Reference and Research

• Encyclopedias
  Online and printed encyclopedias provide good background for research.

• Indexes and databases
  Printed indexes and online databases help you locate chapters or articles about your topic in books, journals and proceedings.

• Internet sites
  Aggregator "gateway" sites, academic, corporate, government and individual sites provide myriad links to many topics.

• Library catalogs
  Library catalogs help you locate books and other items owned by libraries at Carnegie Mellon and elsewhere.

• Resource Sharing
  If the library does not own the particular item or article that you need, ask Interlibrary Loan to get it for you.

Encyclopedias

For an overview of a new topic, look it up in a general encyclopedia. Or, to focus a topic, check a subject-specific encyclopedia. Encyclopedia articles provide useful keywords and references for library research.

• Britannica Online (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Articles include bibliographies and hot links to other websites.

• Contemporary designers. Sara Pendergast, editor. 3rd ed. Detroit: St. James Press, 1997.
  HL4-FA-REF NK1390 .C655 1997

• Dictionary of Art. New York: Grove, 34 vols. 1996.
  HL4-FA-REF N31 .D5 1996
  

• Encyclopaedia of occupational health and safety. Jean Mager Stellman, editor-in-chief. 4th ed. Geneva: International Labour Office, 1998. 4v.
  ENGR&SCI REFERENCE RC963 .A3 E53 1998

• Oxford Art Online

• Modern Plastics Encyclopedia
  ENGR&SCI STACKS TP986 .A1 M62

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Indexes and Databases

Use indexes and databases to identify articles or chapters about your topic in books, journals and proceedings.

The information given (citation) in an index or database will include the title of the article, the title of the journal or proceedings, volume, date, and pages where the article will be found. Sometimes there is a short description (abstract) that summarizes the contents of the article.

Check the title of the journal in the online catalog to see if Carnegie Mellon subscribes to the journal. Look at the item record to see if we own the volume (or year) and issue with your article.

The Interlibrary Loan staff will obtain for you articles and other items that are not available at Carnegie Mellon.

• Anthropological Index Online

• AP Images

• Applied Science and Technology Abstracts (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  October 1983- (updated monthly). Provides coverage to "more than 350 international, English-language periodicals, covering engineering, mathematics, physics and computer technology."

• Art Abstracts

• Art Index Retrospective, (1929-1984). Indexes articles, book reviews, exhibition reviews, and reproductions of artwork. Notes pictures and reproductions.

• ACM Digital LibraryACM proceedings and articles since 1991.

• Design & Applied Arts Index

• Dun & Bradstreet's Million Dollar Database

• The Grove Dictionary of Art

• Historical Abstracts

• Hoover's Online

• IEEE Xplore

• INSPEC

• LexisNexis Academic

• MEDLINE

• MLA

• Oxford English Dictionary

• post-gazette.com

• PsycINFO (1887-present)

• Readers' Guide Abstracts

• Social Sciences Abstracts

• STAT-USA/Internet

• ProQuest Direct for the Wall Street Journal.

• WorldCat collects the holdings of thousands of libraries worldwide. Find your book at a library in Nebraska and borrow it on Inter-Library Loan.

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Internet Sites

Sites for general design research:

• Communication Arts
  Includes many links focusing on creativity for graphic designers, art directors, illustrators and multimedia designers.

• CORE Industrial Design Network
  Many links,including jobs.

• Yahoo: Arts: Design Arts for artists, companies, desktop publishing, fonts, graphic arts, magazines

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Related Web Sites at Carnegie Mellon

• Design@Carnegie Mellon

• Department of Materials Science and Engineering

• Institute for Complex Engineered Systems

• Human Computer Interaction Institute

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Library Catalogs

If you are looking for a specific topic, keep in mind that there are often several approaches to the same topic. Use different keywords or try searching on a broader topic if you don't get good results with a search. For example, you may not be able to find information using the keywords "bus poster" but if you try the larger concepts of "poster" or "graphic design" you will find relevant information.

Each item record in the Carnegie Mellon library catalog will show whether the item you need is on the shelf or checked out. If it is checked out, you can use the "Place Hold" request menu option to ask to have it returned early and held for you to pick up.

Other library catalogs

More local library catalogs are available on the Other Library Catalogs page.

The following libraries are good for design research at other schools.

• Alfred University: The Scholes Library

• The New York Public Library: Science, Industry and Business Library

• North Carolina State University: Harrye B. Lyons Design Library

• Victoria and Albert Museum: National Art Library

• University of Michigan

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Resource Sharing

Interlibrary loan can help you obtain copies of articles and can also borrow items from other libraries for you to use. With very few exceptions, it is a free service.

You can make interlibrary loan requests online using WebCat, email, or FirstSearch.

Be prepared to use interlibrary loan to obtain resources that you find using indexes and databases, because many of these items will not be available locally.

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