Religous Studies - Library Resources

Library Instruction

I. Library Catalog

A. Basic search.  From the library homepage, click on “Go to Virgo for search options” under the search box at the top of the page.  Keyword searching: islam$ and pilgrimage (“keyword” and “search all”).  “And” gives more hits; not limited to records with the terms in the same field.  $ (the truncation symbol) lets you search all keywords beginning with those letters in one search. 32 hits.  Click on “details” by no. 16 (Pilgrimage to Mecca), then “full record.”  Note that subject headings are hotlinks.

B. [Saving results: multiple records. Click on “Go back”, then click on “save” by nos. 6, 10, 11, and 16.  Scroll to the top or bottom and click on “Saved list.”   You might want to change “View of records” to “full”; the default is a brief view.  Also, you could change “Sort by” to “call number.”  “Email list”—you could e-mail the results to yourself.  Click on “Print list.”  What you will print displays.  Now you would use the browser “Print” button.  The titles you saved will remain on your saved list until you leave the online catalog.]

C. Advanced search screen:  “Go Back.”  Under “new search” click on “advanced search”.  Here you can focus your search by limiting it by language, date of publication, library location, etc.  In “words or phrase” box type buddhis$ and nuns; make “language” English.  42 hits.  What are other ways to make searches more specific?  Note also you can control the way your results display by using the “Sort by” box. 

D. Phrase keyword search: Under “new search”, click on “basic search.” Search ‘pure land’ (“keyword” and “search all”) 109 hits [vs. 143 with no apostrophes]

E. Requests.  Put mouse on “requests” on the red line at the top, and click on “UVA users.”  This takes you to the Interlibrary Services request form, which allows you to borrow books or get articles scanned from other libraries.  Also on the request menu is “Recommend purchase”, a form which allows you to recommend books or other library materials for purchase

F. [Journals. To see if the library provides access to a particular journal, click on  the “journals” link in the red line, and then search either “all journals” or “e-journals only.”  Journals can also be searched by going to the basic search page.  Type in the name of the journal, then choose “begins with” and “journal title”.]

A. ATLA Religion Database  [Instructor searches alone]

1. Click on “Databases” in the red line.   Under “Tips”click on “Off-Grounds Access.”  This page explains the three options.  Click on the browser “back” button, then A, then ATLA Religion Database.

2. General Description of ATLA Religion Database: indexes journal articles, articles in books, book reviews, books, dissertations.  Some links to the full text of journal articles, including some titles for which we have no paper subscription.  The most current years of some titles are not immediately available in full text. Coverage back to 1949.

3. Click on link and Advanced Search window opens.  Find: Jew* and Christian* and America* and Holocaust.  This is a keyword anywhere search.  “And” must be inserted between terms.  Or you can just type different terms in different boxes.  * is wildcard.  120 records  Note that “Sort by” is set to “relevance” and that in the left column you can “Narrow Results by Subject”, which includes “peer reviewed.”

4. View no. 8 (Travail of a presidential commission...) Note abstract and subject headings.  “Publication type” is “article”, i.e. journal article.  No link to full text is given, so click on Find@UVA.  There is still no electronic version, so “Search Virgo for print” by “journal title.”  Click on “details” for the fifth item, and you see that the library owns v. 42 (1981) of Encounter in paper format. (The 7th item marked “electronic resource” actually leads only to Westlaw, a source for only selected full text articles available only to the Law School.)

5. In this database, when a search result shows “Full text from ATLA” it is quicker to “Click here for ATLA serials..” than to use Find@UVA.

6.  [Saving results—multiple citations.  Return to Ebsco Host window and click on “Result list.” For nos. 8, 14, and 15 click on “add” in the right column to add citations to the folder.  Click on “Folder has items” at top right.  Choices are “print”, “e-mail”, “save”, and “export” (to RefWorks or another bibliographic manager). Choose “e-mail”. Keep “remove these items from folder after e-mailing” checked.  You would next type in your e-mail address, give the message a subject, and send.]

7. Search limits.  Click on “new search” at upper right.  In box under “Limit your results”, check “full text”, then search Thomas Jefferson and religio*.  In advanced search, terms side by side in a box are searched as phrases.  13 hits. 

8. [When printing a “Full Text from ATLA” article, note the page range of the article, before you even click on the full-text link. Image of first page appears.  (Example: hit no. 1.)  Click on “Print”. Then change “Print from page” under 1) to the full range of pages you want. The full page range is not automatically inserted.  “Redisplay.”  Although pages to be printed display in smaller form one below the other, when you click on the browser print button, text prints full size.]

9. Scripture search (Judaeo-Christian scriptures only).  From search results page, click on “Scriptures” on the green line near the top.  Type in a verse or range of verses, e.g. John 3:16.  Note that the only space is between the name of the book and the verses.  Click on “Browse” and check the appropriate boxes.  Then click on “Search.”

B. Other databases (mention only). Return to library homepage, then click on   “Databases” in the “Collections” section. Next, click on “View all.”

1. Scroll down through this list of databases, noting 1) America History and Life (history of North America), 2) L’Annee philologique (ancient Greece and Rome), 3) Bibliography of Asian Studies, 4) Dissertations & Theses Fulltext, 5) Historical Abstracts (covers all the world but North America since 1450 CE), 6) Index Islamicus, 7) Lexis/Nexis Academic Universe (recent newspapers full-text), 8) MLA Bibliography (modern languages and literatures) 9) Philosopher’s Index, 10) WorldCat (a mega catalog constructed through contributions from libraries around the world).

III. Library Religious Studies page.  Click on “Home”, then “Subject Guides” in the “Do Your Research” section.  Next, click on “Religious Studies” in the “Humanities” section.   This page lists useful databases, with the best choices at the top of the page.  For selected Religious Studies websites, click on the link in the blue box at the left.

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