Main search portals
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Yale Library Catalog (Orbis)Searches the books, e-books, journals, government documents, and other physical and digital items owned by the library. Individual journal articles are not retrieved by the search. Can be used to find both primary and secondary sources.
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QuicksearchA combined search of the library's books, journal articles, databases, and more. Searches Orbis as well as Morris, which is the Law Library catalog. Consider this a Google-like search of a vast amount of resources, but keep in mind some library materials are not indexed by the search. The search refinements and availability of multiple search fields are key to limiting the usually large number of results and finding the most relevant sources.
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Archives at YaleThe search portal for finding archival materials at Yale. Look for the Scope & Contents notes, inventories, and PDF Finding Aids to assess the relevance of materials to your research project.
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Borrow DirectServices currently suspended due to COVID-19: Use the Borrow Direct platform to find and borrow books from partner libraries when our copy is checked out or we do not own the item.
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Primary Sources at YaleAn engaging introduction to what primary sources are, how to find them, and what some of the major primary source collections are at the Yale University Library. Provides an excellent overview.
Library contacts
Jennifer Coggins, Archivist for Collection Development, Manuscripts and Archives, Sterling Memorial Library, jennifer.coggins@yale.edu
James Kessenides, Kaplanoff Librarian for American History, james.kessenides@yale.edu
Reference
Background or "reference" sources are a great place to start your research. Reference works include bibliographies, scholarly encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and other sources that provide overviews of topics and suggestions for further reading; often they cite not only the secondary literature, but also primary sources.
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Oxford African American Studies CenterComprehensive collection of scholarship focused on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture, coupled with precise search and browse capabilities.
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Oxford BibliographiesOxford Bibliographies offers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies on specific topics across varied subject areas. Each of these features an introduction to the topic. Bibliographies are browseable by subject area and keyword searchable. Examples of articles include:
"New African Diaspora" by Heike Raphael-Hernandez (African American Studies module)
"Critical Media Theory" by Kevin Glynn (Cinema and Media Studies module). -
Oxford Handbooks OnlineThe handbooks in this collection usually offer helpful, lengthy overviews of topics with citations to numerous sources.
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The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American HistoryISBN: 0199329176 -
The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of LiteratureISBN: 9780190201098
Subject Specialists & Research Guides
Every subject taught at Yale has a librarian assigned to it. A list of these librarians, or "subject specialists," can be found here.
Subject specialists curate subject guides that are a great starting point in finding resources on your potential research topic. The guides bring together the most useful and important resources that are available, whether encyclopedias, bibliographies or other "reference" works, databases of primary and secondary sources, archival materials in special collections, or freely available websites created by libraries, museums, and academic centers around the world.
Some examples of related research guides that may be helpful for your work this semester are:
- African American Studies
- African Studies - Resources in the Social Sciences
- The Ethnicity, Race, and Migration: Archival Discourse research guide page includes suggestions for readings on decolonizing the archives.
- Film Studies
- Latin America and the Caribbean - Resources for the Social Sciences
- LGBTQI Research Guide
- The Manuscripts and Archives Guide to Collections on Sexuality focuses on collections held by the Manuscripts and Archives department in Sterling; other collections in the Yale Library that may be of interest for LGBTQI research include the Laura Bailey Collection of Gender and Transgender Materials at the Beinecke Library.
- Near East Collection, Yale Library
Reach out to a subject specialist if you have questions about getting started!