Social Ecology 292A                                                              Julia Gelfand

Urban Planning – Professional Report                                    Science Library 228

Fall, 2007                                                                                824-4971; jgelfand@uci.edu

 

The culminating project/thesis you are working on focuses on development and planning issues in different locales.  Even though many of the topics are focused on Orange  County, California, there are many topics that coalesce around other parts of Southern California, the LA Basin, etc.    In addition to the primary data you will seek, find, interpret and use, you will also have the need for some secondary sources to help in identifying terms, context of issues and timeframe.

 

This handout is broken down into the type of materials that you should know exist and where they are, and the kind of access you can expect.   Increasingly, information is available in digital format and you will find it in a variety of sources.  The data sets and indexing comes in different products and there often is a choice to be made about which method of access you prefer.  My presentation will not cover Government Information because you will have a special orientation to those materials from Yvonne Wilson, Orange County Librarian nor those resources in Special Collections, as our colleague, Steve MacLeod will cover that.

 

The UCI Libraries Homepage serves as a point of departure or gateway for your navigation and discovery.  For online resources, click on "E-Resources Locator" and consult the Subject Guide for PPD for additional direction.  There are many other Subject Guides corresponding to academic departments and specific types of resources & information, such as Government Information, Data Sources, Biographical Information, etc.

 

FINDING BOOKS:

Using:

1.     ANTPAC  the online catalog of UCI - lists all holdings in all formats at the source level - meaning by author or editor or compiler of a book, title of the book.  One can search by keyword and cover the author, title and subject heading fields and retrieve books in most recently published order going back.  Searches can be limited to promote relevancy - such as books only, journals, other formats media or Internet; by language; etc.  There is also an InterLibrary Loan request feature that you will use when item is not in MELVYL that you need..

2.     MELVYL - the online catalog of all UC campuses - ANTPAC is a subset of MELVYL and one can search by specific campus and format.  UC eLinks link to specific holdings and to electronic fulltext content.  One can use the MELVYL-REQUEST feature to request materials be sent from another UC campus on InterLibrary Loan.  This is the preferred method as you do not need to re-key the citation.

3.     WORLDCAT - the world's largest bibliographic database of close to library members around the world that have a certain title.  This collection of 35 million items from 60,000 libraries in 112 countries worldwide is used when we have to borrow for a user on interlibrary loan and the title is not in MELVYL.  One can retrieve and verify the full bibliographic citation here.

4.     eBooks - identified with holdings in ANTPAC - restrict search by "Online/Internet Resources"

 

Collections & Reference Materials: Located in the Langson Library (LL) & Science Library (SL) Reference Rooms, there are a variety of resources that can be consulted.  Increasingly many reference items now can be borrowed and are in the Library Stacks.  Arrangement is by call number and you should browse the following areas:

                        BF 353 – environmental psychology

                        F 1250 – California statistics & demographics

                        G 70s - Green building (SL)

                        GE - Environmental Sciences (SL)

GF 125 – urban geography

HC – environmental economics

HD – 593 – land use

HD 9696 - Information Technology, Telecommunications

HE 305-311 - transportation

HT 165-167 - housing

HT 168-169 – planned communities

HT 170-178 – urban renewal

HT 390-395 – regional planning

KF 3775 – environmental law and zoning

KFC 811– California law and zoning

NA 9000 – architecture and design

TD 194  & TH 380s– sustainable development, sustainability (SL)

TX 355 – construction & environmental design (SL)

·           Books and bound journals are in separate collections at both libraries - at Langson, the  bound journals are in the Basement in compact shelving arranged by call # and at the Science Library they are in the DRUM - the round part of the library on floors 4-6 also by call #. 

·           Current Periodicals are arranged at Langson by call # and at Science by alphabetically by journal title.

 

Newspapers – source of local news – major area papers in the county are:

Orange County Register, 1987+ - www.ocregister.com or via Global Newsbank and Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe - News

 

Orange County Business Journal - as well as the "BJs" of San Diego and Los Angeles are available online - ask at the Langson Library Reference Desk for login information

 

For Los Angeles Times, Orange County is covered in California section - www.latimes.com and is one of seven regional areas covered

 

                        Irvine World News – www.irvineworldnews.com - distributed by OC Register

                        Daily Pilot - www.dailypilot.com - distributed via LA Times

 

                        Historical newspapers also available on microfilm in addition to what is at

                        http://www.lib.uci.edu/online/news.html#histnews

 

                        You should consult the News & Newspapers Subject Guide for additional information about our holdings and other databases.

                        In the Current Periodicals Room, one can find full runs on microfilm and current issues.  Indexes are noted as part of the site.

 

Maps – UCI has the following maps of Orange County: topographical maps (GID), aerial photography (GID), city maps (Thomas Bros & AAA)

 

Indexing & Abstracting Tools / Databases – several sources of different tools that index a variety of information - listed on the UCI Libraries Homepage under "Online Research" and in ANTPAC: (* available via the CSA Illumina Platform and can be searched concurrently)

a.      PsycINFO*

b.     PubMed

c.      Web of Science - suggest that you restrict searches to Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) covering from 1954-to present;or to Science Citation Index (SCI)

      definitely restrict search as this component goes back to 1900)

d.     Geobase - contains the International Development Abstracts as well as focuses on different geographical areas of emphasis - only one user at a time

          f.    Expanded Academic ASAP

          g.   Ethnic NewsWatch

          h.   Sociological Abstracts*

          i.    Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management* - covers some water

          j.    Ei Compendex – covers engineering materials & literature; covers water    

                sciences

k.      Risk Abstracts*

l.       National Water Information System Web from USGS (will soon have Water Resources Abstracts - check Antpac by January, 2008)

m.    PAIS *– public affairs/administration with a full Archive

n.      Econ Lit

o.     Criminal Justice Abstracts*

p.     ASSIA* - Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts

q.     Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals

r.      Digital Dissertations (UMI Dissertations Abstracts)

s.      Lexis-Nexis Academic (law and news)

t.       LegalTrac (legal)

u.      Journal of Planning Literature –  is an index and journal & contains Sage Council of Planning Librarians Bibliography Series - older volumes found at HD 87.6 H687 -

v.     Index to Current Urban Documents - state & local emphasis with selective fulltext content from public agencies, municipalities and local governments

w.    AgeLine Database (AARP - social gerontology & geriatrics)

x.      Social Services Abstracts*

y.      ERIC* (education)

z.      Transport (all fields of transportation)

aa.   Google Scholar

 

Print Sources

a.      International Development Abstracts – HC 10 I573 ML REF - now part of GeoBase

 

Sources of Information about Non-Profit or Community-Based Agencies and Services - general Internet search or local public library; Directories of Non-Profits such as Associations Unlimited and other sources listed on the Quick Reference Page under Directories

 

Full-text Journals – the most comprehensive list of all titles is on the UCI Libraries Homepage, under "Online Resources” and with a search restricted to "Online Journals."  Also most publishing partners are listed under "Journals by Publishers or Collections"

Increasingly, most coverage is noted on ANTPAC and MELVYL.

 

Internet Resources – identifying the most appropriate search engine will direct you to Internet resources.  In citing the source, always note the full title, URL, and the date at which you last consulted the web-site.


Evaluating sources - criteria should reflect:

a.      audience

b.     authority

c.      purpose

d.     objectivity

e.      currency

f.       coverage

g.      accuracy

h.      relevancy

 

Data Sources - for statistical sources, you may want to consult:

            STAT-USA

            Lexis Nexis Statistical Universe

            Also review the Social Sciences Data Archives Subject Guide, too.

 

Government Information - for assistance with Federal, State (California & information from state commissions) and Local documents, including Orange County, please consult Yvonne Wilson (ymwilson@uci.edu)

 

Historical Orange County & California materials and general Special Collections - please contact Steve MacLeod (smacleod@uci.edu).  Some specific resources include:

            a.  ArchiveGrid - a collection of finding aids for archival and manuscript materials found at hundreds of libraries and collections - full finding aids are not all available but links to holding institution for additional contact information is provided.  Contains lots of historical information about city plans and architecture, and related documents on a national scale

            b.  Online Archive of California - database containing archival holdings and images of 26 California museums, historical societies, libraries and institutions with descriptive finding aids - rather significant holdings

 

Different search engines - relevancy based vs popularity - ie) Google.  Don't forget that Google Scholar will link indexed scholarly content to UCI holdings & access and make it available if you are coming through the University authentication process.

 

Other Local Resources - for some of your sources you may need to visit area libraries that specialize in those holdings, ie) Los Angeles Public Library (www.lapl.org), County of Los Angeles Library System (http://www.colapublib.org/ which includes Stanton, Santa Clarita, Newhall, etc) or the UCLA Library; Riverside County or UCR Library - you have borrowing privileges at the other UC campus libraries; or local public libraries in the municipalities which you are studying, ie) Huntington Beach, Anaheim, Newport Beach or Orange County Public Library system (not all cities are a part of this - some are independent).  Also, you may want to search the city website for related documents and information.  Local public libraries are a wonderful source for local information and city agencies, governments, and their Planning Departments are also excellent sources for specs, guidelines, master plans, city plans,

 

For international focus, search by subject and qualify by geography or location and time period, please schedule an appointment with Julia Gelfand.

 

Specific Hints -

  1. study issue contextually
  2. use specific geography for local basis - may occasionally be too restrictive and you will have to apply the context to local situation
  3. consider how you are going to describe content - with data, spatial analysis, GIS, mapping, images, via interviews, etc.  You may have to obtain permissions for some information so plan accordingly.
  4. cite literature liberally and consistently using a format that supports many kinds information - ie) APA, etc. - there is a new APA format introduced in Summer 2007 for how to cite online content
  5. consider using RefWorks for organizing citations and references
  6. buy a copy card so that you can print and copy at any of the Libraries -