Geography and Environment

Page contents > Introduction | Locating Books | Locating journals | Locating journal articles | Locating quick reference materials | Locating LSE theses | Using Electronic Resources | Citing and referencing | Accessing other libraries | Theses | Reports and Working Papers | Institutional Repositories | Conference papers | Newspapers | Government material | Data | Collection policy for Geography and Environment | Obtaining Further Help | Contact Details

Introduction

• This page will help you to get started in looking for information on your topic. It covers the basics systematically:  locating books, locating journals, locating journal articles, locating theses, research being done, electronic resources including websites and working papers, conference papers, archives, newspapers and government publications 
• There is a selection of useful student resources for Geography and Environment including some basic information skills online tutorials.  Further information on information skills training is available here.  The subject guide for Development Studies will also be useful.

Locating Books

• The place to start is the Library Catalogue 
• The Catalogue includes printed and electronic books held by the Library
• Searches can be done by searching everything, author, title, journal title, subject, classmark, series and Boolean. 
• The default search is "Quick search" which ranks according to relevance in favour of author and title
• If you are searching via keywords it is better to use the "Advanced search" option
• You can also limit by material type
• Each item has a map available showing the location of the material

Why not try the online Library Catalogue tutorial.|

• All books have a classmark, made up of letters, then numbers and finally a filing suffix
• The main subjects for Geography and Environment and their classmark are:

• Main Collection G-GF material is located on the 3rd floor.  For locations of other classmarks use the Floor Plans and Location Guide.

Reading lists:

• There is a separate Course Collection for essential and background readings on reading lists that is only accessible by LSE staff and students in term time.  Some background readings may be located as Recommended Texts in the Main Collection. 
• You can short-cut the searching for reading list books by clicking on the 'Reading lists' link on the Library Catalogue

Books not held at LSE:

• You can look for books in other libraries using a number of the different catalogues listed here
  
• Use the Inter-Library Lending system for books 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 book from another library" option.

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, choose "Find Results In: Journal Title Browse" on the Library Catalogue "Quick Search" screen. If the Library subscribes to both formats, there will be one entry for the printed version and one for the e-version
• The printed version will have a classmark on the catalogue record.  Click on the floor symbol where it says "Map" to view its location in the Main Collection
• To access the e-version, click on 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
• Key titles in printed or electronic format include:

Journals not held at LSE:

• If the 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
• 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

Locating journal articles can be done either through the website of a resource or by using a search across multiple resources. Do not assume a simple Google will find articles - the library provides much more powerful searches. 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:
• The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences is a good general starting point for finding articles.
• All databases, including those in Cross Searcher and many more, are listed on the Library Catalogue. Click here to see databases relevant to Geography and Environment, and Development Studies.
• 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 Geography, look for classmarks beginning G.

Locating LSE theses

The Library only holds LSE PhD and MPhil thesis.  These can be located via the Library Catalogue| using the follow method:

•  Turn the "Quick limit" box to read "Theses"
• Enter either the title in "Title browse" or the full name of the department in the "Author browse"
• An example of finding by department in the "Author browse" is - London School of Economic and Political Science Department of Government

Using Electronic Resources

The Electronic Resources page contains information on all of the electronic resources the Library has access to. 

The most important resources for Geography and environment are listed on the Library Catalogue|,  and some are searchable via Cross Searcher|.

More relevant web resources are listed here: Geography|, Environment|, Development|, Urban studies|.

Electronic books

A growing number of electronic books are available. See the E-books page for details.

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.
• Click here for more online guides.
• 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.

Accessing other libraries

• LSE Geography and Environment 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 the Using other libraries page). 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 with some proof of your current address.
  

Theses

• Index to theses - UK and Irish PhD theses. (Abstracts only)
  
• Digital dissertations - USA and Canadian PhD theses. Has abstracts and a 24 - page preview for recent ones.
  
• Library Catalogue - or LSE theses - PhD and MPhil only are held here. Turn "Quick limit" box to read "Theses".
  
• 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).
  

Reports and Working Papers

Theses are one way of accessing research currently being undertaken.  Reports and working papers are another important source.  The list below contains a selection of working paper sites for Environmental studies

Institutional Repositories

Institutional repositories are becoming increasingly important as a source of information regarding research being undertaken by academics and students in universities worldwide.  LSE Research Online| is a collection of research produced by LSE staff. It often contains content which is full text and freely available. This is constantly updated and displayed below are examples of some of the most recently added items.

• A full list of Geography items is also available.
• If you are interested in including your own research please contact staff at: lseresearchonline@lse.ac.uk.

• 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)- covers 1990- .

  Newspapers

  • The Library takes few newspapers going back beyond 1981. The Times, the Financial Times, Le Monde, Die Zeit, are the major exceptions. LexisNexis News,  however, has full-text newspapers going back to 1981.
    
  • The British Library Newspaper Library at Colindale has back-runs of London, British provincial and some overseas newspapers.

  Government material

  • 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 "COM" documents). See 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.

  Collection policy for Geography and Environment

  • The Geography and Environment policy indicates what the Library staff aim to collect in this subject - to what level of comprehensiveness and in what depth .

  Obtaining Further Help

  Further help can be obtained via a number of different methods:

  • Check the Library home page
  • See the guides and staff at the Help Desk on the 1st floor for both Library and IT inquiries
  • Use the Web enquiry form which we aim to respond to within 2 working days
  • Take a Library skills course - see our our Information Skills page to book.
  • Use the The Library Companion for Students in Moodle

  Contact Details

  • The Library contact for the Department of Geography and Environment is Graham Camfield.  His contact details are:
  • E-Mail: g.camfield@lse.ac.uk
  • Phone: 020 7955 7942