Finding Books in Forestry

There are two ways to finds books in libraries--browsing the physical or virtual "shelf" in a library or searching in a library catalog. In the sciences these books may be either "primary" publications--conference proceedings, technical reports, theses, and dissertations--or "secondary" publications--textbooks, treatises, handbooks and similar publications derived from the "primary" literature. This research guide offers suggestions for both browsing and searching.

Library of Congress Classification System

Using the Library of Congress Classification System books in the general collection and most special collections in the HSU Library are assigned a specific call number which physically arranges them on the shelf by subject. In addition ebooks are assigned these same call numbers. Most academic libraries in the United States use this classification system.

For a general overview of the entire classification system see Library of Congress Classification Outline (Library of Congress). Listed below are the major classification areas where forestry books are likely to be found. You can browse the physical and virtual shelves for print and ebooks in the HSU Library using the call number search option in the HSU Library Catalog.

HSU Library Catalog

The HSU Library Catalog lists most works in the HSU Library with the exception of governemnt documents prior to 1998. It can be searched by author, title or subject. For guidance in searching by subject see the following research guides:

• Library of Congress Subject Headings -- for general tips on finding and selecting subject headings
• Scientific Subject Headings -- for biological and earth science subjects

Other Library Catalogs

"Union" catalogs and library catalogs connected with universities, govenment agencies and other institutions can be used to identify books held in libraries around the world. The Library's Interlibrary Loan Service can be used to borrow most books found in other libraries. See Other Library Catalogs for recommended catalogs, including the WorldCat union catalog.

Following are some specific library catalogs that include forestry books:

• Catalogue of World Forestry Literature (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau) (microfilm MF 246) Microfilm card catalog published in several cumulations that covers forestry literature from 1822-1977. More extensive in coverage than Forestry Abstracts. See Catalogue of World Forestry Literature for additional information on the catalog.
• Dictionary Catalogue of the Yale Forestry Library (Yale University) (ref SD 1 Y3) Cumulative catalog of the oldest "continuous" forestry library in the United States covering forestry literature from the early 18th century through 1962. Unique to the catalog is the inclusion of over 38,000 journal article references from forestry journals and magazines through 1940.
• FAO Catalogue (Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) Includes all documents and publications produced by FAO since 1945 and books to the FAO Library since 1976. Provides links to fulltext when available.
• FS INFO Database (U.S. Forest Service) Includes over 180,000 references to journal papers, conference papers, technical reports and government documents, including 55,000 USFS publications, from 1904 to the present. Also includes links to 4500 fulltext USFS publications.
  
• IUFRO Reference Library (International Union of Forestry Research Organizations) Includes literature related to forest research found in the reference library of the IUFRO Secretariat and in the library of the Austrian Federal Forest Research Centre (FBVA). The IUFRO database contains mainly proceedings from IUFRO meetings and IUFRO publications such as World Series and Occational Papers. The FBVA database includes all publications added since 1981 and all publications of FBVA members since 1874.
• National Agricultural Library (U.S Department of Agriculture)
• Oregon State University
• University of California Bioscience and Natural Resources Library
• University of Minnesota Natural Resources Library
• University of Washington