School of Information Management & Systems.   Fall 2003.
142   Access to American Cultural Heritages.   M. Buckland.

Assignment 4: Finding "Culture".   Due Sept 22.

We use the words "culture" and "cultural" quite freely and satisfactorily in everyday conversation. But suppose we try to be a bit more rigorous in understanding what the word "culture" means. This assignment is not to attempt to define "culture", but to take a look at how others have fared in attempting to explain what culture is.

1. Examine a variety of dictionaries, encyclopedias, or other sources to see what they say about "culture".
2. Take a look at at least one large general dictionary and at least one large general encyclopedia.
3. Look at one or more specialized dictionaries or encyclopedias in the social sciences, humanities, whatever.
4. It is a requirement that you visit at least two libraries and examine printed resources - in addition to what you can find online. This is important if you are to get some idea of the range of resources available.
5. Prepare a short summary (two or three pages, single-spaced) of which libraries you visited and what you found. Feel free to add your own comments. For each source mentioned, give enough of a citation for us to be able to find the source and see what you saw.

    Plan on at least two hours collecting the material. Where to look? One place you must look is the "Humanities and Area Studies Room" (HAS), a monumental room on the north side of the Doe Library (aka Main Library), one floor above the entry level, and the Reference area in the hallway outside -- both. Wander round the walls of the room and the island stacks familiarizing yourself with the kinds of reference books provided. Also find a second large or appropriate specialized library, such as the Anthropology Library one floor up in Kroeber Hall. Reference librarians are there to help, but I doubt you will need help for this assignment.
    Suggestion: Start with a large general dictionary, and at some stage check the   Oxford English Dictionary, in twenty large blue volumes, at PE1625.O89 1989 in Doe and Moffitt reference areas and elsewhere. General encyclopedias are classified at AE. General English dictionaries are at PE 1625.
In libraries dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference works (e.g. bibliographies) on any particular topic are assigned the same classification numbers as other books on the same topic, but usually with a suffix to indicate that they are a dictionary or whatever. They usually come at or near the beginning of a subject section. Not all are located in a library's reference section. So, within the reference collections, try BL-BX for religious encyclopedias, E169 US Cultural history, E174 U.S. history, E184 Cultural groups in t the USA, H for Social Sciences, P87-P96 for Mass Media, etc. For example the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences H40.A2.I5 (DOE Referencee; MOFFITT Reference; ANTHROPOLOGY Index shelves; GSSI; MAIN stacks; and elsewhere) or The Social Science Encyclopedia at H41.S63 1996 (DOE Ref; MOFFITT Ref; and ANTHROPOLOGY Ref).
    See what you can find on the Internet also, but in addition to, not instead of browsing reference works on paper. If you have the language skills, try foreign language works.