A. Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
1. 
American Masculinities:
A Historical Encyclopedia. Ref.
HQ 1090.3 .A453 2003
A single-volume collection of over 250 short, signed articles. Subjects
covered include:
arts, literature, and
popular
culture; body,
health, and sexuality; class, ethinic, racial and religious identities;
concepts and theories; family and fatherhood; general history; cions
and symbols; leisure and work; movements and organizations; people;
political and social issues.
2. Encyclopedia of
Feminist Theories. Ref. HQ 1190 .E63 2000
Multidisciplinary resource focusing on second-wave feminist theory
since the 1960s in the English-speaking world. Entries are signed
and include a "references
and further reading" list.
3. Encyclopedia of
Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World's Cultures. Ref.
HQ 16 .E53 2003
Four introductory chapters provide overviews of several broad topics
related to sex and gender studies. These chapters are followed by
individual articles that focus on sex and gender issues
in specific cultures. Extensive bibliographies are provided
at the end of each article.
4. Encyclopedia of
Women and Gender : Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact
of Society on Gender. Ref. HQ 1115 .E43 2001
Two volumes, and more than 100 articles of substantial length. Covers
broad topics of women and gender, which are arranged alphabetically
by topic. Perspective is social and psychological. Outlines,
glossaries, cross references, and bibliographies are provided for
each article.
5. Feminism: A Reference
Handbook. Ref. HQ 1410 .H365 1998
Provides a brief history of U.S. feminism; a chronology of 20th-century feminist
events; biographical sketches; a detailed review of feminist issues; useful
charts and statistical tables; a directory of feminist organizations; and an
annotated bibliography of key print and nonprint resources including journals,
websites, films, and documentaries.
6. 
Feminist
Theory Website. <http://www.cddc.vt.edu/feminism/enin.html>
Provides "research materials and information for students, activists, and scholars
interested in women's conditions and struggles around the world." The three
main sections are: 1) various fields within feminist theory (e.g., body
studies, post-colonialism, radical feminism, environment, law); 2) different
national/ethnic
feminisms;
and 3) information about individual feminists. Offers a selective bibliography
for each of the 31 fields of feminist theory; course syllabi; descriptions
of current projects by feminists; and hundreds of links to pertinent websites.
7. The Greenwood
Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide. Ref. HQ 115 .G74
2003
A six-volume work divided into geographic areas: Asia and Oceania;
Central and South America; the Middle East and North Africa; North
American and the Caribbean; Sub-Saharan Africa. Each volume is
further divided into countries and then the following subtopics:
education, employment and economics, family and sexuality, health,
politics
and law, religion
and spirituality, violence, and an outlook for the 21st Century.
8. Men & Masculinities:
A Social, Cultural, and Historical Encyclopedia. Ref.
HQ 1090.3 .M436 2004
A collection of over 400 short, signed articles of terms, concepts,
biographies.
According to the editors, the first encyclopedia of its kind. Emphasis
is on United States.
9. The Routledge
Companion to Feminism and Postfeminism. Ref. HQ 1115 .R68
2001
Brings together concepts from the feminist movement as they have been redefined
over the past century. Part I of the volume provides an overview of feminism's
history and cultural context with 15–20-page essays on topics such as the development
of feminist thought, "Feminism and the Developing World," and "Feminism and
Popular Culture." Part 2 offers 2–3-paragraph dictionary entries about key
themes, terminology, and major figures in feminism.
10. Routledge International
Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge. Ref.
HQ 1115 .R69 2000
Four-volume resource addressing the concerns of women and the theory and practice
of feminism worldwide, with entries for ideas, regional topics, and actions
rather than for individual women. Articles are signed and include a "references
and further reading" list.
11. Women in the Third
World: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Issues. Ref. HQ
1870.9 .W6548 1998
Written by international feminist studies experts and advocates,
articles provide insight into the complex cultural, economic, and
political issues facing women
in the Third World. Essays address women in relation to global and development
issues (e.g., "Demographics and Health"; "Women and the Environment") and cover
the organized movements promoting women's issues in the Third World. Includes
an annotated bibliography.
12. Women's Almanac
2002. Ref. HQ 1101 .W7562 2002
Issue-oriented source of current and historical statistics, chronologies, biographical
sketches, and organization listings, divided into two sections (US women and
world women). Includes histories of women by US state.
13. Women's Studies
Encyclopedia. Ref.
HQ 1115 .W645 1999
Signed articles on “women’s contributions to literature, art, science, learning,
philosophy, religion, and their place in history.” Article-end references
suggest sources for more detailed information or for different perspectives.
B. Chronologies and Histories
14. Chronology of
Women's History. Ref. HQ 1121 .O47 1994
World-wide coverage of landmarks in women's history from 20,000 B.C. to 1993.
Entries for most years are organized around the following categories: General
Status and Daily Life; Government, Military, and the Law; Literature and Visual
Arts; Performing Arts and Entertainment; Athletics and Exploration; Activism;
Business and Industry; Science and Medicine; Education and Scholarship; and
Religion.
15. Encyclopedia of
Women's History in America. Ref. HQ 1410 .C85 2000
Highlights people, significant events, organizations, legislation,
court cases, and issues affecting women. Each entry is followed
by a bibliography of one
to five titles. Useful appendix offers the complete texts of 39 documents ranging
from requests for and objections to women's suffrage, to Sojourner Truth's "Ain't
I a Woman," to full-text reports from relevant US court cases and recent legislation.
16. Handbook of American
Women's History. Ref. HQ 1410 .H36 2000
Provides short articles on significant people, events, concepts, books and
periodicals, and organizations in the history of American women. Each signed
article contains definitions, historical significance, and a brief bibliography.
The introduction provides a selective bibliography of established sources in
women's studies, including reference works, monographs, and collections of
primary sources.
17. Historical Dictionary
of Feminism. (2nd ed.) Ref. HQ 1115 .B65 2004
A dictionary of terms related to the history of feminism and the feminist
movement. Includes a chronology of events significant to feminism and
an rather extensive 28-section bibliography.
18. Internet
Women's History Sourcebook. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/women/womensbook.html>
Maintained at Fordham University, the Internet Sourcebooks
consist of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts
for educational use. Organization of web resources is historically
geographical (Ancient Egypt, Early Modern Europe, North America,
etc.) See
also NUMBER for the LGBT Internet
Sourcebook.
19. The Reader's Companion
to U.S. Women's History. Ref. HQ 1410 .R43 1998
400 articles by more than 300 historians and feminist pioneers (e.g., Gloria
Steinem, Bella Abzug, Wilma Mankiller, Letty Cottin Pogrebin) covering both
historical and contemporary questions and the histories of women of diverse
racial and ethnic backgrounds—all from a strongly feminist perspective. Arranged
alphabetically by topic (no biographical entries).
C. Statistics
20. American
Factfinder. <http://factfinder.census.gov/>
An online source for population, housing, economic and geographic
data that presents the results from four key U.S. Census Bureau data
programs. Provides statistical data about American women's employment,
race, age, familial and educational status, etc.
21. 
LexisNexis
Statistical.
An index to the statistical publications of major federal, international,
state, and private organizations, including the U.N. and various
development banks. Covers
basic economic, demographic, and social statistics. Many of the documents
are available on microfiche in the Government Documents/Microforms Department.
Also available from http://www.library.georgetown.edu/advisor/
22. U.S. Dept. of
Labor Women's Bureau. <http://www.dol.gov/wb/>
Information from the US government agency concerned with working women.
23. U.S.
Historical Census Browser Data. <http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/census/>
Drawn from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
(ICPSR), the data describes the people and the economy of the US for each state
and county from 1790 to 1970.
24. The Women's Atlas
of the United States. Ref. G 1201 .E1 G5 1995
Analyzes the demographic characteristics of the female population and offers
state-by-state comparisons of such subjects as education, income, health, political
participation, and crime.
25. World's Women
2000: Trends and Statistics. Ref. HQ 1154 .W95 2000
Demographic statistics and trends for women worldwide. Excerpts are available
at <http://unstats.un.org/unsd/Demographic/products/indwm/wwpub.htm>.
The report follows up on progress made since the 1995
Fourth World Conference on Women.
D.
Libraries, Archives & Research
Centers
26. Center
for American Women and Politics. <http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/>
Provides up-to-the-minute information and analysis on the developing
women's political movement. Offers timely and accurate summary information,
specific demographic and political data on individual officeholders,
and a picture of the trends and context in which women's political
history is being made.
27. Documents
from the Women's Liberation Movement <http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/>
Scanned and transcribed from original documents held in Duke University's Special
Collections Library, this online archival collection documents various aspects
of the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States, focusing specifically
on the radical origins of the movement during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
28. The
National Archives and Records Administration <http://www.archives.gov/research_room/alic/reference_desk/womens_history_links.html>
Includes the Archive's pathfinder for women's history research at the National
Archives and Records Administration Library; bibliographies; reference works;
biographical sources; journals; collections of primary material; monographs
and anthologies; and guides to archives.
29. Women's
Studies Database. <http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomensStudies/>
Part of the University of Maryland's MITH (Maryland Institute for Technology
in the Humanities) project; intended audience is those interested in
the women's studies profession. Includes sections on Gender Issues,
conferences, calls for papers, etc.
30. Women's Studies Programs, Departments, & Research
Centers. <http://userpages.umbc.edu/~korenman/wmst/programs.html>
Part of the UMBC women's studies site (see #50),
providing hundreds of links to women's studies programs, departments, and research
centers worldwide. Note the links to specialized programs (e.g., graduate-level,
lesbian & gay studies).
A. GEORGE http://catalog.library.georgetown.edu/
To locate books in the library on topics
within women's and gender studies, use GEORGE,
the online
catalog. GEORGE
uses Library of Congress Subject Headings, whict are the topics
assigned to the
book by
the Library
of Congress. Some
are obvious and can be guessed, such as:
However, many are not obvious, and they
may be composed of several words. Note that while the term
"Women's Studies" is an accepted Library of Congress
Subject Heading, "Gender Studies" is not:
- Suffrage--Women--United
States--History--20th Century
- Sex role--Africa
- Sex differences
- Gender identity in music
To identify the Library of Congress Subject Headings that
best describe your topic, perform a KEYWORD search in GEORGE
for one or more of the terms that
best describes
your search, for example:
women and vote
When you find a record for a book (or books) that interests
you, scroll down to the bottom of the page to view the Library
of Congress Subject
Headings assigned to that book. By clicking on the subject
headings, you'll be taken to a list of all other items in the
library that are assigned that subject heading.
Some examples of common types of headings are:
- for specific topics or issues;
- for women or
people in a specific country or region;
Women--Chile
Sex
role--China--Hong
Kong
- for women or people of a specific nationality or ethnic
group:
African-American
Women
There is rarely one perfect or correct subject
heading that covers a search in the catalog. If you need help, ask
a reference librarian.
B. Other
Library Catalogs
If you cannot locate a specific item in GEORGE, you may broaden your search to
include the following catalogs, which also use the Library of Congress Subject
Headings:
WRLC Catalog <http://catalog.wrlc.org/>
The catalog of the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC): George Washington,
American, Catholic, George Mason, Gallaudet, and Marymount Universities, the
University of the District of Columbia, and Georgetown University. Georgetown
students may borrow directly from WRLC libraries or request items via the WRLC
Catalog.
WorldCat
A catalog containing over 54 million records, representing the
holdings of thousands of libraries. Items found in WorldCat
that are not owned by Georgetown or the WRLC may be requested
via Interlibrary
Loan.
Library of Congress
Catalog <http://catalog.loc.gov/>
Georgetown faculty and students have streamlined access to the
services and collections of the Library of Congress via the
GU-LC Connection.
Note: For subject-specific bibliographies beyond those listed
below, do a subject search in GEORGE for your topic and then click
on the “Limit/Sort” button to limit your results to those that also
have the word “bibliography” among their subject headings.
e.g. Sports for women -- Bibliography
Abortion -- Psychological aspects -- Bibliography
Pro-choice movement -- United States
-- Bibliography
31. Core
Lists in Women's Studies. <http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/WomensStudies/core/coremain.htm>
The lists are maintained by the Women's Studies section of the Association
of College & Research Libraries Women's Studies Section. The
lists include only books currently in print, and the focus of most
of the lists is on women in the United States. Each list consists of
20
to 75 titles,
and the most important five to ten titles are starred. The lists are
updated each January.
32. gender
Inn. <http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/englisch/datenbank/e_index.htm>
Hosted at the University of Cologne, gender Inn is a searchable database providing
access to over 8,300 records pertaining to feminist theory, feminist literary
criticism and gender studies focusing on English and American literature. Available
in English and German.
33. Reader's Guide
to Women's Studies. Ref. Z 7961 .R42 1998
Provides "brief discussions of some of the best books on over 500 topics and
individuals." Each entry includes a list of the best books, followed
by an essay discussing what each book contributes to scholarship on that subject
or individual.
34. The Women's Movement:
References and Resources. Ref. Z 7963 .S9 R93 1996
An annotated bibliography on the women's movement in the United States. Includes
entries on the history of the feminist movement, women's biography, feminist
discourse, and other issues.
35. Women's Studies:
A Guide to Information Sources. Ref. Z 7961 .C37
1990
Cites relevant sources of information about women and women's studies issues
world-wide. The book is divided into three sections. The first section cites
general sources of material; the second section cites relevant material by
geographic region; and the third section provides sources of information by
subject.
Note: Since women's studies is interdisciplinary, many indexes and
abstracts to journal articles may be useful besides the major ones
listed below. For others, please ask
a Reference Librarian.
36. America:
History and Life. 1982- . (1954-1988 Ref.
Z 1236 .A4)
Primary index to materials for research in American history, including social
and cultural history.
37. Historical
Abstracts. 1960- . (1955-1994 Ref.
D 299 .H5)
Primary index for world history from 1450 to the present, including social
and cultural history.
#36 and #37 both
provide access to articles concerning women and conditions in many
areas of study and time periods. Also available from http://www.library.georgetown.edu/advisor/
38. Contemporary
Women's Issues Online. 1992- .
A full-text, searchable index to journal articles (including book
and media reviews), newsletters, reports, fact sheets, guides,
directories, bibliographies,
and pamphlets published by more than 100 organizations worldwide, dealing with
women's issues in more than 130 nations. Provides full-text access to
material that can otherwise be difficult to find, such as articles from not
widely circulated and alternative press publications with a feminist, activist,
or liberal perspective (e.g., off our backs). Also available from http://www.library.georgetown.edu/advisor/
39. GenderWatch. 1970s- .
"A full text database of publications that focus on the impact of gender across
a broad spectrum of subject areas." Publications indexed include
academic and scholarly journals; magazines; newspapers; newsletters; regional
publications; books; booklets and pamphlets; conference proceedings; and government,
non-governmental organization, and special reports. Also available from http://www.library.georgetown.edu/advisor/
40. Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Online.
Index to the world's literature regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender issues. This database contains indexing and abstracts
for more than 80 LGBT-specific core periodicals.
41. Humanities
Index. 1984- . (1907-1983 Ref. AI
3 .R47 and Ref. AI 3 .R472)
Indexes the major scholarly journals in the humanities.
42. Social
Sciences Index. 1983- . (1907-1995 Ref.
AI 3 .R47 and Ref. AI 3 .R471)
Indexes articles in major scholarly journals in the various social sciences.
Both #41 and #42 index
topics related to women. Also available from http://www.library.georgetown.edu/advisor/
43. Women Studies
Abstracts. Ref.
Z 7962 .W65
Index to scholarly literature written about women, including book
and media reviews. Often includes bibliographic essays. Identifies
and annotates special issues of journals and reports.
Note: All of the following Web sites provide searchable, subject-oriented
directories of links to resources in disciplines such as art, philosophy,
literature, health, history, music, politics, science, and technology.
44. Early
Modern Women Database. <http://www.lib.umd.edu/ETC/LOCAL/emw/emw.php3>
Maintained by librarians at the University of Maryland. Provides
links to Web resources useful for the
study
of women
in early
modern
Europe
and
the Americas. Materials range from bibliographic databases
to full-text resources, images, and sound recordings. Most of the resources
are freely accessible.
45. Feminism
and Women's Studies. <http://feminism.eserver.org/index.html>
Provides links to information, articles, and discussion lists about activism,
gender and sexuality, health, history, links, women's studies programs, theory,
and women in the workplace. A part of EServer,
a collectively managed scholarly Web site that publishes a diverse body of
literature, art, and scholarship (journals, essays, theory) and that disseminates
information of use to scholars (e.g., calls for papers).
46. Internet
Women's History Sourcebook. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/women/womensbook.html>
See #18 above.
47. Librarian's
Index to the Internet: Women. <http://lii.org/search/file/women>
The Librarian's Index to the Internet is a directory of websites that have
been vetted by librarians. The "Women" subsection includes links
to resources about biographies, education, online periodicals and journals,
quotations, and statistics, to name a few.
48. People
with a History: An Online Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Trans
History. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/>
Located at Fordham University, the Internet Sourcebooks
consist of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts
for educational use. Organization of web resources is historically
geographical (Ancient Egypt, Early Modern Europe, North America,
etc.) See
also NUMBER for the LGBT Internet
Sourcebook.
49. Voice
of the Shuttle: Gender and Sexuality Studies. <http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2711>
The Voice of the Shuttle (VoS) is an extensive directory of web links in the
Humanities maintained at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The
Gender and Sexuality Studies subsection of VoS includes Women's Studies & Feminist
Theory, Queer Studies, Men's Movements & Men's/Masculinity Studies, Cybergender & Techgender,
and Sexual Harassment, Assault, and Abuse.
50. Women's
Studies Online Resources. <http://research.umbc.edu/~korenman/wmst/>
Emphasizes Web sites of interest to academic women's studies programs, furnishing
an annotated, topically divided directory of women's studies Web
resources <http://research.umbc.edu/~korenman/wmst/links.html>;
links to women- or gender-related discussion lists; a list of women's studies
programs and research centers worldwide; and financial aid and career opportunity
Web sites for women. Award-winning site maintained by the University
of Maryland Baltimore County's Women's Studies Program.
51. Women Watch. <http://www.un.org/womenwatch/>
Maintained by the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and
Gender Equality, this site is an Internet portal to
information on the promotion of gender equality
and the empowerment
of women
throughout the United Nations system. The "News and Highlights"
and "News Archives" detail current and past projects of the multi-agency
network.
52. WSSLINKS (Women's
Studies Section Links: Women and Gender Studies Web Sites). <http://www.libr.org/wss/WSSLinks/>
Provides access to a wide range of resources in support of women's and gender
studies. Maintained by the Women's Studies Section of the Association
of College and Research Libraries.
Please
send us your comments or suggestions
Content updated: 06/05,
nm
Links updated: 12/07
jc
I. Background Sources