Your Liaison Librarians
Jean Ruenger-Hanson, Steenbock Liaison |
Emilie Songolo, Memorial Liaison |
| We will also be happy to meet with you by appointment for extended help on any library-related topic |
Quick Links
Locate known journals and articles:
Log in to RefWorks:
Log in to EndNote Web:
Research Databases
These are the top resources for research in urban and regional planning. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the discipline, you should select databases to match the focus of each research topic.
For additional suggestions, see:
Journal Databases |
Reasons to Use |
| Avery Index to Architectural Literature (1930- ) Updated weekly | The leading architectural database, Avery's coverage includes landscape architecture, city planning, and housing Searching Help | Setting up Alerts | RefWorks | EndNote |
| Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management (1967- ) Updated monthly | This collection of databases includes Ecology Abstracts, Environmental Engineering Abstracts, Human Population & Natural Resource Management, Pollution Abstracts, and Water Resources Abstracts. Searching Help | Setting up Alerts | RefWorks | EndNote |
| GEOBASE (1980- ) Updated twice a month | Indexes scholarly literature on geography, geology and ecology. Includes
human geography, cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), climatology, and development studies. Searching Help | Alerts not available | RefWorks | EndNote |
Google Scholar (advanced) |
Good for interdisciplinary coverage. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web. Searching Help | Add Find It and citation exporting by setting your Google Scholar Preferences | Setting up Alerts | RefWorks | EndNote |
| Public Administration Abstracts (1974- ) Updated regularly | Covers journal literature on public administration and theory and practice. Searching Help | Setting up Alerts | RefWorks | EndNote |
| Urban Studies Abstracts (1973-) Updated regularly |
Urban Studies Abstracts indexes journal articles covering essential areas related to urban studies, including urban affairs, community development, urban history, and other key areas. Searching Help | Setting up Alerts | RefWorks | EndNote |
| Web of Knowledge (1970-) Updated weekly |
Interdisciplinary scholarly database offers the unique Cited Reference search, which allows you to find all the papers that have cited a specific author or article. Easy way to follow the experts to find recent developments, responses, and even retractions. Searching Help | Setting up Alerts | RefWorks | EndNote |
| See also: Urban & Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture Databases | |
Government Web Sites |
Reasons to Use |
USASearch.gov (advanced) Dates and update frequency unknown | Use this search engine to find documents on government web sites from the U.S. at all levels (federal, state, county, municipal, tribal). Use Search In to limit your search to items from or about a particular state. Searching Help | Alerts, RefWorks and EndNote not available | |
| See also: Government documents at Memorial Library | |
Newspapers |
Reasons to Use |
| Lexis/Nexis (Dates vary) Updated daily | Use the default "News Search " to search a full text collection that includes international and U.S. newspapers, ethnic and regional news sources,
wire services, and broadcast transcripts. Searching Help | Alerts not available | RefWorks | EndNote not available | |
| Newspaper Source Plus (late 1980s- ) Updated daily | This collection of U.S. and international newspapers includes full text of articles as well as television and radio news transcripts, videos & podcas Searching Help | Setting up Alerts | RefWorks | EndNote |
| See also: Newspaper Research Guide | |
Research Guides
Subject guides provide help for doing research in a specific discipline or on a specific topic. They include quick access to databases and web sites that have been critically evaluated and selected for quality of information. Help and Tips are often included as well.
Literature Alerts
Feeling overwhelmed by information? Don't have the time to keep current with the published literature? AUTOMATICALLY get journal citations on your topic of interest or table of contents of your favorite journals by email or RSS feed!
You can ask Jean or Emilie to help you create an optimal search strategy for your topic, or to advise you on creating your own alerts. You can also fill out the online request form to request this service.
Managing Citations
RefWorks (log in here), EndNote and Zotero are great software programs that can help you organize and manage the literature you need in your research and/or teaching. With either you can create your own database and instantly format your bibliographies as you write. RefWorks is a web-based system provided free by the UW-Madison libraries. EndNote is a little more sophisticated, and must be purchased through the DoIT Tech Store for installation on your computer. Zotero is an open source Firefox plug-in.
You can contact Steenbock consultants to find out more about any of them, or to help troubleshoot any problem you may have with your citation manager. She will be happy to set up an individual meeting or just chat with you via email/phone. For online help, see the following:
Support for Teaching
Reserves
- To place materials (paper or electronic) on reserve via Steenbock, contact steeresv@library.wisc.edu. (See also detailed instructions.)
- For reserves via another library, see this page .
Library Course Page
A Library Course Page can be created to provide extra help for your students. Your students can access it via MyUW; you can also link to it from another web site if you wish. Depending on your needs, the page could include:
- electronic reserves links
- a link to a list of print materials on reserve for the class in campus libraries
- links to research tools such as journal databases and Web sites
- tips and techniques for making your students' library research faster and more efficient
- Refworks, for help in formatting bibliographies
- librarian contact information for personal assistance when students need help in completing assignments
If you request that items be placed on reserve, a course page will be created. To request any other (non-reserves) information on a course page, contact Jean.
Course-Related Instruction
Steenbock will provide instruction in the use of library resources for your class. Instruction can range from a quick visit to the class, to a workshop with hands-on components in Steenbock's computer classroom, to preparation of an on-line tutorial to address a specific need. A typical session in the library would cover some of the components below. Library staff will work with you to find the most appropriate mix for the purpose of the class and the time available.
- Overview of relevant library resources, both print and electronic
- Library search strategy
- Finding and locating books
- Finding and locating journal articles
- Finding Internet resources
- Critical evaluation and selection of resources
- Specialized resources when appropriate, such as RefWorks, statistics resources, presentation software, etc.
Library sessions should be scheduled at least two weeks in advance. The beginning of each semester is a very busy time for the library instruction program, so having an alternative time in mind when you schedule is helpful. The librarian will typically create a Library Course Page to use in conjunction with the class. To request course-related instruction, contact Jean or use this request form.
Faculty Runners
Faculty members and academic staff with teaching or research responsibilities can designate a currently enrolled student or staff member to borrow material in their name from campus libraries. To designate a runner:
- Fill in the requested information on the attached form
- Print it out on departmental letterhead
- Sign it
- Have the runner take the signed letter to the Memorial Library Card Application Desk, located in the lobby of the Memorial Library. The runner will need to bring his/her UW photo ID.
Recommend a Purchase
We welcome recommendations for purchase of books or journal titles you feel would be valuable additions to our collection.
Please complete our Purchase Recommendation Form