Research Guides: Maps and Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Library Resources

Finding Maps and Information About Maps/GIS Through the Library

The library's collection includes print and online maps, as well as books and articles about maps, GIS, and related subjects. Use OneSearch to find both print resources available in the library and online resources from library databases. Depending on your topic, you might want to look for online resources by searching individual databases directly. If you're not sure where to start, ask a librarian for help.

Find Sources Through OneSearch

Use OneSearch to find print and online maps, books, articles, and other types of sources. Limit your search results to maps by choosing "Maps" under "Resource Type" in the filtering options.

Need help?

For do-it-yourself help, watch the OneSearch introduction video:

Video: Introduction to OneSearch This video from the Santa Barbara City College Luria Library provides an introduction to OneSearch. OneSearch allows you to search many of the library’s resources at once to find print and online books, articles, textbooks on reserve for courses, and other types of sources.

Find Sources Through Library Databases

Use library databases to find online maps, articles, and other types of sources. Some databases focus on a specific subject area, such as history, while others focus on a specific type of source, such as scholarly articles. Ask a librarian to recommend the best databases for your needs.

Background and Reference Information

Use Credo Reference to find information in encyclopedias and other reference books such as atlases.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Contains the full text of over 1,000 encyclopedias, dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, and other reference books covering all major subject areas. Thousands of Topics Pages provide articles from different reference sources, arranged by subject. Includes “gadgets” for finding images, definitions, people, pronunciations, quotations, and measurement conversations, as well as a concept map feature for help identifying keywords and broadening or narrowing a topic. Additional features include videos, maps, and animations.

General Databases

The following databases are a good place to start to find articles on most topics.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window This database provides full text for more than 8,500 periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals), including full text for nearly 7,300 peer-reviewed titles, in all subject areas. The database includes PDF content going back as far as 1887. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window Provides full text articles from scholarly journals in a range of subject areas in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences, dating from the first issue (sometimes going back over 100 years) until five years ago. The Luria Library subscription includes the following collections: Arts & Sciences II; Arts & Sciences III; and Life Sciences.

Subject Databases

The following databases focus on specific subject areas that often use maps.

GreenFILE This link opens in a new window A collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles covering all aspects of human impact to the environment, including content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. Provides indexing and abstracts for more than 384,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,700 records.
History Reference Center This link opens in a new window Covers all time periods of U.S. and World History. Provides full text from more than 1,620 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books, and cover to cover full text for more than 150 leading history periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals). Includes primary source material such as historical documents, photos, and maps. Also includes biographies of historical figures, and more than 80 hours of historical video.
Military & Government Collection This link opens in a new window Provides news pertaining to all branches of the military and government. Includes periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals), and other content, including cover-to-cover full text for nearly 300 periodicals, and indexing and abstracts for more than 400 titles.

Search Strategies

Search Terms

Try combining some of the search terms below with words that describe your specific topic.

For example, if you want to find maps of flood plains, try using the terms: flood AND maps.

Atlases
Cartography
Cartography -- social aspects
Classical geography
Crisis mapping
Digital mapping
Geographic information science
Geographic information systems
Geospatial data
Map reading
Maps
Maps -- social aspects
Spatial analysis
Web mapping

Search Tricks

Put an asterisk after the beginning of a word to indicate that you want sources that include any ending to that word, as in geograph* (which would find geography, geographic, geographical, etc.)

Use AND between search terms to indicate that you want sources that include both of those terms, as in: maps AND California

Use OR between search terms to indicate that you want sources that include either of those terms, as in: maps OR atlases

Put quotation marks around search terms that only make sense when they are together as a phrase, such as "United States"

For example, if you are interested in real-time mapping of information during an earthquake in the U.S., you could use this search string: earthquakes AND "crisis mapping" AND "United States"

Recommended Books

The books below represent a sample of the Luria Library's books about or including maps. Use the OneSearch search box above to find more books based on your specific need.

Print Books

National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World by National Geographic Society
Call Number: R 912 N277n 2009
Publication Date: 2009
more than three hundred thematic maps, along with more than six hundred color photographs, illustrations, charts, and graphs, that document the world's natural and cultural wonders.
The Atlas of California: Mapping the Challenges of a New Era by Richard A. Walker and Suresh K. Lodha
Call Number: 310 W183a 2013
Publication Date: 2013
This atlas maps the economic, social, and political trends of California, covering topics including: land and people; politics, governance, and power; economy and industry; urban areas; water and energy; environment; health and education; inequality and social divides; future challenges; and data challenges.
Map: Exploring the World by Victoria Clarke, Rosie Pickles, Tim Cooke, editors
Call Number: 526 M297 2015
Publication Date: 2015
Includes 300 maps from the beginning cartography to digital maps of the twenty-fist century. Maps are organized in complimentary or contrasting pairs and reflect the many reasons people make maps, such as to find their way, to assert ownership, to record human activity, to establish control, to encourage settlement, to plan military campaigns or to show political power. Includes maps from well known and lesser known cartographers as well as maps from Indigenous cultures around the world.
Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings
Call Number: 912 J54m 2011
Publication Date: 2011
Covers the history of mapmaking and the role of cartography in human civilization. Each chapter explores a different aspect of map culture: highpointing; geocaching; road atlas rallying; and maps of fiction and fantasy.

eBooks

The Atlas of Climate Change by Kirstin Dow; Thomas E. Downing
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2016
Covers a wide range of topics related to climate change, including warning signs, vulnerable populations, health impacts, economic impacts, ocean warming and increased acidity, renewable energy, emissions reduction, personal and public action, climate agreements reached in Copenhagen and Cancun, and advantages gained by communities and business from adapting to climate change.
The Atlas of Global Inequalities by Ben Crow; Suresh K. Lodha
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2016
Maps the global distribution of income and wealth and inequalities in social and political rights and freedoms, showing inequalities between countries and within them. Some topics include: how inadequate health services, unsafe water, and barriers to education hinder people's ability to live their lives to the full; poor transport, energy, and digital communication infrastructures and their effect on economic development; the discrimination suffered by children with a disability; the impact of inefficient and dangerous household fuels on the daily lives and long-term health of those who rely on them; the unequal opportunities available to women; and the reasons for families' descent into, and reemergence from, poverty.
An Atlas of the World's Conifers: An Analysis of Their Distribution, Biogeography, Diversity and Conservation Status by Aljos Farjon; Denis Filer
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2013
The first atlas of all known conifer species. It describes the natural distribution, biogeography, diversity and conservation status of the conifers on all continents.
The Atlas of World Hunger by Thomas J. Bassett; Alex Winter-Nelson
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2010
This book uses a conceptual framework informed by geography and agricultural economics to present a hunger index that combines food availability, household access, and nutritional outcomes into a single tool that delivers a fuller understanding of the scope of global hunger, its underlying mechanisms, and the ways in which the goals for ending hunger can be achieved.