Thomas Micchelli, Visual Resources Librarian
Subject specialist film, video and art.
email: micche@cooper.edu

http://www.cooper.edu/facilities/library/library.html (October 17, 2007).

Recommended Search Strategy: Analyze your topic & Search with peripheral vision.
U.C. Berkeley Library.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Strategies.html (October 17, 2007).
  

Sources: Their use and acknowledgement.
Dartmouth College.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Esources/index.html (October 17, 2007).
 

• Catalogue information for hundreds of libraries is accessible via the OCLC WorldCat database. You can search it from our Web site by following the links under Online Catalog -- Other Library Catalogs.
  
  
• Electronic request and delivery methods are used whenever possible to minimize turnaround time.

BobCat  (http://www.bobcat.nyu.edu) is the catalog for our Library) Consortium. It includes book titles and periodical holdings information for the Cooper Union Library, most NYU libraries, the New School University libraries and others.
  

Please note: With rare exceptions, you cannot find specific periodical articles in the online catalog. Use one of the databases in the Article Databases section below to search for articles on a particular topic.  
  

Book Collection Highlights

• Bobst Library -- NYU's main library. Part of our Library Consortium.
  70 Washington Square South
  http://library.nyu.edu/ (October 17, 2007).
  
  
• Fogelman Library -- New School University. Part of our Library Consortium.
  65 Fifth Avenue, lower level (between 13th and 14th Streets)
  http://www.newschool.edu/library/fogelman.htm (October 17, 2007).
  
  Your Cooper Union ID admits you to both Bobst and Folgelman and serves as your library card.
  Be sure you have a current validation sticker and register with the Cooper Union Library before going there.
  Cooper students may borrow books and use other materials.
  
  
• Humanities & Social Sciences Library -- one of the Research Libraries of New York Public Library.
  Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street
  http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/index.html (October 17, 2007).
    
  The Humanities & Social Sciences Library is open to the public, but you need an Access Card to use their books. All materials there may only be used at the Library. Most of the books are in closed stacks. You submit a call slip to the Information Desk and wait for them to retrieve the item. For information about the Access Card, see http://www.nypl.org/research/access.html (October 17, 2007).

General Tips
  
You will usually find more recent information in periodicals than in books. The term 'periodical' includes magazines, journals, newspapers, and conference proceedings. Use an article index to identify articles on a topic. For articles published within the last 10-20 years, databases will speed up that initial stage of searching (identifying the articles you want). To find older articles, you usually need to use printed indexes.

Finding a complete article (a.k.a 'full text') often requires several steps. Some of the indexes listed below contain full texts, but more often you will find only citations. To find the complete article, search BobCat for the journal title. Then look closely at the date ranges of the issues held by each library to find the specific issue you need.
  
Indexes and Full Text Databases in The Cooper Union Library

The Cooper Union Library subscribes to many different article indexes abd full text databasese. See our Web site under Article Indexes for a complete list of the databases. The following should be particularly useful for this course:
  

• JSTOR Arts & Sciences III
  Focused on the arts and humanities, the Arts & Sciences III Collection contains 150 titles. 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.  
  
  
• The New York Times
  In addition to its online resources, the CU Library has a complete run of The Times on microfilm, with more recent months on paper.
  
  The Historical New York Times
  Full text in PDF format images (photos, etc.). Dates: 1851-2004.
  
  The New York Times Archive
  Full text current and archived articles, directly from The New York Times Web site.
  
  
• National Newspaper Index
  Front-to-back indexing of the Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal from 1979 to the present; national and international news stories written by the staff writers of The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times from 1982 to the present. Citations only.
  
  
• Custom Newspapers
  Over 150 full text newspapers, national and international. starting from 1996.
  
  
• New York State Newspapers
  Full text from major New York State newspapers including The New York Times (most recent 365 days), the New York Post (2000- ), and the New York Observer (2001- ). Others included are the Buffalo News (1996- ), Journal News (Westchester, 1999- ), Post-Standard (Syracuse, 1996- ), Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, 1999- ), and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (1999- ).
  
  
• Readers' Guide Abstracts
  Covers popular magazines and The New York Times. (See also more info on The New York Times above.) Updated monthly, starts with 1983. Includes some full text.
  
  
• Humanities Abstracts
  Covers core periodicals in disciplines such as language and literature, archaeology, area studies, classical studies, folklore, history, journalism and communications, religion and theology, and philosophy. Updated monthly, starts with 1984. Availability: campuswide (from our Web site). Includes some full text.
    
  For articles published from 1974-1983, use the printed Humanities Index. For articles published from 1968-1974, use the printed Social Sciences & Humanities Index. Availability: on the Library's main floor in the Index collection, located before the beginning of the Reference stacks, shelved alphabetically by title.
  
  
• Avery Index of Architectural Periodicals
  Starting date: 1741. Provides citations and indexing for articles on architectural design, the history and practice of architecture, landscape architecture, historic preservation, interior design and city planning.
  
  
• Art Abstracts
  Starting date: 1984 (1994 for abstracts). Corresponds to the printed Art Index. Covers over 400 leading publications, including periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins. Includes bibliographies, notices of competitions and awards, exhibition listings and reviews. Includes some full text.
  
  
• Art Index Retrospective
  1929-1984. Covers the earlier years of Art Index. Citations only.
  
  
• ArticleFirst
  Index to articles from thousands of journals, covering a wide range of subjects. Updated daily, starts with 1990. Includes some full text.
  

• Wilson Select Plus
  Full text articles from indexes such as Social Sciences Index, Humanities Index, and Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. Updated weekly, starts with 1994.
     
  
• EBSCOhost Masterfile Select
  Full text from over 750 periodicals, some including images; indexing and abstracts for over 2,000 periodicals covering nearly all subjects. Starting dates and update frequencies vary.
  

• JSTOR
  Complete subscription.
  
  
• Alternative Press Index
  Citations to articles published in over 250 alternative, radical, and leftist publications in the U.S. Starts with 1991.
    
  
• Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe
  Hundreds of newspaper and news sources (similar to EBSCOhost MasterFile Select). Starting dates and update frequencies vary.
  
  
• Wall Street Journal
  Economic news and information on trends and issues facing the business community. Full text except for financial tables. Starts with 1991.
  
  
• Modern Language Association (MLA) Bibliography Online
  Starting date: 1963. Updated quarterly (but can lag as much as two years behind).
  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. Print counterpart: MLA International Bibliography, 1921 to present.
  

• General and Humanities Reference Center
  Located on the first floor of Bobst Library, the General and Humanities Reference Center houses basic indexes, encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, directories, and handbooks. You can also find specialized humanities reference materials for fine arts, history, literature, linguistics, performing arts, philosophy, religion, and selected music resources.
  
  
• Subject Page for Latin American Studies
  http://library.nyu.edu/research/lat-am/ (October 17, 2007)
  Specific sources on Latin American Studies and related links.
  

• Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask.
  U.C. Berkeley Library.
  http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html (October 17, 2007).
  
  
• Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools.
  Cornell University Library.
  http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/webeval.html (October 17, 2007).