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Humanities & Social Sciences
Women & Gender Studies Subject Guide
Gender Studies Resources
- Gender Related UCD News
- About the Women's Studies Collection
- Describes collection strengths and consortial agreements
- Related Campus Information Resources
- Links to academic programs, campus support centers, and outlets for scholarship and study
- Tips on Subject Searching and Call Numbers
- Learn more about subject language and call number ranges in gender scholarship
- Catalogs and Collections
- Find books and periodical titles at UC Davis and other institutions
- Electronic Databases and Full Text Resources
- Search contents of scholarly articles and primary full-text documents online through specialized resources
- Article Indexes
- Paper-based sources that index article contents in Gender Studies and feminist publications
- Women's Studies Journals
- Search for journal titles in the UC system, or find lists of core journals
- Special Collections & Microform Holdings
- Finding aids for materials in Special Collections of interest to women's studies, and microform sets at UCD
- Finding Videos
- Information on UC Davis holdings of videos and DVDs
- Selected Web Gateways and Research Sites
- A selected list of freely available web meta-sites on gender research
- Purchase Request
- Request titles for purchase in the Humanities and Social Sciences disciplines
Gender Related UCD News & Upcoming Local Events
News
- UC Davis News and Information, Online Publications
- Includes links to official UCD publications, including Dateline, UC Davis Magazine, and The California Aggie. Archived issues are usually available. Also has specific section on Social Sciences/Arts/Humantities.
Events
- WRRC Calendar of Events
- Monthly information on programs supported by the Women's Resources and Research Center.
- UC Davis Center for History, Society and Culture: Current and Upcoming Events
- The schedule for upcoming interdisciplinary lectures and conferences. Also see programs and webcasts from previous events.
- Davis Humanities Institute Calendar
About the Women's Studies Collection (University Library)
The University Library collects a broad range of books, periodicals, and electronic materials of interest to Women's Studies researchers and in support of the Women and Gender Studies Program at UC Davis. Collecting strengths include women and rural life (particularly California), eco-feminism, feminist theory, avant-garde women's poetry & literature by women from the British Isles, and gender in film and performance. Other subject areas of increasing interest include gender and globalization, women of color, masculinity studies, popular culture, and women in the Middle East and Asia. Materials on LGBT / Queer Studies and sexuality are also collected through interdisciplinary purchase in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Government Information Services Department in Shields Library. Additional resources pertaining to women's health and medical issues can be found in Carlson Health Sciences Library; though Shields Library houses numerous resources on gender and law topics, specialized legal resources reside in the Law Library.
Juvenile materials and low level textbooks are generally not collected, and non-English language materials are collected selectively. In addition to university and major press publications, the Library holds publications from a number of small press publishers and distributors important to Women's Studies scholarship.
The University of California U.S. and British History / Women's Studies Consortia, comprised of bibliographers from all participating UC campuses, works to provide increased access to collections through cooperative purchase and collaborative organizational tools. The website contains guides to journal and microform holdings throughout the system, as well as information on collecting emphases at each school.
As part of the Consortia's goal to preserve and make available publications from independent feminist presses within the entire UC system, UC Davis purchases circulating copies of all titles from Aunt Lute Books and Volcano Press. See the full list of presses and holding institutions in the California Feminist Presses Project. [rtf]
- For digitized collections of selected UC holdings in women's literature, see the British Women Romatic Poets Collection and Scottish Women Poets of the Romantic Period [UCD users only].
Related Campus Information Resources
Academic Programs
- Women and Gender Studies Program at UC Davis
- Home page of the Women and Gender Studies Program, including information on the range of the curriculum, core and affiliated faculty, and cross-listed courses. Find more descriptions of current courses in the University General Catalog.
- Additional Information on Women and Gender Studies at UCD
- Information on major undergraduate requirements, with perspectives from students and faculty on the program's impact. Also refer to the Office of Graduate Studies for more information on the Ph.D. Designated Emphasis in Feminist Theory & Research. For Majors and Minors in Women and Gender Studies and Textiles and Clothing, the University now offers a research program in transnational production and consumption of dress and fashion.
- Graduate Program in Cultural Studies
- Information on the cross-disciplinary program at UCD, which offers a range of opportunities for graduate level study of gender and sexuality. The site also lists topics of weekly colloquia. See article on formation of the program.
Centers for Information, Research, Programs, & Support
- UC Davis Women's Resources and Research Center
- North Hall, First Floor / phone: (530) 752-3372
- The WRRC provides academic and social support, educational programs and workshops, and a library that houses a collection of Women's Studies research materials.
- Consortium for Women & Research
- 168 Kerr Hall / phone: (530) 754-8851
- The Consortium works to support research by and about women, including the promotion of professional advancement for women scholars and the fostering of interdisciplinary research on gender and sexuality. Director: Judith Newton.
- Davis Humanities Institute
- Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center (LGBTRC)
- Chicana/Latina Research Center
- UC Davis Cross Cultural Center
- Campus Violence Prevention Center
- UC Davis Women's Center for Health
- Campus Community Relations
Student / Local Organizations & Groups
- Association for Women in Science
- The Sacramento chapter of AWIS frequently offers programs on a range of topics.
- Feminist Forum, UCD Law School
- Forum providing discussions, support, and guidance to women pursuing a law career.
- National Organization for Women (NOW)
- For information on the UC Davis campus chapter, contact Hilary Hodge. See also the website for the Sacramento chapter of NOW for other local updates.
- Prytanean Women's Honor Society at UC Davis
- Founded at UC Berkeley in 1900, this is the oldest collegiate women's honor society in the United States. The UC Davis chapter participates in and organizes numerous functions on campus.
- Women in Engineering Program (WIE)
- Offers mentoring, workshops, and outreach to women pursuing an interest in engineering.
- Women in Leadership
- Serving the Graduate School of Management at UCD and the Davis community, WIL organizes a range of social and professional activities for women pursuing leadership in business.
Tips on Subject Searching & Call Numbers
Subject Searching
Subject searching in Women's Studies at the UCD Library is based on the Library of Congress classification system. Negotiating the language used by LC can be complicated, since synonyms and related terms like "sex roles" and "gender identity" are both present in the catalog. When in doubt, consult the red Library of Congress books near the reference shelf. Also consider the following sources:
- Women in LC's Terms: A Thesaurus of Library of Congress Subject Headings Relating to Women
- 1988
- HSSGIS Reference: Z695.1.W65 D53 1988 Lib Use Only
- A Women's Thesaurus: an Index of Language Used to Describe and Locate Information By and About Women
- 1987
- HSSGIS Reference: Z695.1.W65 W65 1987 Lib Use Only
Call Numbers
As an interdisciplinary field, Women & Gender Studies books and periodicals are scattered throughout the LC call number scheme. Feminism is classified in HQ1101 to HQ2030, and this area contains material central to the field. However, most LC classes also contain relevant works depending on the emphasis of research:
- General Library of Congress Classification Outline
- Outline for Subclass HQ [PDF]
- Includes numerous call number ranges on the family, sexuality, and general works on gender.
Catalogs and Collections
- University Library Gateway to Catalogs
- Contains links to Harvest (UCD General Catalog) and Melvyl (UC Union Catalog).
- UC Davis Law Library Catalog (MORT)
- Law Library holdings are also available in the Melvyl Catalog (but not the UCD Harvest Catalog).
- Institute of Governmental Affairs (IGA) Library and Data Archive Catalog
- The IGA is located on the 3rd floor of Shields Library and houses a range of materials, including serials and statistical data.
- UC Davis Women's Research and Resources Center Library Database
- This searchable database provides access to book and periodical holdings in the WRRC collection. For more information on the using the materials or the WRRC library, contact Joy Erickson (530-752-3372 / jrerickson@ucdavis.edu). Located on the first floor of North Hall.
- National Library Catalogs Worldwide
- Find online library catalogs for international libraries.
- National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
- Search U.S. manuscript collections in this freely available catalog. For more comprehensive searching, HSSGIS Reference houses volumes for years 1959-1992 at call number Z6620.U5N3.
- Archival Sites for Women's Studies
- Page from the ACRL Women's Studies Section, which includes links to information on major women's history and culture collections by geographic region.
Article Indexes & Abstract Resources
- Feminist Periodicals: A Current Listing of Contents
- 1987 to present
- HSSGIS Reference HQ1101 .F39
- Studies on Women Abstracts / Studies on Women and Gender Abstracts
- 1985 to present
- HSSGIS Reference HQ1180 .S78
- Women's Studies Abstracts
- 1972 to present
- HSSGIS Reference HQ1101 .W37
- Women's Studies Index
- 1989-1997
- HSSGIS Reference HQ1180 .W664
Also available on CD-ROM as Women's Studies on Disk (1995-1999), HSSGIS department CD-ROM station only.
Women's Studies Journals
(NOTE: search for contents of journals in the article database and indexing sources above)
- Search for Journals/Serials titles in the UC Davis Harvest Catalog
- Choose "Journal/Periodical" as a format, or search journals as a Specific Harvest Collection.
- Search for Journals/Serials in the Melvyl (http://ucdavis.worldcat.org)
- Choose "Journals" as a Format to limit, or use the "Browse" function for more control.
- Search for UC Davis Electronic Journal Titles Only
- Women's Studies and History journals under last copy agreement by UC Libraries
- Core List of Women's Studies Journal Titles, Women's Studies Section, Association of College & Research Libraries
Find out more on historical women's and feminist periodicals:
- Feminist Periodicals 1855-1984: An Annotated Critical Bibliography of British, Irish, Commonwealth, and International Titles
- HSSGIS Reference HQ1154 .D68 1987
- Women's Periodicals and Newspapers from the 18th Century to 1981
- HSSGIS Reference HQ1180 .H3 1982
- Women's Periodicals in the United States: Consumer Magazines
- HSSGIS Reference PN4879 .W6 1995
- Womens Periodicals in the United States: Social and Political Issues
- HSSGIS Reference PN4879 .W614 1996
Special Collections & Microform Holdings
The Department of Special Collections houses a number of collections and individual items of interest to Women and Gender Studies. These include the Ruth Finney Papers 1906-1979, the Margaret B. Harrison Collection, numerous oral histories, and American and British women's poetry, and political pamphlets. Patrons may search cataloged items by location in the Harvest Catalog, but some materials do not have individual records. You may also consult the Online Archive of California, a guide to primary source finding aids in California repositories.
Microform sets are often purchased for shared access among the UC Libraries; in cases where UCD is not the holding institution, the Library attempts to purchase the associated finding aids and guides for researchers. An incomplete but very useful in-house guide to UC Davis microform collections is located behind the Humanities, Social Sciences and Government Information Services Reference Desk on the 2nd floor of Shields Library:
A Guide to Microform Research Collections at Shields Library (1998).
See also: Women's Studies Microform Collections at UC Libraries, organized by the United States and British History/Women's Studies Consortia at the University of California.
Finding Videos
Video/DVD format items in the Library are all held in the Reserves Department for preservation purposes. Items can usually be checked out for three days or more, and are fully cataloged (you can limit by format in the UC Davis Catalog). The closest location to view videos is the Media Distribution Lab in 1101 Hart Hall. For more information on the various video locations, please see the Library's location guide.
Shields Library houses several video titles, especially educational titles and documentaries, of interest to Women's Studies and LGBT issues. These include works from distributors like Women Make Movies, Frameline, and Films for the Humanities and Sciences.
The IET Media Lab in 1101 Hart also contains video on reserve for classes available for student viewing, with part of the instructional collection located at Olson Hall. Read more about this collection and search the catalog.
Selected Web Gateway & Research Sites
- Women's Studies Librarian's Office, University of Wisconsin System
- WSSLINKS Women and Gender Studies Website
- Women's Studies Resources on the Internet
- Women's Studies: Women's Issues Resource Site
- Voice of the Shuttle: Gender Studies Sites
- Women's Studies Online Resources
- gender Inn (Women's and Gender Studies Database)
- Women's Studies Core Books Database
- Global Women's Activism: Selected Sites
- Librarian's Index to the Internet
- FeMiNa: Sites For, By and About Women
- WomensNet
- H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online
- Wellesley Centers for Women
- Institute for Women's Policy Research
- International Center for Research on Women
- National Council for Research on Women
- Center for Women & Technology