Whichever aspect of geography you're studying, the library has books, journals, and databases to suit your needs.
Welcome to our guide to resources for Geography. As the Learning and Research Librarian for Geography, I am here to support you in your learning and assignments.
Lawrence Dean, Learning & Research Librarian for Geography
You can use LibrarySearch to search for the books you need. Just type in a few words from the title plus the surname of the author(s) into the search box. If you get stuck – please ask!
You will find the geography book collection on floors one, two and three at Augustine House:
A collection of maps and atlases is also on the third floor. In addition to general works, such as The Times Atlas of the World, there are major national atlases including Atlas van Nederland, National atlas of U.S.A., etc. Most of these are for reference use only.
We use the Dewey Decimal System to classify the books so it’s easier to find them.
You can browse printed copies of journals on the second floor of Augustine House in the Silent Zone (west wing) – they are shelved in alphabetical order of the title of the journal. These are for use in the library only. However, most journals are also available online. Online journals relevant to geography include:
You can see which journals are available online by using LibrarySearch. Make sure you log in first! (You will need your university username and password).Try entering the title of a journal into the search box or using the “Find e-journals by title” link.
You can also browse e-journals by subject, using Browzine. This software allows you to read a journal like an e-book, so you can look through the whole journal rather than just individual articles. There is an app so you can use it easily on your phone or other mobile device.
You can find individual journal articles to read online by doing a quick search in LibrarySearch. Try searching for a key word or phrase connected with your research topic, e.g. “human geography”. See our quick guide for more information.
Open access journals
The Directory of Open Access Journals includes journals such as Big Earth Data. Open access journals are usually scholarly, but the difference is, the publishers of these journals believe in making their research freely accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This means that you (or your institution) don’t have to have a subscription to the journal to be able to read the articles they publish.
There are lots of databases that contain articles about geography, and they are all available via LibrarySearch – just click on the “Find databases” link in the left-hand menu and you will see an alphabetical list. Browse the list until you find the one you want.
The most useful databases for your subject include:
Census.ac.uk provides access to census counts for areas, data on migration and commuting between areas, samples of anonymised census records and the boundary files necessary to map them. This now forms part of the UK Data Service.
Digimap: a comprehensive source of maps and geospatial data for Great Britain. You can view, annotate and print maps from a wide range of geospatial data providers, or download data for use with appropriate application software such as GIS or CAD.
GreenFILE: a free research database providing scholarly, government and general-interest sources covering the environmental effects of individuals, corporations and governments and what can be done at each level to minimize negative impacts. Topics covered include global climate change and green building.
ScienceDirect searches across 2,500 peer-reviewed titles – or over 9.5 million articles. This is a good source for journal articles in engineering, covering chemical engineering, chemistry, energy, and materials science.
Web of Science: a multi-disciplinary service, where you can search for articles from over 18,000 journals in a wide range of science fields. You can access full-text journal articles, if the Library has an active subscription.
Wiley Online Library searches across a multi-disciplinary collection of journals covering industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, physics, mathematics and materials science.
You will find guides next to the database title (for most databases) on the “Find databases” pages, and you can also access these guides on the Library and Learning Resources web pages.
Kanopy is a great video-streaming service which includes a number of documentaries. Plus, we have access to Box of Broadcasts (BoB) which archives British TV and radio broadcasts. You can search for a topic and find BBC, Channel 4 and Sky documentaries. Another great feature is that you can take clips of programmes and put them in your presentations or analyse the transcripts. Visit the Learning on Screen How to Videos or look at the CCCU Box of Broadcasts guide.
There are a lot of brilliant websites that may be relevant to your studies, but there are also many that are not, so it is essential to evaluate the material carefully to decide whether they are scholarly enough.
The following websites are a good starting point:
European Environment Agency provides information on the environment both for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and for the general public. In collaboration with others, the EEA gathers data and produces assessments on a wide range of topics related to the environment.
GEODOK based in the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Institute of Geography, this is a free service for searching geographic literature. The collection includes journal articles and books.
GIS Geography a website providing a range of resources about geographic information systems (GIS), with infographics, guest posts and comprehensive lists, e.g. of open source software applications. US based but many resources are of global interest.
National Geographic Society a nonprofit scientific and educational organisation dedicated to exploring the planet, protecting wildlife and habitats, and providing educational resources, including videos.
Royal Geographical Society the UK’s learned society and professional body for geography, concerned with advancing geography and supporting its practitioners in the UK and elsewhere. A useful site for keeping up to date with what’s happening in the world of geography. Resources include a picture library, and the ability to search their library collections online.
UK Data Service the UK’s largest collection of social, economic and population data resources, for archiving and disseminating data. It includes major UK government-sponsored surveys, cross-national surveys, longitudinal studies, UK census data, international aggregate, business data, and qualitative data.
