Research Guides

COURSE: HSS4, Section / Modern Monsters / Monsters of Modernity: Bram Stoker's Dracula

Contacts
Library Web Site
Online Catalog
Book Collection
On Reserve
Film & Video

General Research Information
Journal Articles
Google Tips
Other Libraries
Interlibrary Loan / Referrals

Contacts

Julie Castelluzzo, Electronic Services Librarian
email: juliec (at cooper)
OR any of the librarians. (See Library Web site under Personnel.)

Library Web Site

http://www.cooper.edu/facilities/library/library.html (Feb. 6, 2008)

This Research Guide: http://www.cooper.edu/facilities/library/research_frameset.html (Feb. 13, 2008)

See our General Research Information page for guides such as these:

• Distinguishing Scholarly Journals from Other Periodicals
  (Your instructor may require that a certain percentage of your sources are 'peer-reviewed,' aka 'referreed' or 'peer-edited.')

• Citing sources and citation styles
  (Look at the examples of citations for different types of sources, such as a journal or a Web site. Pay attention to the elements or fields that should be included in the citation, including the date accessed for a Web site.)
  
  
• Search Strategy
  (Analyze your topic, pick a good starting point for your search, vary your approach, don't get bogged down in a strategy that isn't working.)
  
  
• Evaluating Web sites and other information sources
  (Is the source authoritative? How recent is the information? What is the point of view or bias of the author?)

The Online Catalog: Searching for Books (and more)

The online catalog for our Library Consortium is named BobCat. It contains records for books, journals and other items owned or selected by the participating libraries. Our Consortium includes the Cooper Union Library, most NYU libraries, and The New School libraries.

Records for electronic books and journals are included in the online catalog. You may see multiple formats for the same title.

http://www.bobcat.nyu.edu (Feb. 6, 2008)

Tips:

• BobCat works best using Internet Explorer. With other browsers, some records may not display correctly.

• Generally, you will not find specific articles from journals in the catalog. To find articles, use one of the article databases listed in the Journal Articles section of this document.

• If you try a phrase search and do not get many (or any) hits, switch to a keyword search. In a keyword search the order of the words does not matter. In a phrase search the order of the words must be correct and start from the beginning of the phrase to get accurate results.

• Searches ignore punctuation and are not case sensitive.

• To find items about an author or about an author's work (instead of items written by that person), search for the person's name in the subject field (not the author field).

• When searching for literary criticism, you can combine the author's name with the term 'criticism.' Try a keyword search in the subject field, for example: bram stoker criticism. The term 'criticism' is also used in subject headings for genre, so you can also do a subject keyword search such as horror tales criticism.

• Browse the subject headings about an author using a phrase search in the subject field, for example: stoker, bram.

• Subject headings usually use the plural form for a term. Some examples:
  vampire films
  vampires in literature
  vampires
  
  
• Time periods in history can appear in various formats in subject headings. Some examples:
  United States--social conditions--19th century
  United States--social conditions--1865-1918
  
  
• When you find a particularly good item for your topic, look at all of the subject headings in the full record. You can spawn new searches by clicking on those headings.
  
  
• Some, but not all, electronic books and journals owned by the libraries have records in the catalog. See also the CU Library Web site and the Consortium libraries' sites for links to many other electronic resources.
  
  
• BobCat contains records for some libraries not in the Consortium (e.g., NY School of Interior Design, Brooklyn Historical Society, and NY Historical Society). You do not have borrowing privileges at those libraries.

To get any of these books, write down the call number and bring it to the person at the Circulation Desk.

You can search the Online Catalog (BobCat) specifically for reserves, by Instructor and Course Number, as well as Title and Author. After you connect to BobCat, choose On Reserve as the catalog to search.

Most reserve books are available for 2 hour loan during the day, and overnight after 4pm.

Dracula : authoritative text, backgrounds, reviews and reactions, dramatic and film variations, criticism / Bram Stoker ; edited by Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal.
PR6037.T617 D7 1997c

The Penguin book of vampire stories / edited by Alan Ryan
PS648.V35 V3 1988

Interview with the vampire / Anne Rice.
PS3568.I265 I58 1997

The Cooper Union Library's Visual Resources Collection includes DVDs and VHS tapes which may be used by students. Some VHS tapes may be borrowed for 3 days. DVDs may only be used within the Library. For more information, including a search engine and guide to the collection, see the Film & Video page of the Library Web site.

Some titles of interest, along with their catalog numbers:

Bram Stoker's Dracula (Coppola, 1992)
DVD 566

Dracula (Browning, 1931)
DVD 662

Horror of Dracula (Fisher, 1958)
DVD 663

Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922)
VHS 148, DVD 254, DVD 943

Other Libraries (See our Web site for links to other library catalogs.)

• Consortium Libraries
  
  Cooper Union students may borrow books at most Consortium libraries and use other materials while there. Your Cooper Union ID gets you in to the Consortium libraries and serves as your library card. Be sure you have the current semester validation sticker and register with our library before going to the other libraries. If you already registered with the Library but have not used your account recently, check with someone at our Circulation Desk to be sure your record is up to date.
  
  Bobst Library – NYU's main library.
  70 Washington Square South
  http://library.nyu.edu/ (Feb. 11, 2008)
  
  Fogelman Library -- The New School library for social science & humanities.
  65 Fifth Avenue, lower level (between 13th and 14th Streets)
  http://library.newschool.edu/fogelman/ (Feb. 11, 2008)
  

• The New York Public Library
  http://www.nypl.org (Feb. 11, 2008)
  
  The Research Libraries: These collections are for research on site only (non-circulating). The libraries are open to the public, but you need an Access Card to use most materials, which are in closed stacks. To get an item, you submit a call slip to an information desk and wait for someone to retrieve it. For information about the Access Card, see
  http://www.nypl.org/research/general/access.html (Feb. 11, 2008).

  Humanities & Social Sciences Library
  42^nd Street at 5^th Avenue
  http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/index.html (Feb. 11, 2008)

  Branch Libraries (including The Neighborhood Branches and The Central Libraries): These are the lending libraries in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. (Queens and Brooklyn have separate library systems.) You do not need a card for onsite use of these libraries. Get a Branch Libraries card if you wish to borrow materials and use some electronic resources from offsite.
  
  Branches and Hours: http://www.nypl.org/hours/ (Feb. 11, 2008)
  Library Cards information: http://www.nypl.org/books/ (Feb. 11, 2008)
  

Journal Articles

Electronic Journals -- Good News and Bad News

Much of the journal literature published today is available electronically. However, most of that content is not available for free. You must pay for online subscriptions in order to gain access to the full text. (Most publishers and authors do not give away their copyrighted material.)

The good news: You can access many electronic journals through the online catalog (BobCat), our Library's Web site, at the Consortium libraries, and at New York Public Library. You can get to the Cooper Union Library's databases from anywhere on campus, or even from off campus. Most of the databases have an email feature, so that you can save results and send them to yourself for safe keeping..

The bad news: For databases at other Consortium libraries, such as NYU's Bobst Library, you must physically be using a computer in their network in order to use their databases. (You cannot use NYU's databases from a computer at Cooper Union.)

More bad news: In some cases, you may find references to articles that are not available online. In those cases, follow the instructions below on Getting the Article.

More good news: Taking the extra time to find authoritative sources will give you a competitive edge over others who decide not to bother. Instructors can easily tell the difference between a 'quick and dirty' search and a more thorough one.

More good news: The Cooper Union Library subscribes to approximately 5000 full text electronic journals and newspapers.

More bad news: Many of the electronic journals we subscribe to are not listed in BobCat. (You can find title lists on our Web site, in the database descriptions.

Searching for Articles

Use an article database to start searching. Those listed below may be especially useful for this class. The search results will show records with a citation to the article (article title and author, the journal it appeared in, and the specific issue date and page numbers). Be sure to save all of the information from the citations.You will use those in the bibliography for your paper. Some of the databases include the full text of the article as well, but often getting the full text will require another search and some walking. Many of the article databases have a feature to search only peer-reviewed journals.

Peer-reviewed Journals

Within the broader category of periodicals, those called 'journals' are usually more scholarly than those called 'magazines.' However, calling something a journal does not make it scholarly. Some publications have a much more rigorous and formal process to decide what gets published and what does not. Peer-review is the gold standard. Any article submitted to a peer-reviewed publication is read by a group of professionals in the field the article pertains to. That group of professional peers either rejects it or approves it for publication.

Getting the Article

Search results may show a citation and abstract (summary) for an article, but not the complete article or full text. In that situation, follow these steps to track down the article:

1. Search one of the article databases to find references to articles on your topic of interest. If the results do not contain the full text of an article that you want, go on to the next step. Usually you will have options to save and email the results to yourself.
   
   Be sure to save a complete citation to the article as well as the text. You will need the citation later for use in a footnote and/or the bibliography for your paper.

2. Search the online catalog (BobCat) for the journal title or ISSN number. Do not search for the title or author of the article. You want to find out which libraries have the journal that the article appeared in.
   
   Use the ISSN number for a very targeted search. The ISSN number uniquely identifies a journal, just as an ISBN number uniquely identifies an edition of a book. (The ISSN number usually appears in the citation to the article.)

3. If there is a record in BobCat for the journal you need, look closely at the date ranges of the holdings, in the Library Has field of the full record. For each library that owns the title, check to see if the specific year or issue you need is included. If it is, go to that library and get the article. If not, go on to the next step.
   
   Some journal records in BobCat are for electronic journals, and have a link to the full text online from the BobCat record. You must be using a computer within the network of the owning institution in order for that link to work. If you are on the Cooper Union campus, or at home, and try to follow a link to an NYU e-journal, the link will not work.

4. If the journal you need is not available in the consortium libraries, try searching in the New York Public Library catalogs (CATNYP and LEO), or talk to one of our librarians to get help with your search.
   
   See also the section of this document on Interlibrary Loan / Referrals / Article Orders.
   
   Time is of the essence when it comes to these types of requests. The earlier you do your initial searching, the more time you will have to track down the articles you want.

The CU Library

Our library subscribes to many different article databases. Those listed below should be particularly useful for this course. See our Web site under Article Indexes · Internet Resources for more electronic offerings.

We recommend that you start with Humanities Abstracts.

Tip: Because our library is highly specialized, many sources you'll want will be at other libraries. However, we have many databases to use for your initial searching and our librarians will spend considerable time with you when you need help. We communicate with your instructors, and find out as much as we can about students' needs for course assignments.

Tip: In some databases, the result lists may indicate that our library owns the item (or does not). This is not always accurate, for a variety of reasons -- there can be delays in uploading our data; it only indicates that we own a journal, not necessarily the specific issue you need; and to further complicate things, it may not list Cooper Union at all even though we do have the issue. Check BobCat for library holdings to be sure which libraries have what. Also, check the title lists for Wilson Select Plus and JSTOR Arts & Sciences III in the database descriptions on our Web site.

Remote access to CU Library databases: All Web-based databases from our Library are available campuswide at Cooper Union. Off campus access is available via the Library Web site – follow the link to Off Campus Database Access. Be sure that your library registration is up to date and that there are no blocks on your account. total fines on your account are less than $5. (The most common reason for a block is having $5 or more in fines.)

• *** Humanities Abstracts ***
  Probably the best place to start your search. Covers core periodicals in disciplines such as language and literature, archaeology, classical studies, folklore, history, religion and theology, and philosophy. Includes some links to full text articles. Updated weekly, starts with 1984. Check included titles here.
  
  Tip: To search for peer-reviewed articles, use the Advanced Search Screen. Search for 'peer-reviewed journal' in the Reviewed Journal Phrase field.
  
  Tip: Finding older articles: NYU has the database Humanities & Social Sciences Retrospective, which includes older indexes from the same database producer.

• JSTOR Arts & Sciences III
  
  JSTOR is an archive of scholarly journals with high-quality page images. The Arts & Sciences III Collection contains 150 titles, focused on the arts and humanities. The collection makes available additional journals in language and literature, as well as important titles in the fields of music, film studies, folklore, performing arts, religion, and the history and study of art and architecture. For a list of the titles with dates of coverage, click here.
  
  It does not contain recent articles. Over 90% of journal issues are more than three years old.
  
  Because JSTOR was designed as a digital archive, not a searching tool, searching features are limited compared to most article databases. There is no consistent subject indexing of the article content, abstracts, or tagging of descriptors. For subject searching, you may be better off using one of the other article databases described in this section, and link to JSTOR when needed.
  
  
• Wilson Select Plus
  Full text articles (some with images) from indexes such as Social Sciences Index, Humanities Index, and Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. Updated weekly, starts with 1994. Check included titles here.
  
  Tip: To search for peer-reviewed articles, use the Advanced Search Screen. Search for 'peer-reviewed journal' in the Reviewed Journal Phrase field.
  
  
• Film Literature Index
  Indexes 150 film and television periodicals from 30 countries cover-to-cover and 200 other periodicals selectively for articles on film and television. Updated annually. Coverage dates: 1976-2001. To search for more recent articles, use the printed Film Literature Index at Bobst Library (REF1 / Z5784.M9 F45 ).
  

NYU's Bobst Library and New School University's Fogelman Library

• America: History and Life (now combined with Historical Abstracts for world history).
  Citations, with abstracts, to literature on all aspects of U.S. and Canadian history, culture, and current affairs from prehistoric times to the present. Covers books, dissertations and articles from over 2,000 journals.
  
  
• Literature Criticism Online (formerly Contemporary Literary Criticism) (Bobst only)
  Presents significant published criticism on the works of 250 novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers, and other creative writers now living or who died after December 31, 1959.
  
  
• Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective (Bobst only)
  Includes the following: International index: 1907-1965; Social sciences & humanities index: 1965-1974; Humanities index: 1974-1984; Social sciences index:1974-1983.
  
  
• Literature Online (Bobst only)
  Includes the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature, from 1920 to the present; 175 full text academic journals from the field of literary and cultural studies; the Cambridge University Press series New Essays on the American Novel; as well as reference works, student guides, and a database of Web sites relevant to English and American literary studies.
  
  
• Modern Language Association (MLA) Bibliography
  Indexes journal articles (except book reviews), books, collections and festschriften, audiovisual materials, reference works, conference papers and proceedings on literature, language, linguistics, folklore and film. Starts with 1963, updated quarterly (but can lag as much as two years behind).
  
  
• JSTOR -- All JSTOR collections are available at Bobst Library. Fogelman Library has JSTOR Arts & Sciences I-V Plus Compliment.
  
  JSTOR is an archive of scholarly journals with high-quality page images. For a complete list of the titles with dates of coverage, click here.
  
  It does not contain recent articles. Over 90% of journal issues are more than three years old.
  
  Because JSTOR was designed as a digital archive, not a searching tool, searching features are limited compared to most article databases. There is no consistent subject indexing of the article content, abstracts, or tagging of descriptors. For subject searching, you may be better off using one of the other article databases described in this section, and link to JSTOR when needed.

Google Tips

• Advanced Searching in Google
  On the main Google search screen, to the right of the search box is an Advanced Search link. Use the Advanced Search to limit by date, domain, format, usage rights, and more.
  
  
• Google Scholar (BETA)
  http://scholar.google.com (Feb. 1, 2008)
  Searches scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports. Includes some full text, but most results will contain only citations and abstracts. There is no list of included publishers, titles, or dates of coverage.
  
  
• Google Book Search (BETA)
  http://books.google.com (Feb. 1, 2008)
  Google has scanned the full text of entire books and made that text searchable. The book content comes from two sources: publishers and libraries.

Interlibrary Loan / Referrals / Article Orders

If an item you need is not available in the Consortium or New York Public Library collections, we can usually locate a copy for you. We can give you a referral card to gain access to a private library, borrow items from other libraries for you, and order copies of articles.

The Library will pay fees up to $15 for article orders and interlibrary loans. If a fee will be higher than $15, you will be contacted to determine if you are willing to pay the additional cost.

• We have access to holdings information for hundreds of libraries through the WorldCat database. You can search it from our Web site. Follow the link to Other Library Catalogs on our home page.

• We use electronic methods of request and delivery whenever possible to minimize turnaround time.

Last updated April 17, 2008