History

Reference Books

The library has a collection of reference books on various historical events.  Reference books are consulted for their factual or background information on a topic and are not meant to be read from beginning to end.  They are used in the library only and are not checked out.  You can photocopy relevant pages.  Reference books are located in front of the Reference Desk.

If you want to consult a reference book online, you can access Gale Virtual Reference Library.  For instructions on how to access this, see Electronic Databases below.

 

Books in the General Collection

To find books to check out of the library:

Click on Catalog on the Chaffey College Library home page.

Enter your search term in the All Headings search window.  For example,

Pearl Harbor          All Headings

Books with a Call Number are located in the library.

If you cannot find a book on your topic, ask the librarian at the Reference Desk.

 

Primary Sources

Primary sources are sources created by people who actually saw or participated in an event and recorded their reactions immediately after the event.  A primary source can be a book such as Reflections of Pearl Harbor: an oral history of December 7, 1941 by K.D. Richardson ( 940.54 R52 ).  This book consists of eyewitness accounts. 

Primary sources may also be found in the online databases Los Angeles Times, 1881-1985  and  Greenwood Daily Life America.  Instructions for accessing them can be found below under Electronic Databases.

 

Electronic Books

Electronic books, EBooks – NetLibrary,read page by page on your computer screen, are accessed by following directions for Electronic Databases below. 

To access EBooks from off campus, you must first create an account at the library.  Ask a librarian for further instructions.

 

To find articles from academic journals, consult the library’s electronic databases.

Electronic Databases

 

 

For journal articles on history topics, use Expanded Academic ASAP, Academic Search Premier, JSTOR and Project Muse.

 

Expanded Academic ASAP ( academic journals and magazines )

Type your topic in the search window.

For example, “Pearl Harbor Attack”

Click  “to documents with full text”

Click “to peer-reviewed publications”

Click search button

Click “Subdivisions” to organize articles into categories

 

Academic Search Premier ( academic journals and popular publications )

Type your topic in search window(s)

For example,

Holocaust

AND

concentration camps

Click “full text”

Click “scholarly ( peer-reviewed ) journals”

Click search button

 

JSTOR ( academic journals including older, historical issues )

Click “Advanced Search”

Type your topic in the search window(s)

For example,

Iberia

AND

Roman Empire

Where you see “Limit to type” click “article”

If you want to limit your search to history journals, scroll down and click “History”

Click search button

 

Project Muse ( academic journals specializing in humanities and social sciences )

Click “Advanced Article Search”

Type your topic in the search window(s)

For example,

war

AND

Middle Ages

Where you see “Type of Content” check “Articles Only ( No Reviews )”

If you want to limit your search to history journals,  scroll to “By Discipline” and select “History”

Click search button

 

For images of domestic life, historical events and cultural monuments, use

ARTstor ( images )

A digital library of nearly one million images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities and social sciences.

 

Internet Resources

To find useful websites, click Internet Resources by Subject on the Chaffey College Library home page   

Remember, if you have any questions regarding your search, contact a librarian in person at the Reference Desk or

Phone: 909 652 – 6808

Shelley Marcus last updated 10/2009