Library Resources

Almanacs, Factbooks, and Gazetteers

Old Farmer's Almanac - The original American almanac, including phases of the moon, weather predictions, and other assorted farmer-based sundries.

World Factbook - The World Factbook, published by the Central Intelligence Agency of the U.S. Government, provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. Includes: maps of the major world regions and Flags of the World.

Handbooks

Beacham's Guide to the Endangered Species of North America - Username/ Password - sfwaldorf

Gray's Anatomy of the Human Being

Quotations

Bartlett's Quotations

• San Francisco Public Library Databases of Articles+
  Search Across all SFPL Research Databases
  Use your San Francisco Public Library barcode and PIN to access.

• Africa Focus: Sights & Sounds of a Continent from the U of Wisconsin. Images, video, primary sources.
• CAMIO^® — OCLC's Catalog of Art Museum Images Online
  Use your SFPL card and password to search for museum images 3000 BC to present.
• Getty Museum
  Currently, there are more than 87,000 images from the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute available through the Open Content Program, including more than 72,000 from the Research Institute's Foto Arte Minore archive, which features photographs of the art and architecture of Italy over 30 years by German photographer and scholar Max Hutzel (1913–1988). Other images include paintings, drawings, manuscripts, photographs, antiquities, sculpture, decorative arts, artists' sketchbooks, watercolors, rare prints from the 16th through the 18th century, and 19th-century architectural drawings of cultural landmarks. Over time, images from the Getty Conservation Institute will be added, as well as more images from the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute.
• The Library of Congress' Prints & Photographs Collection This online catalog includes photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• NYPL Digital Library
  NYPL Digital Gallery provides free and open access to over 800,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.

• A to Z Maps Online (Username: sfwaldorf / password: sfwaldorf)
• Mapmachine
  Overlay geopolitical, topographical, and other data maps on one another
• Maps of the Americas
  Castañeda Library Map Collection

Fiction and Non-Fiction E-Books:

Open Library is an online collection of digitized books. Books that are no longer protected by copyright (in the public domain) and can be read and downloaded to ereaders. Create your own account to borrow digital books.

Project Gutenberg offers over 42,000 free ebooks. You can choose among free epub books and free kindle books. You can download them or read them online.

• San Francisco Public Library
  One of the largest local collections of which any CA resident can be a patron! Strong areas of the collection are the Hispanic Room, Gay/Lesbian History, California History, the Historical Photograph Collection
• City College of San Francisco
  Items can be used, or, if you take a class, you can get full access and have borrowing privileges
• UC System (MELVYL)
  Search the entire UC system and then contact your local library for Inter-Library Loan
  
• Peninsula Library System
  For the South Bay, a large collection of libraries to choose from!
  
• Oakland Public Library
  Specializing in multi-ethnic collections, especially strong in the areas of African-American culture
  
• Marin County Public Library
  Accessible to all Marin county residents, all items can be requested to be sent to the branch nearest you

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The following section offers a link to creative writing and art.

open space - SFMOMA's online gallery for creative writing, photography, sound and art

Here are some tips to jumpstart your research!

Understand your assignment.

Be open to all types of information!

• Build on your assumptions and expectations.
• Create a list of key words, people, ideas or phrases related to your topic.

Great research starts with great sources

• Google is not a source!
• A source is an article, website, book, encyclopedia entry, movie, song, etc.

Begin by looking at encyclopedias for topical overviews.

Wikipedia can be used as a tool in this beginning process, but should not be used as a source in your assignment. Use it to brainstorm keywords, gain a general understanding, and then corroborate what you find with reliable sources. Or just use a reliable encyclopedia to start with!

Use Library Databases to gather articles and other sources.

Take notes!

• Keep a trail of your research process.
• Which keywords worked? Which didn’t?

Don’t take too much time searching. Research is about reading!

• If you are having trouble finding relevant material to read, ask the librarian and re-strategize your research process.
• Don’t get stuck with irrelevant information. Keep your topic and thesis in mind!

Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else's ideas as your own. To avoid plagiarism, simply cite ideas and quotes you gather from your research.

Tips:

1. 1. Cite anything you did not specifically know before you began your research.
2. 2. During the research process, be sure to differentiate between what is "common knowledge" and what you have learned through your sources.

Be sure to give credit to your sources when you use:

• Words or ideas presented in a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, Web page, computer program, letter, advertisement, or any other medium
• Information you gain through interviewing or conversing with another person, face to face, over the phone, or in writing
• When you copy the exact words or a unique phrase
• When you reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts, pictures, or other visual materials
• When you reuse or repost any electronically-available media, including images, audio, video, or other media

When writing a research paper:

• Develop a topic based on what has already been said and written
  BUT Write something new and original
• Rely on experts' and authorities' opinions
  BUT Improve upon and/or disagree with those same opinions
• Give credit to previous researchers
  BUT Make your own significant contribution
• Improve your English to fit into a discourse community by building upon what you hear and read
  BUT Use your own words and your own voice

Look for the following qualities:

Copyright

Copyright is the protection of a creative work. If you create something (a poem, a story, a painting, a song), it is protected immediately, without need for registration.

Find out more here.

Why Does Copyright Matter?

Copyright is very important when you are using someone else's creative work in a public forum (like a public website, newspaper or film). Generally, you must receive permission in order to use another person's creative works.

But...if you are using a creative work in a school project that is not available to the general public, you will not need to seek permission. In these instances, all you need to do is cite the work, i.e. give credit where credit is due!

Exceptions

There are some exceptions to the copyright rules outlined above. Most notably, there is a new license called Creative Commons. Creative Commons allows the creator to set a level of permissions and use that they are comfortable with. Some sites, like Flickr, let you search based on Creative Commons licenses.

Fair use is a common exemption from copyright. Basically, fair use allows creative works to be used for educational purposes, research needs, commentary, reporting or parody. One cannot use a work in its entirety, as that would harm its commercial value.

Items that are out of copyright are exempt. Things created a long time ago may not be protected by copyright anymore. If you are uncertain about the copyright status, ask the librarian!

Trademarks

Trademarks are different than copyright. A trademark is a name, word, phrase, design, image or logo that represents an individual, business or organization. A trademark must be registered.