What library search tools can you use to search for published ethnographies?
- Williams Library Catalog
Search engine to identify the collections of the Williams libraries (Sawyer, Schow, Special Collections). It is a good starting place to get a sense of what is available on a topic.
- Williams Worldcat
Catalog that searches the holdings of libraries (in the US and overseas) that will lend materials through our interlibrary loan service. Worldcat is a broader discovery tool than the Williams Library Catalog (larger collection) but you don't have direct access to resources (you need to borrow materials, and electronic sources are not available)
Challenges about finding ethnographies:
- There is no Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) for ethnographies.
- Ethnographies are not shelved together in the library, they are shelved with all the books about a cultural group, region of the world, or subject area.
Search tips
- Start in the library catalog: library.williams.edu, set you search scope to "Items at Williams"
- Run searches combining your topic/group with the following terms:
- "social life and customs"
- "case studies"
- ethnology
- "field work"
- Search name of the group and the truncated term ethnograph* (This will retrieve those books that have ethnography in the title (not all do) or somewhere else within the record.)
- Identify an anthropologist and then search by their name as an author.
