[D Yale University Library: South Asian Studies

South Asian Studies: a research guide

Yale University Library

From the Map Collection at Yale University Library
Contents

The Collection

Yale University Library's holdings of materials on South Asia are strongest in the following areas: the history of western involvement in South Asia, modern India (from 1947), literature in English, and religion (especially Buddhism and Christianity). Materials in other areas, while not as heavily represented, are also actively collected: law, economics, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, language and literature (Vedic, Indo-Aryan, Assamese), fine arts (painting, sculpture, architecture, music), religion (Islam, Brahmanism, Hinduism), and philosophy. The stacks of the Sterling Memorial Library and the Mudd Library house the humanities and some social science materials; for these and for holdings in other disciplines, please consult the following list.

Sterling Memorial Library and Seeley G. Mudd Library
Housing more than 3.75 million volumes, Sterling Memorial Library is the largest library on campus and serves as the center of the library system. The library includes seven floors of offices and reading rooms and has fifteen stack levels with books and journals devoted primarily to the humanities and social sciences. The Mudd Library houses two collections: a 2-million-volume high-density storage library for Sterling and other Yale libraries; and the Government Documents and Information Center. South Asian materials in these two libraries include history, literature, older social science materials, and those in languages other than English.

Divinity School Library
One of the primary strengths of the Divinity Library is in the history of missions (Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox), including mission activities in South Asia. The collection also documents the current life, thought and practice of Christianity in South Asia, with holdings mostly restricted to European languages (chiefly English). Included are local and regional church histories, indigenous theological literature (e.g. Dalit theology), Christian biography, liturgical works, etc. There are also some archival sources, including such things as missionary papers and archival material on the Church of South India.

Economic Growth Center
The Economic Growth Center collects economic surveys, statistical publications, development plans and censuses from over 100 developing countries.

Forestry and Environmental Studies Library
The Forestry Library on the fourth floor of Sage Hall contains materials not only on forestry, but also on ecology, conservation, renewable natural resources, and wildlife management.

Government Documents and Information Center
The Government Documents and Information Center, in Mudd Library, maintains depository programs for U.S. Federal, Canadian, United Nations, European Union, and Food and Agriculture Organization documents. Its Web site provides links to other governmental resources, both domestic and foreign.

Manuscripts and Archives
The resources held by the Manuscripts and Archives Department document a wide array of institutions, persons, and subject areas. Most of these areas have a strong link to Yale: to the institution itself; to the faculty, students, alumni, and other members of the Yale community; or to areas in which Yale has had strong teaching and research interest. Collections relating to South Asia include the Pancholi Collection of Gandhi Letters from 1935-1948, and the Katherine Mayo Papers from the period 1835-1968.

Social Science Library
The Social Science Library holds most current literature published in the English language in the fields of business, economics, organization and management, political science, and sociology.

Yale University Library Collections and Services
This page lists and links to the many libraries in the Yale University Library system.

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Locating Materials at Yale

The collections of the Yale University Library are represented in multiple online catalogs and card catalogs. Together, Orbis, Morris (the Law Library catalog) and the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) catalog constitute the Yale University Library online catalog. Use these catalogs to determine what materials (books, journals, archival collections, etc.) are held by Yale, and where these items are located. Materials published prior to 1977 that do not appear in Orbis (OPAC) can be located using the "union" card catalog in Sterling Memorial Library. More than half of the Library collection is represented ONLY in the card catalog.

Orbis

For help using Orbis:

Orbis Searching Guide
Online Orbis Tutorial

Morris
Morris is the online catalog of the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale. These records are, for the most part, not duplicated in Orbis.

Sterling Memorial Library Card Catalog
Check the Sterling Memorial Library Card Catalog for pre-1977 materials that do not appear in Orbis. The union card catalog in the nave of Sterling Memorial Library contains 11,986 drawers, representing over 100 years of cataloging records for the fourth largest library in the United States. It contains cards for material in most, but not all, formats held by most, but not all, libraries in the Yale University Library system represented on a combination of handwritten, half-height cards; typewritten cards; and computer-produced cards. The current catalog represents the final evolutionary state of a living document that has changed over time as the content of catalog records, their format, and their arrangement have evolved under many codes of cataloging rules.

Center for Research Libraries Catalog
The CRL Catalog is the online catalog of the Center for Research Libraries in Chicago. Its primary purpose is to collect those research materials not targeted by the North American research institutions. The Center collects heavily in the following materials: archival materials, newspapers and periodicals (foreign & domestic, specialized), foreign doctoral dissertations, U.S. state documents, USSR academic publications. The Center collects broadly in the following geographic regions: Africa, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. In addition, the Center collects any category of material, from any geographic locale, which is deemed important to scholarly research, but has not been acquired by other institutions. All resources in the CRL Catalog are available to Yale University faculty, staff, and students through Interlibrary Loan. A description of CRL's South Asian holdings may be found here.

Special Library Catalogs at Yale
Catalogs for library materials not accessible, or not easily accessible, through Orbis or the SML Card Catalog.

Yale University Primary Sources Research
Created to support a series of colloquia in historical research offered by the Yale University Library.

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From the Map Collection at Yale University Library

Bibliographies

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General Reference Tools

The WWW Reference Sources page

Books in Print online (via FirstSearch)
Index to books in print, forthcoming books, and recently out-of-print books. The current printed volumes are available at the following libraries: Art & Architecture, Divinity, Engineering and Applied Science, Forestry, Geology, Kline, Law, Medical, Music, Social Sciences Library, and Sterling Memorial Library.
Britannica Online
Includes Britannica Online and Book of the Year articles, the Index to Britannica Online, and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition.
Oxford English Dictionary
Fully searchable version of the OED, 2nd edition (1989). Allows definition and etymology searches, quotation searches, proximity searches, as well as boolean searching.
Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992)
SML, Electronic Text Center
The CD-ROM version of the Oxford English Dictionary contains all of the information of the OED, 1933 edition. The dictionary can be searched by word, phrase, definition, etymology, or even by author of the quotations used to show how the use of a word has changed over time.

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Databases: Indexes, Abstracts, and Full Text

Library Research Workstation: Databases
This list of Databases at Yale includes information about and links to periodical indexes, abstracts, and full-text databases available over the Internet. Most of these resources are limited to use by members of the Yale University community.
Anthropological Literature (Cambridge, MA: Tozzer Library, 1989- )
SML, Reference Z5112 A57 (LC)
Kline, Anthropology Z5112 A57 (LC)
Anthropological Literature Online
Indexes articles and essays in anthropology and archaeology, and is recognized as one of the most important tools in the field. Quarterly with annual cumulation. The online database covers 1984 to present. The printed volumes cover 1979-1984 and 1989 to the present. 1984-1988 are on microfiche in SML Main Reading Room and at Kline.
Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Philadelphia: Insititute for Scientific Information, 1975- .)
SML, Reference Z5937 +A795 (LC)
Connect to Arts & Humanities Search online through the Web of Science
An international interdisciplinary index to the literature of the arts and humanities, covering about 1,100 journals fully and about 6,800 selectively. Those selectively covered are titles in the sciences and social sciences indexed by Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index, from which articles of possible interest in the arts and humanities are drawn.
Bibliography of Asian Studies
This on-line version of the Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS) contains more than 410,000 records on all subjects (especially humanities and social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide from 1971 to the present.
Description
CARL UnCover
Covers both the popular magazine literature and the core research journal literature for many disciplines. The database includes approximately 15,000 journals from a consortia of libraries.
South Asian journals indexed by Carl UnCover (from the University of Hawaii - Manoa)
Dissertation Abstracts International (Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International, 1861- .)
SML, Reference Z5055 +U49 +D57 (LC)*
*The volumes in Reference are Section A and Section C. Section B is in the SML stacks at the same call number.
Dissertation Abstracts Online
Lists dissertations accepted for the Ph.D. and other doctoral degrees by American and Canadian degree-granting institutions, covering 1861 to the present. Coverage is identical for both formats, although the online database does not include abstracts for dissertations prior to 1981. Issued in three parts after 1969:
Dissertation Abstracts International. Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences (1969-present)
Dissertation Abstracts International. Section B: Sciences and Engineering (1969-present)
Dissertation Abstracts International. Section C: European Abstracts (1976-1988) and Dissertation Abstracts International. Section C: Worldwide (1989-present)
See also American Doctoral Dissertations (SML Reference Z5055 +U49 A62 (LC))
EconLit
Guide to Searching EconLit
Produced by the American Economic Association, this database contains bibliographic references and some abstracts for journal articles, books, articles in collective volumes and dissertations. It also contains the bibliographic database Abstracts of Working Papers in Economics, produced by Cambridge University Press. Journal article coverage begins in 1969 and working papers in 1984.
eHRAF
Contains the entire contents of the last four annual installments of the HRAF Collection of Ethnography comprising installments 43, 44, 45, and 46. This collection contains the full texts of ethnographic data (over 1,000 documents) on ca. 60 cultures; altogether approximately 160,000 pages including tables and graphics.
Historical Abstracts (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC Clio)
Contains annotated references to books, aricles, and dissertations on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life). Published since 1954, Historical Abstracts indexes over 2,000 journals published throughout the world. In addition to key historical journals from virtually every major country, Historical Abstracts covers hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities that are of special interest to researchers and students of history.
Lexis-Nexis Universe (Dayton, OH: Mead Data)
A full-text news and information service that provides access to newspapers, magazines, transcripts, business and legal information and much more.
Modern Language Association International Bibliography (New York: Modern Language Association of American, 1921- )
SML, Reference) Z7006 M63 (LC); SML, CD-ROM Reference Center
MLA Bibliography online (via FirstSearch)
The MLA Bibliography indexes critical materials on literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore.The database provides access to citations from over 4,000 journals and series published worldwide, as well as books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies. The print volumes go back to 1921 and the database covers from 1963 to the present. For earlier volumes, check the SML Card Catalog under "Modern Language Association."
PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) International
SML Reference, Index Cases Z7163 P83 (LC)
SSL Reference Z7163 P83 (LC)
PAIS on the Web
PAIS International covers the literature of public affairs including political, economic and social issues. It contains references to articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, research reports, conference reports and publications of international agencies. Publications from more than 60 countries are included. Materials indexed are in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Print volumes go back to 1915, and online coverage begins in 1974.
Periodicals Contents Index
A keyword index to the titles of articles published in several hundred North American, British and Continental journals, covering all subjects from 1818 to the 1960's, with stronger coverage for journals published after 1900. There is no print equivalent.
Academic Search (EBSCOhost)
EBSCOhost's Academic Search database provides access to journal articles in most academic areas of study. It includes full-text coverage of nearly 1,700 journals from 1990 to the present and abstracts/indexing of nearly 3,000 journals from 1984 to the present.
Social Sciences Citation Index (Philadelphia: Insititute for Scientific Information, 1972- .)
SSL, Reference Z7163 S63 (LC)
Connect to Social Sciences Citation Index (from 1978) online through the Web of Science
A multidisciplinary database, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of the social sciences from 1972 on. It indexes 1,700 journals spanning 50 disciplines, as well as covering individually selected, relevant items from over 3,300 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals.
Sociofile
Provides access to abstracts from 2,300 journals published since 1974 and enhanced bibliographic citations for dissertations added since 1986. Combining Sociological Abstracts with Social Planning Policy and Development Abstracts, the database references journal articles, dissertations, book abstracts, chapter abstracts and association paper abstracts.
WilsonWeb
A collection of periodical indexing databases covering the Arts, Humanities, Sciences, and Social Sciences. You can search the databases separately, or use WilsonWeb's Check Relevant Databases feature at the bottom of the initial search screen to search across multiple databases simultaneously. WilsonWeb replaces Expanded Academic Index which was available through Orbis.

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From the Map Collection at Yale University Library

News Sources

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Internet Resources

Harappa: Glimpses of South Asia before 1947

Information about the archaeology of the Indus Valley civilization, and images from the British Raj. "The objective is archaeological - literally, in the case of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, metaphorically in its excavations of media from the Raj period."
SARAI: South Asia Resource Access on the Internet

This comprehensive site, part of the Asian Studies World Wide Web Virtual Library, is edited and maintained by Dr. David Magier, Columbia University Libraries. It includes links to South Asia regional resources as well as many individual country listings.

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South Asian Studies Centers and Programs

Associations and Centers for South Asian Studies
From SARAI (Dr. David Magier, Columbia University Libraries)

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From the Map Collection at Yale University Library

Other Libraries

Libraries with Major South Asia Collections
From SARAI (Dr. David Magier, Columbia University Libraries)

British Library Oriental and India Office Collections

Eureka
Eureka offers easy-to-use online access to a wide array of databases, including the Research Libraries Group's RLIN bibliographic database of more than 22 million titles. Eureka provides catalog records for books, journals, maps, sound recordings, musical scores, films, archives, and computer files held in research, corporate, and public libraries, as well as museums, archives and historical societies. Use Eureka to locate materials outside of Yale. All searches may be easily printed, downloaded or e-mailed directly to you. Use the REQUEST Button in Eureka to request items that Yale does not own through Interlibrary Loan.

WorldCat
WorldCat is an online "union catalog"; that is, a bibliographic database of over 39 million records of books and other materials held in thousands of academic, public, special and national libraries around the world. Use WorldCat to locate materials outside of Yale, in almost any area of study, or to locate items in specific libraries and research collections. WorldCat provides catalog records for books, maps, sound recordings, musical scores, films, archives, and computer files held in research, corporate, and public libraries, as well as museums, archives and historical societies. All searches may be easily printed, downloaded or e-mailed directly to you.

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Maps

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Last revised 23 March 1999.
Please send questions and comments about this Web site to Margaret K. Powell, Librarian for Literature in English and Commonwealth Studies, Yale University Library.
This page was created by Manushag N. Powell for Yale University Library and is maintained by Margaret K. Powell.