LibGuides: LGBTQ History in Your Curriculum: Research Tools & Search Strategy

Your Research Toolbox

Different tools for reporting AND finding information:

the Information Cycle

Reference sources provide BASIC OVERVIEWS of and FACTS on a topic. These are great tools to start with! Use them to help you create a list of keywords for searching and fill in the Who? What? When? Where? Why? story of your topic.

Biography In Context This link opens in a new window
Full-length biographies offering records of the lives of some of the most notable and influential figures in history, world culture, science, religion, health, and government. Integrated reference material, periodical information and multimedia content. Access is limited to 6 simultaneous users.
eBook Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window
Ebook editions of reference works for all subjects. We like to call it the "academically respectable" Wikipedia.
Opposing Viewpoints In Context This link opens in a new window
Covers controversial topics in pro and con essays published in the following series: Opposing Viewpoints, Information Plus, At Issue, Contemporary Issues Companion, Current Controversies, Opposing Viewpoints Digests, and Teen Decisions. Study tools and guidelines included.
U.S. History In Context This link opens in a new window
Historical (primary source) documents, reference articles, and journals covering periods in U.S. history from precolonial times to the present. Includes citations for history journals from the Arts and Humanities.
World History In Context This link opens in a new window
Identify themes from antiquity to the present with extensive coverage of the 20th Century. Includes journal articles, maps, images and over 2,000 primary source documents.
Science in Context This link opens in a new window
Science In Context is an engaging online resource providing contextual information on hundreds of today's most significant science topics.

Books generally provide IN-DEPTH overviews, background and specific information on a topic. In other words, books provide a very holistic view of a topic.

Discovery: search the catalog and more This link opens in a new window
Your all-in-one search tool to find books, media, articles, and more.
Films on Demand: Master Academic Collection This link opens in a new window
Large collection of streaming educational films with content in: business, economics, medicine, humanities, social sciences, and mathematics. New programs added monthly.
Artstor This link opens in a new window
Provides over 1.8 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, including access to Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), and the Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library .
Artstor, the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), and the Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library are now sharing an additional 10,000 images of architectural plans and sections and related materials in the Digital Library.

Articles really zero in on specific aspects of a topic. Academic articles (aka: peer reviewed or scholarly) in particular present a very narrow focus and report on actual research done by experts in that field of study. Peer reviewed articles have to go through a rigorous process of review by other experts in that field before publication.

Access World News Research Collection | NewsBank | Includes access to San Antonio Express-News This link opens in a new window
Includes access to San Antonio Express-News.
International, national, regional, state and local news content from all 50 U.S. states as well as more than 2,700 international news sources from 139 countries. News content may be included in its original published language or translated into English.

LGBTQ Nation (twitter)
Breaking news and daily headlines from the nation's leading LGBTQ news source.
10 LGBT-Rights Activists to Follow on Twitter
One quick way to stay tapped in to LGBT happenings is to follow famous activists on Twitter. Many powerful people use the 140-character social tool to spread their messages of equality, from transgender author Janet Mock to sex columnist and It Gets Better cofounder Dan Savage.
LGBT@NYPL (blog)
Connecting you with the LGBT collections, programs, and expertise that The New York Public Library has to offer.

A Social and Psychological Account of Gender Transition by Gypsey Elaine Teaque; Jennifer Sager (Foreword by)
Publication Date: 2008-09-01
Documents one man's transition to womanhood. This work includes diary entries that complement each stage of the process.

LGBT materials in the NYPL
For example, take a look at this digitized US Navy discharge letter from 1914. Among the many activist groups that worked to archive this history was the International Gay Information Center (IGIC), which grew out of the History Committee of GAA. The IGIC archives operated as a community-based repository until 1988, when the organization's directors gave the collection to The New York Public Library. The IGIC archives, along with other archives and collections subsequently donated to the Library, such as the Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Gay History Papers and Photographs, comprehensively document the gay and lesbian civil rights struggles in New York since the 1950s and have made NYPL one of the most important archives of LGBT history in the United States.
LGBT Data.com
LGBTData.com serves as a no-cost, open-access clearinghouse for the collection of sexual orientation & gender identity data and measures. This site also provides knowledgeable analysis, commentary and expert "how to" information on gathering such data effectively in scientific surveys, questionnaires and studies. Collected and categorized here you will find numerous datasets and links to rich data sources that are essential to LGBT health research, researchers, students, advocates and anyone interested in scientific-based information about LGBT people and populations.
Census & LGBT Demographic Studies
Reports on LGBT issues such as: Aging, Food Insecurity, Adults Identifying as Transgender, LGBT in the South, Marriage and Family. Curated by The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law.
The Lesbian Herstory Archives
The Lesbian Herstory Archives is home to the world's largest collection of materials by and about lesbians and their communities.
The LGBT Community Center Natural History Archive
The LGBT Community Center National History Archive serves to preserve the history of our community and its rich heritage. Founded in 1990 by volunteer archivist Rich Wandel, the archive provides a look into the lives and experiences of LGBT people throughout the years. The Center Archive contains a wide range of media from as early as 1920, including:

Photography, Correspondence, News Clippings, Radio Soundbytes, Video Broadcasts. Personal Journals

How Keyword Searching Works

Databases are only smart enough to play the matching game with your keywords!

Me: Match ONE keyword for me!

Research Tool: Here are items that contain that ONE keyword:

Me: Match TWO keywords for me!

Research Tool: Here are items that contain BOTH of those keywords:

Me: Match THREE keywords for me!

Research Tool: Here are items that contain ALL THREE keywords:

Me: Match THREE keywords for me and find alternate endings for "art" and "paint"!

Research Tool: Here are items that contain ALL THREE keywords with alternate endings on "art" and "paint":

Google plays the matching game, too! (more or less)

BONUS TIP: truncation * to expand

Don't miss out on great search results! Pick up alternate keyword endings with TRUNCATION: internet AND addict* The * finds: addict addicts addiction addictions