DEFINITION

Geography: A science that deals with the description, distribution, and interaction of the diverse physical, iological, and cultural features of the earth's surface. Latin geographia, from Greek geOgraphia, from geOgraphein to describe the earth's surface, from geO- + graphein to write.
--Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary

ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND DICTIONARIES

New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1997. General encyclopedia with lengthy articles on various geographic regions and ethnic groups.
Ref. AE5 .E57 1997

O'Mahony, Kieran. The Dictionary of Geographical Literacy: the complete geography reference. 1993.
Ref. G63 .O45 1993

Chambers World Gazetteer: an A-Z of geographical information. 1988.
Ref. G103.5 .C44 1988

Columbia Gazetteer of the World. 1998.
Ref. G103.5 .C65 1998

National Gazetteer of the United States of America. 1990.
Ref. E154 .N38 1990

Oxford Dictionary of the World. 1990.
Ref. G103.5 .O94 1995

BOOKS

Books on geography owned by this library are listed in the Hawai'i Voyager Web Catalog. In addition, Hawai'i Voyager provides the catalogs of the other UH libraries, whose books are available to UH Hilo and HawCC students and faculty through our intrasystem loan service.

Area Handbook Series is an important series of books for you to be aware of. These are studies of individual countries including information on the social life and customs of its various ethnic groups. The title is usually the name of the country followed by the phrase "A country study." For example, "Iran, A Country Study."

PERIODICALS

Among the Library's periodicals dealing with Geography are:

Complete information on the Library's periodical holdings can be found at the library's online catalog Hawai'i Voyager. Go to Find Articles for more information about how to locate a journal issue in the Library.

PERIODICAL INDEXES/ABSTRACTS

This Library subscribes to about 1,100 periodicals in print and thousands more in online databases. In order to find articles in these periodicals on a specific topic, it's better to use one or more of the library's print or online periodical indexes.

Academic Periodical Search. Covers a variety of academic subjects including geography, many in full-text.

GeoRef. 1785 - present. A comprehensive international database of over 2.3 million references to articles, books, maps, conference papers, and reports etc..

Lexis-Nexis. Provides full-text documents from over 5,600 news, business, legal, medical, and reference publications.

Geographical Abstracts or Geo Abstracts. 1975 - . Separate sections cover, among other things, Economic, Human, Physical, Regional and Community Planning, Social and Historical Geography.
Print: Index Shelves

Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. 1890 - . Covers a much longer time period than Academic Periodical Search does, but fewer journals.
Print: Index Shelves

Social Sciences Index. 1974-1993. Cover-to-cover indexing of 342 international social sciences periodicals in the English language,including geography journals.
Print: Index Shelves

How to Find an Article in the Library Once You have a Citation

To see if the library can provide access to a particular journal article, use the "Find Periodicals" box on the library home page. Type in the title of the journal (not the article title).

Most of our print periodical backfiles are on the Upper Level, shelved alphabetically by title. Current issues are displayed on the Main Level behind the Reference collection, arranged in broad subject areas.

To access an electronic journal, click on the link provided and locate the volume, issue, and article pages, then print, download, or e-mail the article you need.

Getting Articles through IntraSystem Loan.

Students may obtain copies of articles from journals to which the library does not subscribe through our intrasystem loan service.

ATLASES

This library keeps a selection on the Atlas Tables next to the Reference collection. Other atlases are shelved in the Reference section under the classification "G." Older atlases are on the Main Level, also under "G," with the larger ones in the Folio and Grandfolio sections. These latter atlases can be checked out.

Atlas of Hawaii. 1998.
Hawn Ref. G1534.20 .U5 1998
Hawn G1534.20 .U5 1998

Delorme Mapping Company. [State] Atlas & Gazetteer. 1988 - .
Ref. G1534.2 .D45

Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc. The Dorling Kindersley World Reference Atlas. 1994.
Ref. G1021 .D63 1994

Kidron, Michael. The State of the World Atlas. 1995.
Ref. G1021 .K46 1995

National Geographic Society. Atlas of the World. 1999.
Atlas G1021 .N38 1999

Rand McNally and Company. Rand McNally Premier World Atlas. 1997.
Atlas G1021 .R45 1997

____. The New International Atlas = Der Neue Internationale Atlas. 1996.
Atlas G1021 .R23 1996

Seager, Joni. The State of Women in the World Atlas. 1997.
Ref. G1046 .E1 S4 1997

The Times Atlas of the World. 1995.
Atlas G1021 .T55 1995

MAPS

The library has a limited number of maps currently in the Hawai'i Voyager Web Catalog. You may do better by browsing the MAP COLLECTION located on the Upper Level, which includes:

World Maps

Produced by the National Geographic Society (NGS), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and others, these maps are of various sizes. These may be checked out.

Hawai'i Maps

United States Geological Survey (USGS) maps, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) charts, Census maps, etc. Many of these may be checked out.

The HAWAIIAN COLLECTION also has a selection of maps specifically related to Hawai'i, including USGS quadrangles and historical maps located in locked map cases. These cannot be checked out. To access historical maps:

1. Use finding aid, Maps of Historic Interest in the UH Hilo Library, Hawaiian Collection, located next to cases to select maps.
2. Request one map at a time from Hawaiian Collection personnel.
3. When the map is returned, another map may be pulled from map case.

The CLOSED COLLECTION at the Circulation Desk includes:

Maps on File. Letter-sized, black and white maps-Country, Outline, Thematic. 2 v.
CLOSED G1046 .A1 M16 1998

COMPREHENSIVE SURVEYS OF THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD

Kurian, George Thomas. The Encyclopedia of the First World. 1990.
Ref. G63 K87 1990

The Europa World Year Book. Annual. Information on location, climate, languages, religion, recent history, government, economic conditions, education, etc.
Ref. JN1 .E91 [year]

United States. Dept. of State. Office of Media Services. Background notes. Date varies. Short survey articles on countries include social, cultural and political information.
Ref. G1021 .D63 1994

World Geographical Encyclopedia. 1995.
Ref. G63 .E5213 1995

Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations. 1998. Survey of countries with brief social, cultural, political and geographical background information.
Ref. G63 .W67 1998

SURVEYS OF SPECIFIC AREAS

Asia and the Pacific. 1991. In addition to country surveys, provides articles on history and political, economic and social affairs.
Ref. DS5 .A79 1991 (2 vols.)

Batalden, Stephen K. The Newly Independent States of Eurasia: Handbook of Former Soviet Republics. 1993.
Ref. DK17 .B34 1993

Blunden, Caroline. Cultural Atlas of China. 1998.
Ref. DS721 .B56 1998

Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean. 1992.
Ref F1406 .C36 1992

Cities of the World: Current information on cultural, geographical, and political conditions in the countries and cities of six continents, based on the Department of State's "Post reports." 1993.
Ref. G153.4 .C57 1993

Collcutt, Martin, Marius Jansen, and Isao Kumakura. Cultural Atlas of Japan. 1998.
Ref. DS821 .C62 1988

Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara. 1997. Country surveys covering society, history, politics, economy. Directory information for media, banks, trade unions, periodicals, etc.
Ref. DT351 .E53 1997

Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East. 1996.
Ref. DS43 .E53 1996 (4 vols.)

Encyclopedia of World Cultures. 1991. Ref. GN307 .E53

The Far East and Australasia. Includes the Pacific Islands.
Ref. DS1 .F3 [year]

Marsh, James H., ed. Canadian Encyclopedia. 1985. Includes extensive article on "Native People."
Ref. F1006 .C36 1985

Murray, Jocelyn. Cultural Atlas of Africa. 1998.
Ref. DT14 .C83 1998

Ness, Immanuel. Encyclopedia of World Cities. 1999.
Ref. HT108.5 .N47 1999 (2 vols.)

Nile, Richard. Cultural Atlas of Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. 1996.
Ref. Du107 .N55 1996

Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World. 1995.
Ref. DS35.53 .O95 1995

South America, Central America and the Caribbean. 1991.
Ref. F1401 .S68 1991

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

The U.S. government publishes useful material on many foreign countries and this library receives about 5% of what is published. Selected documents are on the Hawai'i Voyager Web Catalog. For more information, go to Government Documents.

The documents themselves are located on the Upper Level in the Government Documents collection. They are shelved according to the "Superintendent of Documents" classification system, and come in four formats: (1) print format publications, shelved on the Government Documents book shelves; (2) microfiche publications, filed in the cabinets facing the Government Document shelves; (3) CDROMs in Reference area and (4) DVDs in Reference area. Numerous government agencies also maintain World Wide Web sites.

STATISTICAL SOURCES

Dorgan, Charity A., ed. Gale Country & World Rankings Reporter: 3,000 country & world area rankings on a variety of topics, including arts and leisure, demographics, education, government expenditures, taxes, etc., from government, business, and general interest sources. 1995
Ref. HA155 .G345 1995

Statistical Record of Women Worldwide. 1995
Ref. HQ111 .S73

United Nations. Demographic Yearbook. Annuaire démographique.
Folio HA17 .D45 [year]
Ref. HA17 .D45 (most recent)

United Nations. UNESCO Statistical Yearbook = Annuaire statistique.
Folio AZ361 .U45 [year]
Ref. AZ361 .U45 (most recent)

World Bank. World Development Report.
HC59.7 .W659 [year]
Ref. HC59.7 W659 (recent)

World Bank. World Tables.
HC59 .W669
Ref. HC59 .W669 (recent)

World Factbook. Brief data on the geography, population, government, economy, communications, and defense forces with small maps.
GovD PrEx 3.15
Ref Desk 1 G122 .U56 (recent)

The World's Women, 1995 : Trends and Statistics. 1995.
Ref. HQ1154 .W675 1995

GUIDES TO GRADUATE STUDY

Guide to Programs of Geography in the United States and Canada.
Ref. G76.5 .U5 G8 (recent)

INTERNET

When searching the web for information, make the effort to evaluate what you find critically in order to make the best choices. Some useful sites to start your exploration include:

World Wide Web Virtual Library: Geography

Association of American Geographers

Geography Discipline Network (UK)