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Anthropology and Archaeology : Finding Books

A Library resource guide for the Anthropology and Archaeology programs at UNBC

Finding Books

Searching by Keyword

The library catalogue's default search setting is set to keyword. 

Begin by identifying the keywords in the question or the subject you wish to find materials for. Here is an example:

Question:

I am looking for books relating to Zapotec and what the women's role is. How do I find them?

Answer:

Begin by identifying the important words in the question.

"I am looking for books relating to Zapotec and women."

Go to the library catalogue to perform the key word search. Remember to think about different terms (synonyms), which may prove to be more effective during the research process. Women for instance may be changed to woman or female.

Searching Zapotec AND women retrieves 3 results. You can broaden or narrow results retrieved by adding other terms of interest into the mix.

Examples:

  • Zapotec AND (women OR woman OR female)
  • Zapotec AND gender

Search by Call Number

Searching by a book's call number is one of the most efficient ways to search for materials! Searching this way allows you to go directly to a book's bibliographic record, while gaining the ability to search the shelves virtually from the comfort of your own desk or home!

Every item in the library has been assigned a call number. These numbers tell us the subject area of the material, the location of the item in the library, and the physical order of the books on the shelf. It is these numbers that allow you to see all of the titles of the books located next to the searched item on the shelf. You can find anthropology materials in the GN subclass, so take a look for that section in the library!

Give it a try!

  1. Go to the library catalogue and search by the call number GN671.N5 W43 1988
  2. This call number is associated with the text "The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea."
  3. If you click on the call number for this book you will be brought to a list of titles located on the same shelf. Here you will notice that the books on either side of the text we searched are "Property, substance, and effect: anthropological essays on persons and things" and "Women of value, men of renown: new perspectives in Trobriand exchange".

Searching by Subject Heading

Searching by subject heading ensures that you are able to pull up all of the materials associated with a given subject. Each and every book in the library has a predetermined subject heading assigned to them. These subject headings indicate the different subjects or topics being dealt with in a particular book. Each of the subject headings found in the catalogue is hyperlinked to other materials dealing with the same subject matter.

Do a Subject Heading search and see what you can find:

Begin by going to the library catalogue and selecting the subject tab at the top of the page. Try searching any and or all of the following subject headings to see the various materials we have.

  1. Anthropology and history
  2. Anthropology and environmental aspects
  3. Anthropology, cultural
  4. Anthropology--book reviews--periodicals

Finding books by subject heading

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