
Online Biographical Sources
AskART Includes information for over 123,000 artists. International coverage. Entries for artists may include biographical information, images, exhibitions, and auction records. Includes separate directories of art museums and dealers.
Benezit Dictionary of Artists Over 190,000 entries on artists from antiquity to the present. Searchable via Oxford Art Online along with Grove Art Online, The Concise Dictionary of Art Terms, etc.
Biography Reference Bank Contains biographical information on approximately 500,000 individuals from antiquity to the present. Contains the full text of well-known biographical resources like Current Biography, the World Authors Series, Nobel Prize Winners, World Artists, World Film Directors and many other sources.
Biography.com Includes brief biographies of over 20,000 personalities. Based on the A&E Television Network series, Biography.
Grove Art Online Online version of the Grove Dictionary of Art. Includes biographical information on major artists, bibliographical references and links to images. (Part of the Oxford Art Online suite.)
Marquis Who's Who Features brief profiles on over 1.4 million individuals from all fields including government, business, science and technology, the arts, entertainment, and sports. Equivalent to the print versions of Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in Business and Finance, and many other Who's Who volumes.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Includes more than 50,000 biographies of individuals who shaped the history of Great Britain and beyond. From the fourth century BC to the 2000s. Includes illustrations.
Finding Biographical and Background Info in OskiCat
OskiCat lets you know what books are available in the UC Berkeley Libraries. OskiCat does NOT index articles, but it's a good way to find out what books we have and which magazines and journals the Library subscribes to. To see if any books have been written about the artist you're researching, try searching their name as a subject (last name first).
From the Quick Search screen, choose the "Subject begins with..." option from the pulldown menu, then enter your artist's name, last name first (e.g., leonard, zoe). This will let you find books ABOUT Zoe Leonard. To find books both by and about Leonard, enter her name in the Keyword (default) search box. Either zoe leonard or leonard zoe wil work in Keyword search.
To find books that discuss and critique a given artist's works, use the Keyword search. Enter the artist's name plus the word criticism, like this: kara walker criticism and interpretation.
Finding Recent Art Reviews
Access World News Newspapers are often a good place to find reviews of art and art exhibitions. Access World News provides full-text articles from over 600 U.S. and over 700 international sources.
Alt-Press Watch Indexes alternative, radical, and independent magazines, newspapers, and journals in North America. You can find some reviews of artsts and art exhibitions here.
In Advanced Search, you can limit your search to reviews only.
Art Full Text This art periodical index covers the fields of advertising art, antiques, archaeology, architecture, art history, city planning, decorative arts, crafts, film, folk art, graphic arts, industrial design, interior design,
landscape architecture, motion pictures, museology, painting, photography, sculpture, television, textiles, and video.
You can limit your search to reviews only on the advanced (default) search screen.
Factiva Has a business focus, but is actually a good place to find reviews and commentary on contemporary artists and art exhibitions. Indexes mainly newspapers and magazines (not scholarly journals) from around the world.
International Index to Performing Arts (IIPA) Not usually a good source for visual art reviews, but reviews of performance art can be found here.
Indexes and abstracts over 250 scholarly and popular performing arts periodicals, documents, biographical profiles, conference papers, obituaries, interviews, discographies, and reviews.
In Advanced Search, you can limit your search to reviews or exhibition reviews only.
ProQuest Newspapers Newspapers are often a good place to find reviews of art and art exhibitions. Includes New York Times (Historical with Index, 1851-2008, 1980-current). Los Angeles Times (Historical, 1881-1988, 1985-current). Wall Street Journal (Historical, 1889-1994, 1984-current).
In Advanced Search, you can limit your search to reviews only.
Library Workshop: Research 101
Unsure how to start a paper or research project? Think maybe you could stand to brush up on search strategies?
If this sounds familiar, Library Workshop: Research 101 has you covered. This interactive tutorial explores six stages of the research process. You can view it from start to finish, or focus on specific sections as needed:
Specialized search strategies for targeting specific topics.
How to Narrow Your Topic
"I'm writing a paper on World War II."
Often students start their research with a very general topic, even though they may realize the topic is too large to deal with in a 10-15 page paper. Faculty and librarians tell them, "You have to narrow this down." But how do you narrow a topic?
Ask yourself--
What discipline am I working in? If you are in a sociology class, ask a sociological question about World War II, like "How did WWII affect women?" If it's a political science class, your question might be something like "How did WWII affect presidential elections in the US?"
What are some subsets or aspects of your topic. Some good aspects are:
by place, such as a country or region
by time period, such as a century, decade or year
by population, such as men, women, ethnic group, youth, children or elderly
You can combine these ideas, "What were the major impacts of WWII on women in France, in the decade after the war?"
More ideas in our brief tutorial on topic selection and narrowing.
What is Peer Review?
Your instructor may want you to use "peer reviewed" articles as sources for your paper. Or you may be asked to find "academic," "scholarly," or "refereed" articles. What do these terms mean?
Let's start with the terms academic and scholarly, which are synonyms. An academic or scholarly journal is one intended for a specialized or expert audience. Journals like this exist in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Examples include Nature, Journal of Sociology, and Journal of American Studies. Scholarly/academic journals exist to help scholars communicate their latest research and ideas to each other; they are written "by experts for experts."
Most scholarly/academic journals are peer reviewed; another synonym for peer reviewed is refereed. Before an article is published in a peer-reviewed journal, it's evaluated for quality and significance by several specialists in the same field, who are "peers" of the author. The article may go through several revisions before it finally reaches publication.
Magazines like Time or Scientific American, newspapers, (most) books, government documents, and websites are not peer-reviewed, though they may be thoroughly edited and fact-checked. Articles in scholarly journals (in printed format or online) usually ARE peer-reviewed.
How can you tell if an article is both scholarly and peer-reviewed?
Is the article about a very specialized topic? Is it written for a knowledgeable, expert audience, or does it seem to be written for the beginner or general public?
Does the article have an abstract or summary at the beginning? Are there footnotes or endnotes? Is there a list of references?
Does the article present the author's original research?
Is it peer-reviewed? Look at the journal:
What journal was the article published in? Look on the journal's website (or inside the front cover of a printed copy) for a description of the journal. Is it described as "peer-reviewed" or "refereed"?
Try looking up the journal's title in ulrichsweb.com (an online database of information about magazines and journals). If it's a peer-reviewed source, a referee's jersey icon will be shown next to the title:
If you're still not sure, ask your instructor or a librarian.
Want to learn more? Watch a tutorial about identifying peer-reviewed sources on the Web.
Citing Your Sources - a brief online guide to the main citation styles and a brief discussion on what constitutes plagiarism.
MLA handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th edition. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2009. Doe Reference Reference Hall LB2369 .G53 2009 Main Gardner Stacks LB2369 .G53 2009 Many older editions available throughout the UCB libraries.
The Chicago Manual of Style(UCB-only access) 15th ed. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2003. Searchable, online version of the Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition). Many print editions available throughout the UCB Libraries.
Citation management tools help you manage your research, collect and cite sources, organize and store your PDFs, and create bibliographies in a variety of citation styles. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, but all are easier than doing it by hand!
Zotero: A free plug-in for the Firefox browser: keeps copies of what you find on the web, permits tagging, notation, full text searching of your library of resources, works with Word, and has a free web backup service. Zotero is also available as a stand-alone application that syncs with Chrome and Safari, or as a bookmarklet for mobile browsers.
RefWorks - web-based and free for UC Berkeley users. It allows you to create your own database by importing references and using them for footnotes and bibliographies, then works with Word to help you format references and a bibliography for your paper. Use the RefWorks New User Form to sign up.
EndNote: Desktop software for managing your references and formatting bibliographies. You can purchase EndNote from the Cal Student Store.
Tip: After creating a bibliography with a citation management tool, it's always good to double check the formatting; sometimes the software doesn't get it quite right.
How to Avoid Plagiarism
In order to avoid plagiarism, you must give credit when
You use another person's ideas, opinions, or theories.
You use facts, statistics, graphics, drawings, music, etc., or any other type of information that does not comprise common knowledge.
You use quotations from another person's spoken or written word.
You paraphrase another person's spoken or written word.
Recommendations
Begin the writing process by stating your ideas; then go back to the author's original work.
Use quotation marks and credit the source (author) when you copy exact wording.
Use your own words (paraphrase) instead of copying directly when possible.
Even when you paraphrase another author's writings, you must give credit to that author.
If the form of citation and reference are not correct, the attribution to the original author is likely to be incomplete. Therefore, improper use of style can result in plagiarism. Get a style manual and use it.
The figure below may help to guide your decisions.
You can type your question directly into this chat window to chat with a librarian. Your question may be answered by a reference librarian from Berkeley, from another UC campus, or another academic library elsewhere in the US. We share information about our libraries to make sure you get good answers.
If the librarian can't answer you well enough, your question will be referred to a Berkeley librarian for follow-up.
Have fun chatting!
All Questions Welcomed!
"There are no dumb questions!"
That's the philosophy of reference librarians, who are here to save you time and trouble. If you get stuck, you can talk to a reference librarian at any campus library.
Use OskiCat to locate materials related to your topic, including books, government publications, and audio and video recordings, in the libraries of UC Berkeley. OskiCat will show you the location and availability of the items that we own.
in order to locate and read the full text of the article. The UC-eLinks button appears in nearly all the databases available from the UCB Library website.
articles, but it's a good way to find out what books we have and which magazines and journals the Library subscribes to. To see if any books have been written about the artist you're researching, try searching their name as a subject (last name first).
n search strategies?
"academic," "scholarly," or "refereed" articles. What do these terms mean?
