Getting Help

Hi, I'm Krista Knapp, your friendly research/instructional librarian, and I'm here to help you! The best way to get ahold of me is probably email: kmknapp@salisbury.edu.

You can visit the Research Services Desk for help most days between 10am and 10pm.  You can also reach us virtually by sending an instant message to blackwellref using any of the major IM providers: AIM, MSN, yahoo, or gtalk.

You can also get help 24 hours a day/7 days a week through the Maryland AskUsNow chat reference service:  http://askusnow.info/

Finding Books

Find books in Blackwell Library using our online library catalog.  Books in our library are arranged using Library of Congress Classification.  The books you can check out are located on the second floor of the library.  If you ever have trouble finding a book you want, PLEASE ask for help at the Research Desk!

Books from other USMAI Libraries

You can also borrow books from any of the USMAI affiliations by selecting the "choose campus" link at the top of the catalog page and then selecting "USMAI All Campuses."  When you find a book you want that is not in Blackwell, click the "request" button and use your ID number to login.  You can have the book delivered to Blackwell within 3 or 4 days.  Watch this tutorial to see the process!

A note about keywords:

Don't try just one search!  There are lots of synonyms for "fashion" or "costume."  Here is a list of keywords I brainstormed:

Ital* (the wildcard will allow you to search for both "Italy" and "Italian")

15th century (you could also try spelling out "fifteenth")

Finding Articles

Ask yourself if you need scholarly sources or popular sources for your assignment.  Many times, your professor will insist on scholarly sources.  What does that mean?  Find out using this handy-dandy chart.

Note: If you are off campus, you will be prompted to log in with the 14 digit barcode on the back of your Gull Card.

• ARTstor - Collections of museum images.
   
• JSTOR Arts & Sciences - a huge, wonderful database of scholarly communication from a wide variety of disciplines.  All of these sources are full-text, but the newest documents are 3-5 years old.
   
• Art Abstracts  - Indexing and abstracts for more than 450 international art publications, including periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins.
   
• Humanities International Complete  - Full text of hundreds of journals, books and other published sources.

Find It Button

  WHAT DOES THAT CUTE LITTLE FIND IT BUTTON DO, ANYWAY?

It's a bit like magic, really.  The Find It button does three things:

• Looks in all of our databases to see if the document you want is available full-text in another of our databases.  If so, it links you to it!

• Links you to the library catalog when we have the item you want in print or microform.

• Links you to ILLiad (interlibrary loan) so you can borrow the item from another library if we don't have access electronically or in print.

The Find It Button is YOUR FRIEND!!! 

This tutorial lets you see the FIND IT BUTTON in action!

AND, this tutorial gives you a little insight about Interlibrary Loan!

Websites

Always make sure that internet resources are appropriate for your project.  Look at the criteria listed on this website.  If you have questions about the appropriateness of a website, please check with your professor or a librarian.

Some websites you may want to check out:

http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/wardrobe/wardrobe.htm

http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/  - try plugging in European art with a key word of Italian and order by date

http://digital.nypl.org/mmpco/browse.cfm?trg=folder - try searching the Costume - 1400's - Italy folder.

Citing your Work

Plagiarism is not cool.  Of course you want to make sure you give proper credit to any source that you use to write your papers, whether you directly quote or paraphrase. 
This guide helps students understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it:

This guide should help you cite your work.  I also have a fondness for the Online Writing Lab from Purdue University.