Dance History 1B/90B
Winter Quarter 2006
Professor Nancy Ruyter
Library Instruction Workshop
January 30, 1:30-2:50
Langson Library 570

Instructors:  Christina J. Woo
Interim Research Librarian for Dance 
146 Langson Library, UCI 
(949) 824-4974
cjwoo@lib.uci.edu
Steve MacLeod
Public Services Coordinator
Special Collections and Archives (5th Floor Langson Library), UCI

(949) 824-4967
smacleod@uci.edu

 

 Goals of this guide (for study only, class will focus on Special Collections in Dance show and tell):


Getting started:


Four types of research strategies:


1. Interviewing experts

Southern California Dance and Directory [Louise Reichlin at USC]

http://www.usc.edu/dept/dance/

Sapphire Swan Dance Directory [worldwide directory; extensive links to dance styles, ballet sites, etc.]

http://www.SapphireSwan.com/dance/

 

2. Browsing the shelves (“stacks”) in Langson Library

 

The UCI Libraries have an exceptionally rich collection of dance materials—one of the strongest of all the UC libraries.  Cruise the call number areas below in the Langson Library circulating collection (GV on the 4th floor; Z in the basement), Reference collection (1st floor), bound journals (basement), and in the Current Periodicals Room (2nd floor—immediately to your right as you enter Langson Library).  
 

Call number ranges for Dance

GV 1580-1799.3 

Dancing

Z 7514

Dance bibliographies and catalogs

3. Footnote/Bibliography Tracking
When you have found a good book or journal article, take advantage of the footnotes and/or bibliography to lead you to additional information. The assumption is that the author has researched the topic well and has listed the sources s/he used.  To see which of the items listed in the footnotes/bibliography are at UCI, search ANTPAC, our online catalog (http://antpac.lib.uci.edu).  For books, search by the title of the book; for journal articles, search by the title of the journal (not the article title), and then examine the ANTPAC record to see if we have the volume/year in which the article appeared.  For assistance with this, UCI librarians are happy to get you started (see last section below).

Try looking at bibliographies in major encyclopedias, such as the
International Encyclopedia of Dance. 6 vols. (in paper at Langson Reference GV 1585 I586 1998)
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
20 vols. (Online and in Langson Reference ML 100 N48 2001)

4. Structured Approach or Searching Library Catalogs

Use online library catalogs with Library of Congress subject headings to identify books or videos (but not individual journal articles).  Keyword searching can also be effective (use performer, artist, choreographer names, styles, titles, etc) but subject headings often yield more results (and they are hotlinked in ANTPAC for "spinoff searching").  ANTPAC searching can be limited to Films and Videos, if you wish—in Quick Search, change the “Entire Collection” option to Films and Videos.

Here are examples of the structure of Library of Congress subject headings (there are many more).  You can ask for the bound volumes listing all headings at the Reference Desk (or use spinoff approach):

 You may also use the general library tutorials (scroll down to Tutorial).  Use the above tips in:

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Article Databases or How Do I find Articles in Scholarly/Academic Journals?

Use article databases for finding journal/newspaper articles and more--the major article databases for dance are listed (with links) in the Dance Subject Guide.   For other subject areas, such as music or drama, lists of the major article databases are listed in the Libraries’ online Subject Guides—in each one there’s a section on “how to find articles”.  Also, most are searchable by title in ANTPAC, which will provide a link to the online database, or call number to the print product, or both (as available). 

 

Why do we need separate databases for journal articles—why can’t we search for articles in ANTPAC?  Because ANTPAC only indexes the journals as a whole, not the individual articles within them.  Please consult help screens for power searching tips in each article database, and the Langson Library reference staff are also happy to assist you in your database searching (see last section below). Many article databases have "UC-eLinks" that help you identify whether the UCI Libraries have the articles online in full text, in print, or both. For articles that are available online, most may be downloaded or emailed—this varies, depending on the company providing them.  

Dance and arts-specific:

Multi-disciplinary and other databases that include dance topics:

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Books shown in class (located in Langson Library Stacks):


Videos (housed and available for viewing in the Langson Multimedia Resource Center, 1st floor):


Search strategy: Videos owned by the UCI Libraries (in VHS, DVD, or other formats) are in ANTPAC. Do a keyword search using the words "danc*" and select "Films and Videos" from the second drop-down menu (to replace “Entire Collection”). This picks up any videos with the truncation of the word dance, dancing, dances, etc. This is not a comprehensive list, because some videos are cataloged under their performance title or the choreographer/creator's name.  Keyword searching on style or genre, performer names in this collection can be effective as well. 

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Other Internet Sites

Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate....(as the saying goes "consider the source" and that goes for print as well).  Criteria to consider:

Again, please also consult the Dance Subject Guide as a gateway and use search engines such as Google and its Google Scholar--click on “Scholar” immediately above the Google textbox (recommended for reputable and relevant results, but be critical and ask the questions directly above).  By the way, full-text journal articles that you find online via the library website are still reputable journal articles from scholarly sources (cite as such).  You may consult Professor Ruyter or your TA about including these in your research project.  For your project you might also try finding visual image resources on the web.  The UCI Libraries’ Subject Guide on Images is one place to start.  Many style guides now include formats for citing electronic materials -- see below.

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Citing Sources

Lists of style manuals (formats for citing sources in your bibliography, giving credit to authors of research you draw upon).
You can find most major style guides in print in Antpac.
Some information on plagiarism and how to avoid it.
 


Know where to go for help!

For questions about topics in your writing or general requirements classes you may seek assistance from friendly reference librarians (including our Ask A Librarian live chat and email service, traditional reference desk info at bottom).  For in-depth assistance on your dance research projects please feel free to contact me and/or set up an appointment.  Email me at cjwoo@lib.uci.edu, or call 824-4974.

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Special Collections in Dance (Langson Library 5th floor)

UCI houses many Special Collections in Dance -- these include rare books and manuscripts and papers of distinguished artists at UCI and in the world.  These are searchable in ANTPAC, through the Online Archives of California or by visiting the 5th floor reading room.  We will spend most of this class exploring these resources upstairs in Room 570.  Here are a few useful links:

 

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Site Author:  Liza Vick

Revised by Christina Woo
Contact:  cjwoo@uci.edu

Last Modified: Jan. 30, 2006
Date of Creation:  Feb. 4, 2005

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