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Research Guides: Dance

Here are tips and suggestions for using the resources of the Humboldt State University Library to find information on all aspects of dance. For more in-depth assistance with research, please come to the Library's Reference desk.

Reference sources, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, or directories, are for finding general background information on a subject or for verifying specific facts. Many reference sources have bibliographies that you can use to find more information on your subject. The Library's print Reference collection is on the main floor, and the dance section is GV 1580 to GV 1799. Other sections, such as music (call numbers beginning with M) and anthropology (call numbers beginning with GN), have sources of interest for some dance topics. Here are two particularly useful reference sources for dance:

Books, videos, and sound recordings in the HSU Library are listed in our catalog. Connect to the library catalog from the Library's homepage, using stations in the Library, elsewhere on campus, or remote access. No password is required. Help is available for searching the catalog, or you can get help at the Reference desk in the Library. Special instructions for finding videorecordings or audiorecordings are available, too.

Keyword is recommended for subject searching in the catalog. Remember to truncate country names, for example gree? danc? will find greek dance or greek dancing or greek dancers or greece dance or greece dancing, etc. To find material on Native American dance, use danc? and Indians or a tribe name. Instead of danc?, you could do a broader search by using rites and ceremonies, along with Indians or a tribe name.

Some books are collections of essays on fairly specific aspects of a general subject. For some of these, you can search the table of contents in the catalog and find the specific topics within the book. Table of contents information has only recently started being added to the catalog, however. For many books, only the general subject can be searched in the catalog. Use Essay and General Literature Index (a print version is at Table 2 on the main floor of the Library, beyond the catalog stations) to find chapters on your subject of interest in more general books.

You may be able to borrow needed books from other libraries if ours doesn't have what you need. This is especially helpful when you have found a citation to a valuable book in the bibliography of a source you are using. It can also help if we have no information on your subject. Always check our catalog first for books. Then you may want to search WorldCat or Melvyl to identify books for interlibrary loan. Please note that it may not be possible to borrow videos or audiorecordings on interlibrary loan. Here is more information about our interlibrary loan service.

Articles in magazines, journals, and newspapers are listed in print and electronic indexes. Electronic indexes are listed on the Library's homepage under Databases. Everyone can search these from stations in the Library. HSU students, faculy, and staff can search them from other on-campus locations or from remote locations with a password. For more information about remote access to the databases, see Off Campus Access to Databases. A librarian at the Reference desk can suggest the best indexes or databases to use for your research, or you may use the Subject List as a guide.

Electronic indexes have more search options than print indexes do, and they usually allow searching of many years at once. Each database has its own features, so checking the online help for each one is a good idea. You can get help with learning how to search our databases at the Reference desk, too. These databases are the most useful for dance information.

Print indexes typically go back further in time than online databases. Some of them have electronic versions that cover more recent years. You can search print indexes by subject headings and sometimes by author of the article. These indexes are located on the main floor of the Library on numbered tables or on shelves beyond the catalog stations. These are the most useful print indexes in our Library for dance information. All of these are continued by the electronic databases.

Here is how to get a copy of an article once you have identified one that you want:

NOTE: If you are working from Database search results, we recommend opening another window in your browser (control-n), then going to the Library homepage in the new window and opening the Periodicals List there. Then you can toggle between your search window and the Periodicals List.

Internet resources can be found using search engines or directories:

With Google and other search engines, you enter search terms that are then matched by the search engine software to words on webpages the search engine's robots have found. The largest search engine covers only about half of the web, so you will get different results with different engines. Google is recommended because it is easy to use and because of the way it ranks its results.

Internet directories group website links into subject categories, so you can browse to find sites of interest. Directories usually have a search feature, too, which is helpful when no category fits your topic, or your topic may be covered in more than one category. Here are a few recommended directories: