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Development Studies

Introduction

This page will help you to get started in looking for information on your topic. It just covers the basics: for a more detailed guide to the collections, see: Development studies : useful sources of information available via the DESTIN public folders or from Neil Stewart|.

When searching for information on a topic, it is best to do it systematically. Look for books first, then journal articles, then theses done, research being done, conference papers and Internet sites. Don't forget primary sources as well: archives, newspapers and government publications, for example.

If you are doing a dissertation, it will help you if you look at the Library Research Skills Tutorial| (from the University of London Research Library Services) before you start. Hands-on training sessions on literature searching are offered in-house, usually in February.

Locating books

The Library Catalogue| includes details of both printed and electronic materials held by the Library. Enter your search terms and then use the options on the right hand side of the screen to refine your results. You can use the Advanced search option if you wish to combine specific terms such as author and keyword　

Every book has a classmark, made up of letters, then numbers and finally a filing suffix. The main numbers for development material are:

Subject	Classmark
Development economics	HC59.7; HD75 - HD82
Politics and development	JF60

Main Collection HC and HD material is located on the 2nd floor; JF is on the 3rd. For locations of other classmarks use the guide Finding Your Way in the Library.

Reading lists

There is a separate Course Collection| of key texts (ie: essential readings on reading lists) on the Ground floor, accessible by turnstile for LSE staff and students only. Background readings on reading lists have one copy per title located in the Main Collection. You can short-cut the searching for reading list books by clicking on the "Reading lists|" link at the top of the Library Catalogue| and selecting "Course books list".

Finding books not held at LSE

Use COPAC| to find books located in the major UK university research libraries, including many in London.

Use Inform25| to find books located in the libraries of universities in the London area.

Use the British Library of Development Studies bibliographic database| to find books and a selection of journal articles on your topic (the BLDS is based at the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex).

JOLIS : joint World Bank / IMF Libraries catalog|

Use the Inter-Library Lending system| for books that you cannot easily get to yourself. (Use the "Requests and inter-lending" button on the Library Catalogue to request items).

Finding books no matter where they are located

Use Worldcat| to find virtually all the books published on your topic. (But note that the location information is limited to USA libraries' holdings).

Locating journals

To find printed and electronic versions of a particular journal title, you can search for journals by title by entering that title into the Library catalogue search box. If the Library subscribes to both formats, there will be one entry for the printed version and one for the e-version.

To access the e-version, hit the "Click here for full text" link in the catalogue record for the title that has "Electronic resource" as its sub-title. Alternatively, go to the Journals| page via the Electronic Resources link on the Library home page for full-text electronic journals. You can search alphabetically, by title, by subject or by ISSN. These can be accessed via your LSE username and password

The printed version will have a classmark on the catalogue record (click on the floor symbol where it says "Map" to see where to go). If the LSE does not have the printed journal, check the electronic journals link mentioned above or the Union List of Serials| for journal holdings across London University or COPAC| across the UK.

All issues of printed journals are at the relevant classmark in the Main Collection.

Journals not held at LSE

If LSE does not have the printed or electronic version of a journal then you can check to see if other libraries have it using a number of different catalogues as listed here

Use the Inter-Library Lending system| for journal articles that you cannot easily get to yourself by clicking on the "Requests and inter-lending" button on the Library Catalogue| and select the "Request a journal from another library" option.

Locating journal articles

The Library Catalogue does not have journal articles on it, so you must use a journal article finder to find out what has been published on your topic. If you already know which journal title you are looking for, see the section above. Do not try to find journal articles by using Google or the Electronic journals page: you will miss a great deal of relevant hits. Google Scholar | is worth looking at and links through to the Library's e-journals holdings; however, it is not as comprehensive as the services listed below.

The Library provides a searching service for LSE staff and students called Cross Searcher| that searches the content of a number of selected databases and resources. This can be used to find journal articles, and where available, links through to the full text, using the LSE article finder orange button:

All databases, including those in Cross Searcher and many more, are listed on the Library Catalogue.

Click here to see databases relevant to the DESTIN|.

On the Ejournals page| you can search for individual ejournals by title or ISSN. You can also browse ejournal titles by subject or choose from a list of major ejournal databases.

LSE Staff and students will need to use their LSE username and password to access these.

Locating quick reference materials

The Reference Collection| on the First Floor contains dictionaries, directories, encyclopaedias etc. For Development, look for classmarks beginning HC59.7; HD82 Eg:

Locating electronic information

Go to the Electronic resources page for access to electronic databases which are of interest in the field of Development studies (these include CD-ROMs, Internet sites and other online services). Full-text electronic journals are available from this page as well.

The most important resources are listed on the Library Catalogue| and via the Databases page|, and some are searchable via Cross Searcher|. There are also many web resources that are listed here using the Library's Delicious account|. A selection of resources is shown below:

Theses

Index to theses - UK and Irish PhD theses. (Abstracts only)
Proquest Dissertations and Theses - USA and Canadian PhD theses. Has abstracts and a 24 - page preview for recent ones.
Library Catalogue - for LSE theses - PhD and MPhil only are held here. Search for theses by title. In order to obtain a copy of a UK thesis ask for an Interlibrary loan request form at the LSE Library Service Counter
Theses completed - UK - only. From the Institute of Historical Research.
Use the Inter-Library Lending system for theses that are not held at the LSE. (Use the "Requests and inter-lending" button on the Library Catalogue to request items).
The Library Catalogue also includes listings for African, Australian, Canadian and Hong Kong theses databases.

Research being done

ESRC society today - current research sponsored by the UK's ESRC.
Many universities worldwide are creating their own repositories. These are online stores where you can find examples of conference papers, articles and reports written by staff and students. The LSE's version is LSE Research Online.
ID21 - a development research reporting service from the Institute of Development Studies.
World Bank research
WIDER

Conference papers

ZETOC - Index to conference papers 1992- . No full-text, simply tells you where to find the paper concerned eg: in a book or journal
ISI Proceedings on Web of Knowledge - science and technology, 1990-
BRIDGE (briefings on development and gender)

Internet sites

ELDIS - large list of Internet sites on all aspects of development - includes links to online documents, organisations and e-mails.
INTUTE social sciences - Internet resource catalogue with an Economics section.
The sites mentioned above contain pre-selected, high-quality Web links. For non-pre-selected ones, use a search engine such as Google .

You might also be interested in using primary sources, especially when it comes to doing your dissertation. Primary sources include archival material (papers, correspondence, etc.), newspapers, government material, statistical data.

Newspapers

Detailed advice on finding electronic versions of newspaper articles can be found on the Newspapers page|.

The Library takes few newspapers going back beyond 1981. The Times, the Financial Times, Le Monde, Die Zeit, are the major exceptions. We have these in microfilm. The Times is also available electronically via the Times Digital Archive 1785-1985|.

Nexis| contains full-text newspapers going back to 1981. However, it does not have images, statistics, graphs, charts, advertisements. To see these, you will have to use the microfilm versions or go to the BL Newspaper Library (see below).

The British Library Newspaper Library| at Colindale has back-runs of London, British provincial and some overseas newspapers.

Government material

Much development-related information is held within governmental publications. Reports of working parties, committees, commissions and departments may all hold such information. Also, parliamentary (or assembly) papers are valuable sources as are responses by members of parliaments to questions.

The Library holds extensive collections of government and intergovernmental material, most of it dating from the early Nineteenth Century onwards. This material is catalogued on the Library Catalogue. Some material is not catalogued (eg: United States documents, United Nations documents and European Union documents). See the various printed guides at the Help desk or look at the Government and inter-governmental publications| page.

The Library is a European Documentation Centre|, with a collection of European Union official publications such as legislation, consultation documents, judgments of the European Court of Justice, and reports. Material is on the First floor in the International Organisations Collection under the classmark EC.

British Government publications| include Parliamentary debates, bills, statutes, government reports and consultation papers. Material published since 1980 is on the First floor, older publications are on the Lower Ground floor.

United States Federal Government publications| have been received since 1903 (ask at the Help desk for the location of these) and these are complemented by Congressional documents and reports (in the Congressional Serial Set – Lower Ground Floor).

The Library has been a United Nations| depository since 1946. This link points towards electronic UN documents as well as to the printed ones held by the Library.

For guides to other collections of material from governments and IGOs, visit 'Governmental and intergovernmental publications|' - see in particular the page for IGOs involved in development|.

Data

If you are interested in data then have a look at our Data Library| pages. You will see information about searching for data and about the scope of our collections. You can also try our Data Companion in Moodle|.

Citing and referencing

Once you have found your references, remember that you must cite them correctly. The Library has a useful collection of online guides| on this. They include a podcast|. Refer to the Departmental handbook or your tutor for guidance on which style to use.

The Web also includes online guides to the main styles (APA, MLA, Chicago) - e.g.: IFLANET style guides and resources|.

If you have a large number of references keep track of them using EndNote| bibliographic software. Use EndNote works with word to format your references automatically. You can also export references automatically from many online databases. The library offers regular training courses on this software which you can book|.

More detailed guide

More detail, including more on sources of printed material , may be found in: Development studies : useful sources of information available via the DESTIN public folders or from Neil Stewart|.

Collection policy for Development studies

The collection development policies page| indicates what the Library staff aim to collect in various subjects, including development studies- to what level of comprehensiveness and in what depth. A specific development studies collecting policy is being drawn up.

Accessing other libraries

LSE students and staff can use most other libraries of the University of London. There may also be other specialist libraries you are entitled to visit (see 'Using other libraries|'). Please always check before you visit any other libraries.

You are entitled to borrow from the Senate House Library| - take your LSE ID card along with you. This also gives you access to their online databases.

PhD students (and staff) may wish to call at the Help Desk, first floor, to pick up a SCONUL access card that permits borrowing from member institutions|.

Help

Check the Library home page|, or see the guides and staff at the Help Desk on the First floor (for both Library and IT enquiries) for further information , or use our Web enquiry form| (response time of 2 working days).

Library Skills courses are available during term time - see our our Information Skills| page to book.

Try the Moodle| courses The Library Companion for Students| and The Library Companion for Researchers|.

Contact Details

The Library contact for the DESTIN is Neil Stewart|. His contact details are:

E-mail: n.stewart@lse.ac.uk
Phone: 020 7955 6020

Contact your Liaison Librarian

Neil Stewart, Assistant Librarian (E-services)

Telephone: 020 7955 6020

E-mail: n.stewart@lse.ac.uk|

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