Research Guides: Architecture: Design Research: Finding Sources

Finding Sources

Databases related to Architecture, Preservation, Planning and Real Estate Development.

Art and Architecture Complete
Includes images and hundreds of periodicals, journals and books in the areas of art, art history, architecture and architectural history including: archaeology, interior and landscape design, painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, graphic arts, decorative arts, costume design and antiques. Covers 1984-present.
ARTstor
Repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images, from across many periods and cultures. Architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design, and other forms of visual culture are represented. Provides tools to actively use images for scholarship, teaching, and learning.
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
The Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals database offers a comprehensive listing of journal articles on architecture and design, including bibliographic descriptions on subjects such as the history and practice of architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, historic preservation, and interior design and decoration. The index contains more than 440,000 thousand entries surveying over seven hundred American and international journals. These include not only scholarly and popular periodical literature, but also publications of professional associations, American state and regional periodicals, and the major serials on architecture and design of Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Australia.
JSTOR
Includes core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Includes complete runs of journals with full-text of all articles published prior to the most current five years.

Searching in a Database

Once you get into a database, take some time to explore the various search options, play with drop-down menus, and figure out what features will be useful to you.
Useful limiters to refine your search:
- Academic "scholarly" journals
- Publication date
- Language
- Subject Thesaurus Term
Databases do not rank search results by popularity, so try different keyword combinations. To search using multiple keywords, use Boolean operators:
- AND (searches for both terms)
- OR (searches for either word)
- AND NOT (excludes the following word from search)
- "....." (searches for words within the quotes as a phrase)
- * (in the place of a suffix, searches for all possible word endings)
From many databases, you can export your chosen results list directly to a bibliographic citation manager; if not, you can e-mail it to yourself. Citation managers can also help you format your citations into the right style for a bibliography and insert them into your paper as you compose.
Be careful using "Cite" buttons that generate automatic citations. These are not always correct!
Some additional University of Maryland guides:

Finding Print Sources

Use the catalog to search for books, e-books, maps, microfilm, newspaper and journal titles, video and sound materials, and UM theses/dissertations up until 2004 (after that, they are in DRUM).
Note which library the book is located (Architecture, Art, McKeldin), the call number and whether it is STACKS or FOLIO.
Visit the library to locate the book, or select "Hold" to place a hold on the book and have it sent to the library of your choice.

How do I find a book or periodical in the Architecture Library?

STACKS is located on the second floor, and FOLIO on the first floor.
When you find your book on the shelf, take a minute to browse to its left and right to find similar sources.
Take the book to the circulation desk to check it out or use self-check out.

What if the book I want is not available at UMD or is checked out?

Try UBorrow, on the Libraries home page. Requesting a book through UBorrow means that any of the 15 Universities in the Big Ten Academic Alliance will send you the book from their collection, usually within a week.
Try the catalogs for the Washington Research Libraries Consortium or WorldCat, which cover libraries throughout the country and beyond.
If UM does not have what you need, try an Interlibrary Loan.
If the book is checked out, you can place a hold on it so you receive it when it becomes available. Select "Hold" in the catalog record for the book you want.

UBorrow Tutorial

ARTstor
Repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images, from across many periods and cultures. Architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design, and other forms of visual culture are represented. Provides tools to actively use images for scholarship, teaching, and learning.

ArchDaily (current architecture)

http://www.archdaily.com/

ARCHNET

http://archnet.org/

Library of Congress American Memory Project

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/

University of Maryland Digital Collections

http://digital.lib.umd.edu/results?index1=dmSubjectBrowse&query1=Architecture%2c+Landscape%2c+Historic+Places

University of Washington Digital Collections

http://content.lib.washington.edu/buildingsweb/index.html

Search the University of Maryland catalog to find theses and dissertations from the University of Maryland. Those published before 2000 are available by request in print form in Hornbake Library's Maryland Room. Contact askhornbake@umd.edu for more information.

DRUM, the University of Maryland's digital repository, contains all thesis and dissertations from 2000-present online.

The School Library contains architecture thesis documents from the mid-1980's to 1999, shelved in the Folio section.

Hornbake Library contains special collections and archival material related to Historic Preservation. Contact askhornbake@umd.edu to find out more or to schedule a reference session.

Library of Congress Stairway .