Paris

Introduction

The following guide is intended to provide general direction and assistance to researchers looking for further information on Paris, France. This is not an exhaustive guide, but rather a place to start.

Locating Library Materials at UNF and in Other Library Systems

The authoritative source for locating materials in the UNF Library's print and media collections is the library's catalog. Available from the library's home page on the Internet, the catalog allows the researcher to locate materials in the library using a variety of approaches, including keywords, titles, author names, and subject headings. Although it is generally the least precise way to search, keyword searching is frequently the best approach for retrieving a browsing list of resources related to a topic.

Using the UNF Library Catalog

To begin a keyword search in the UNF Library Catalog, follow the link from the library's home page to the UNF Library Catalog, choose the Search for Keyword(s) option "Keyword(s) Anywhwere," and enter words that describe the topic that you wish to pursue. The example below is intended to search for materials on the history of Paris, France.

The library catalog keyword search works best when you choose the most important concepts from your question and enter them as single words or as phrases. By default, the system ferrets out all materials in the library that have all of the keywords somewhere in the description of the item. This may mean title words, author words, subject headings, and even tables of contents.

The above search produces a rather lengthy listing of materials available at the UNF Library, so refining the search is probably a good idea. The listing is ranked according to which items match your keywords and where the matches are found (titles, tables of contents, subjects, etc.). The best matches should appear toward the top of the listing. If you would like, reorganize the listing by date, by author, or by title by clicking the down arrow to the right of the Relevance caption.

The first item in the above listing is a book entitled Old Soak's History of the World with Occasional Glances at Baycliff, L.I., and Paris, France. It is located on the 4th floor of the Library in the General Collection. Call numbers beginning with the letter A and running through the end of the P call numbers are located on the 4th floor. Call numbers from Q through the end of the Z call numbers are located on the 3rd floor of the Library. Materials in the General Collection can be checked out at the 1st floor Access Services Desk. Present the books and your Osprey1Card (the official campus picture I.D.) to the attendant on duty.

In the browsing list produced from your search, each item's title is underlined and linked to a further description of the item. The description typically includes a physical description of the item (how many pages, availability of illustrations, running time [for movies or music], etc.), what subjects are covered in the item, names of additional authors, and additional information that might help a library user decide whether the item will be useful. Subject headings will also be linked so that you can cross-reference an item to related materials on the shelves. In short, all items in the library's catalog are cross-referenced using subject headings, author names, title words, call numbers, and any other pertinent information. As you work more with the system, you will find all kinds of short-cuts built in that will save you hours of time as you scan through the library's collections.

The full description of the Old Soak's History fo the World is fairly brief, providing the bibliographic information, the physical description of the book, and information for locating in the library. To the right of the description is a link to Google Books, which will often enhance the information given in the catalog. The amount of detail provided by Google will vary depending on whether the book has been scanned into the Google Books collection, whether it is still protected by copyright, and whether the book's publisher or copyright owner has agreed for Google to provide more information. Google Books information might include a book summary, a full table of contents, the ability to search within the book, sample pages from the book, book reviews, references to the book from web pages and journal articles, and even the full book if it is no longer protected by copyright law.

Simple keyword searching is not the most efficient means for finding specific materials in the library's collections, but it will give you a starting place. To do a more specific search on the history of Paris, you can start with keyword search, identify a book that clearly deals with the history of Paris, review the complete description of the book in the catalog by clicking on the book title, and then do a new search that focuses on the history of Paris by clicking the subject link included in the book description. The actual subject listing for Paris history is "Paris (France) -- History."

For example, the following illustration shows a catalog description of the book Cultural Capitals: Early Modern London and Paris, by Karen Newman, a 2007 publication published by Princeton University Press. You can see in the description that "Paris (France) -- History" is listed as one of the Subjects covered in the book. You will also see the Google Books link to the right of the book title.

When you click a subject link in a catalog description, the resulting list of items is based on those items being cataloged into that subject heading. The following illustration shows the result of a subject link on "Paris (France) -- History."

To search by subject on the Basic Search screen, change the caption to the right of the search box from Anywhere to Subject Heading. The following illustration shows the result of this search. Note that there are more results in this search than when the search was linked from inside an item description. Searching the Subject Heading option only requires that the entered search be part of the matched heading, so additional aspects of Paris history will be pulled in by doing the search this way.

If you do not find enough material on your topic listed in the UNF Library, you can also search other libraries in the State University System of Florida or elsewhere in the United States and then request the loan of those materials through the library' s Interlibrary Loan system.

You may want to search many catalogs at once. The quickest way to do that is to use WorldCat to search library catalogs worldwide.

Searching Other Library Catalogs -- WorldCat

To launch a search of library catalogs world wide, try using FirstSearch's WorldCat. WoldCat is a bibliographic database of books, manuscripts, computer data files, maps, computer programs, musical scores, films and slides, newspapers, journals, sound recordings, magazines, and videotapes cataloged into library collections all over the world. The database has added more than 48 million items since 1971 and covers materials created before 1,000 BC to the present in over 400 languages. Link to this database from the library's Library Catalogs databases guide (http://www.unf.edu/library/guides/baseslibrarycatalogs.html).

The default search screen in WorldCat offers keyword, author, title, ISBN, and year searching. The example below shows the same keyword search that was used in the UNF Library catalog above. Note that there is a huge difference in the number of items retrieved in WorldCat.

As in the UNF Library catalog, keyword searching in WorldCat is not the most efficient of searches. The very large number of items shown in the result listing below indicates just how overwhelming it can be. Just as in the UNF Library catalog, though, WorldCat provides additional means for limiting searches, including an Advanced Search that will let you enter Subjects instead of just keywords.

If any of the items discovered in WorldCat are available at the UNF Library, the caption "UNIV OF N FLORIDA, CARPENTER L" will appear to the right of the Libraries Worlwide link. The number posted immediately to the right of the Libraries Worldwide link is the total number of libraries owning the item. For example, the first item listed above, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is owned by 4321 libraries worldwide. Both of the items pictured above are available at UNF. Just as in the UNF library catalog, each item in WorldCat has further description available. Just click the title of the item to view a complete description of an item.

While Interlibrary Loan provides researchers with the means for borrowing materials from anywhere in the U.S., you should keep in mind that materials coming from out of state may take several weeks to arrive. In short, plan ahead and start your research early.

Google Books

Google, in partnership with publishers and a number of major public and university libraries, is scanning and making available a searchable book database that allows you to search the full content of millions of books. Those books that are no longer under copyright are provided in full through Google Books. Those that are copyrighted might include previews of individual pages or sections of the books or might provide publisher descriptions that will help you to decide whether to locate the materials. Searching is as simple as searching Google itself. Enter a string of keywords and/or phrases (enclose each phrase in quotes) and Google with provide you with a listing of books that include those keywords and phrases. Items that can be viewed in their entirety online can be selected by choosing the "Full View" option under the Google Books search box. You can get to Google Books from the Google home page or by pointing your browser directly at http://books.google.com.

Locating Journal Articles and Other Research via UNF Library's Research Database Collections

Journal articles will keep you up to date on developing situations. Of the library's many research databases, the following are most likely to help you locate information on historical aspects of Paris. Please note that you must first log in using your UNF ID (N number) and password in order to access these databases from off campus.

Reference Works in the UNF Library

To lay the groundwork for your search by determining dates, exact names, and other relevant facts, try consulting one of the following standard reference sources available in the UNF Library's 2nd floor Reference Collection.

Biographical Dictionary of French Political Leaders Since 1870. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990. DC342.B56 1990

Braun, Sidney David. Dictionary of French Literature. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1971. PQ41.B7 1971

Chandler, David G.. Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars. New York: Macmillan, 1979. DC147.C47

Concise Oxford Dictionary of French Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976. PQ41.C6 1976

Cox, Claudie. Petit Lexique de la France Contemporaine, Francais-Anglais. Oxford: St. Martin's, 1988. DC402.C69 1988

Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1989. DC148.D5313 1989

Dolbow, Sandra W. Dictionary of Modern French Literature: From the Age of Reason Through Realism. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986. PQ41.D65 1986

Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture. London: Routledge, 1998. DC33.7.E53 1998

Feminist Encyclopedia of French Literature. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. PQ149.F47 1999

France Profiled: Essential Facts on Society, Business and Politics in France. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. DC33.7.F723 1999

French Culture, 1900-1975. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. DC33.7.F726 1995

French Women Writers: a Bio-Bibliographical Source Book. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991. PQ149.F73 1991

Historical Dictionary of France from the 1815 Restoration to the Second Empire. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987. DC256.H57 1987

Historical Dictionary of Napoleonic France, 1799-1815. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. DC201.H673 1985

Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution, 1789-1799. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. DC147.H57 1985

Historical Dictionary of the French Second Empire, 1852-1870. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. DC276.H57 1985

Historical Dictionary of the Third French Republic, 1870-1940. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986. DC337.H57 1986

Literature of the French and Occitan Middle Ages: Eleventh to Fifteenth Centuries. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. DF221.C8L57 1999

Medieval France: an Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1995. DC33.2.M44 1995

Modern French Literature: a Library of Literary Criticism. New York: Ungar, 1977. PQ306.M57

New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. PQ41.N48 1995

Nicholls, David. Napoleon: a Biographical Companion. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1999. DC203.N53 1999

Paxton, John. Companion to the French Revolution. New York, NY: Facts on File, 1988. DC147.P38 1988

Querard, J.-M. (Joseph-Marie). La France Litteraire: Ou, Dictionnaire Bibliographique des Savants, Historiens et Gens de Lettres de la France. Paris: G.-P. Maisonneuve & Larose, 1964. PQ101.Q472 1964

Querard, J.-M. (Joseph-Marie). La Litterature Francaise Contemporaine. XIXe Siecle. Le Tout a Accompagne de Notes Biographiques et Litteraires. Paris: G.-P. Maisonneuve & Larose, 1965. PQ285.Q472 1965

Raymond, Gino. Historical Dictionary of France. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1998. DC35.R39 1998

Web Resources

The following websites may be useful for tracking down information on Paris.

Take great care when using Web sites as resources for academic research. Try to determine who is providing the information, if it is legitimate, and if it is suitably detailed and authoritative for scholarly use.

For general tips on evaluating Web sites and other electronic resources, refer to Evaluating Sources -- A Checklist for Electronic Sources.

• Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
  Available: http://www.bnf.fr/

• Centre Pompidou.
  Available: http://www.cnac-gp.fr/Pompidou/Accueil.nsf/Document/HomePage?OpenDocument&L=2

• France.com
  Available: http://www.france.com/

• The Louvre.
  Available: http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home_flash.jsp?bmLocale=en

• Le Monde.
  Available: http://www.lemonde.fr/

• Musée d'Orsay.
  Available: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/ORSAY/orsaygb/HTML.NSF/By+Filename/mosimple+index?OpenDocument

• Paris.
  Available: http://www.paris.org/

• Parisfranceguide.
  Available: http://www.parisfranceguide.com/

• Serveur Officiel de la Ville de Paris.
  Available: http://www.paris-france.org/

• Website of the City of Paris.
  Available: http://www.v1.paris.fr/en/

• Yahoo's Internet Guide to Paris.
  Available: http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-191501740-paris_vacations-i

Obtaining Materials not Available at the UNF Library

As you search for information, you will discover materials not currently available in the UNF Library's print, media, or electronic collections. Carefully document the resources that you identify (be sure to note author name(s), full title information, publishing information, dates and any other identifying characteristics) and make a request of the UNF Library to locate the materials for you. Your requests can be entered electronically using UNF Library's ILLiad system (available by clicking Interlibrary Loans on the library's home page. If you have never used ILLiad before, you will first need to complete a brief profile screen that provides the library with your contact information. Once you have completed this, you can use the system to request materials from any library in the United States. Simply log in using your UNF ID (N number) and password.

Interlibrary Loans are normally provided to current UNF researchers at no charge. Special charges for loans or copies will be levied only after the UNF Library has received your prior approval.

Citing the Materials You Have Used

Take great care to document the important information about the sources you have identified as you search for them. Most of the databases allow you to mark and print or email the article references, which will provide you with written documentation for use later in your bibliography or works cited page. Information typically required for citing a book includes author's name, title, place of publication, publisher, and date. Information typically required for citing a journal article typically includes the author's name, the article title, the journal title, the volume, issue, and date, and the inclusive pages for the article. The databases usually provide all this information, thus eliminating your having to reconstruct it from copies of the articles.

When setting up your bibliography, use the documentation style recommended by your professor. Two of the most frequently used styles are MLA (Modern Language Association) and APA (American Psychological Association). The Library maintains a quick guide to both MLA and APA citation styles and makes it available through the library's Web site. If you would like to use this guide, link to the Citation Guide (Bibliographic Styles) available from the Library's guides collection. For complete guidance on either of these documentation styles, consult the full style manuals available at the Reference Desk on the second floor of the library.

RefWorks

The Library subscribes to a citation management system called RefWorks which can help you to collect, organize, and cite materials that you find using the library databases. You will need to sign up to use RefWorks and create a free account. For further information about RefWorks and to sign up to use it, visit the Library's RefWorks Information guide.

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This guide was designed by Reference Librarian Jim Alderman and was last updated September 2008. Questions and comments regarding this guide should be directed to Jim.