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Jews in 20th Century Europe: Political, Social, and Economic Perspectives

HIST 264; Prof. M. Riff
Guide for finding sources at the George T. Potter Library
 

May 27, 2008

Susan B. Kurzmann

skurzman@ramapo.edu

• Library Homepage
• Finding Books
• Reference Material
• Find Articles (Databases)
• Journal Finder and Interlibrary Loan
• Websites
• Bibliographies

 

I. Library Homepage: http://library.ramapo.edu

Provides access to the catalog (OPAC), databases, interlibrary loan forms, etc.

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II. Finding Books

• Catalog: use this to find books, periodical titles (NOT articles ), government documents, reserve items, music,and movies owned by the Library. You may limit a search by language, year(s) of publication, type of material, etc. This may take a few seconds to load.

• Use the Basic Search to find material using Keywords
  • For example: search for "Jews Germany" or "Jews and Germany" to locate a broad range of materials the library has on these keywords
  • When you find an appropriate title, click on the Related Records tab located at the top of a catalog record to see which Library of Congress subject headings are discussed in that particular book/DVD/periodical

OR

• Search the catalog using Subject Browse feature if you know the relevant Library of Congress subject heading, for example:

• Jews--Germany--History

  • may subdivide by date:
    • Jews--Germany--History 11800-1933
    • Jews--Germany--History 1933-1945   
• Jews--Germany--Social conditions
• Germany--Ethnic relations

• Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
  • may subdivide by country:
    • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Czechoslovakia
  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--France

Tips

1. Start with broad searches. It is much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.
2. If you don't know the Subject Heading, use the Related Records tab located on the top of a catalog record to get to the headings. This will help you focus in on more relevant material.
3. Can "virtually" browse the shelves by clicking on the call number in a record.

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III. Reference Material

• The titles recommended below are found in the George T. Potter Library's reference collection. The reference stacks are located on the 3rd floor (this is also the library's entrance).
• You should be able to find some of these materials in other libraries as well.
• Online materials are available to you from off-campus, such as:

  From Ghetto to Emancipation: Historical and Contemporary Reconsiderations of the Jewish Community / by David N. Myers. 

  *If the book is a NetLibrary title, you'll have to logon to have access to it: Use the logon Student2, Student3, or Student4. The password is Summer.

Some useful materials for your projects:

Chronology of World History Volume IV: 1901-1998: The Modern World	Ref D 11 .M39 1999 v.4
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Gale Virtual Reference Library)	Print copy: Ref DS102.8 .E496 OR Online access
The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life: Before and During the Holocaust	Ref DS135 .E8E45 2001
Encyclopedia of the Holocaust	Ref D804.25 .E53 2000
A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People: From the Time of the Patriarchs to the Present	Ref DS117 .J8513 2002
The History of Anti-Semitism	Ref DS145 .P4613 2003
The Jewish World in Modern Times: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography	Ref DS125 .Z99E21
The Timetables of Jewish History: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in Jewish History	Ref DS114 .G68 1993
Voices and Views: A History of the Holocaust	Ref D804.3 .V639 2002
A World in Turmoil: An Integrated Chronology of the Holocaust and World War II	Ref D804.3 .E34 1991
Individual countries:
Jewish Roots in Poland: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories	Ref CS877 .J4 W45 1997
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia: An Authoritative and Popular Presentation of Jews and Judaism since the Earliest Times	Ref DS102.8 .U52

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IV. Find Articles (Databases)

You will be asked to logon to use the databases from off-campus. The logon is your Ramapo College email username (the part before "@ramapo.edu") and your password is your Ramapo College email password.

Some useful Databases for your projects:

Scholarly/Peer Reviewed/Refereed articles have been reviewed by a selected panel of experts in the discipline covered by that journal. Many of the databases allow you to limit your search to these articles.

Tips

1. Switch to the Advanced Search page in a database. This will give you more control over your results.
2. Use Boolean Operators-AND, OR, NOT and Quotation Marks when running a search. For Example: Jews and (France or Czechoslovakia) and history OR (1933 or "social conditions")
3. Always check your Spelling if the database results are zero.
4. Use the Subject Terms or Thesaurus link, if available, to find the best terms to use in a database.

V. Journal Finder and Interlibrary Loan

• Journal Finder: this provides information regarding if a journal is available full-text online, in print in the library, or available on microfilm. There are links to the Journal Finder feature from individual citations in the databases.

• Interlibrary Loan: allows studens to borrow a book or article that the George T. Potter library does not own. There is a link from the Journal Finder page.

Both of these links can be found under QUICK LINKS on the library's homepage.

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VI. Websites

Use Evaluating Websites to determine if the site is authoritative enough to use in your paper.

Useful Websites

• RAMBI: The Index of Articles on Jewish Studies  
  • Selective bibliography of articles in various fields of Jewish Studies
  • Indexes thousands of periodicals in Hebrew, Yiddish, English, and European languages
  • Articles are based on scientific research or contain important information for such research
  • Articles were written from 1965 to the present

• Academic Guide to Jewish History: Major Print & Internet Scholarly Resources

• See also: Treasures from the Jewish Cultural Renaissance in Germany 1898-1939

   

.

• Check the following Subject Resources linked under History:

 

• EuroDocs
• Historical Research in Europe: A Guide to Archives and Libraries
• The History Cooperative

 

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VI. Bibliographies and Annotated Bibliographies

• Use the Citing Websites and Print Sources for "Works Cited" citation style guidance
• Follow the examples given for the Turabian citation style
• Annotated Bibliographies:
  • How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography - Cornell University Library
  • Writing an Annotated Bibliography - Roger Williams University Library
  • Annotated Bibliographies: More Info - The Writing Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Need more help? Visit or call the Reference Desk: 201.684.7574

OR

Use QandANJ.org, a 24/7 virtual chat reference service

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