MnPALS
Our own catalog. Note: though you can search other libraries using this system, the interlibrary loan function won't work for most of April as several libraries are added to our system; print out the books you're interested in borrowing, write your name and barcode at the top, and leave them in the wooden box on the ILL counter.

MnLink
To search a number of Minnesota libraries at once--and request books from other libraries through Interlibrary Loan using the "get it" button; use your barcode number as your user name and your last name in ALL CAPS as your password. Note: the "get it" button won't work for most of April as several libraries are added to our system; print out the books you're interested in borrowing, write your name and barcode at the top, and leave them in the wooden box on the ILL counter.

Areas to browse

• E-F--American History (3rd floor)
• GE--Enviornmental Studies (3rd floor)
• N - Art (3rd floor)
• PS--American Literature (main floor)
• QH-QL--Natural History (main floor)
• S--Agriculture (main floor)
• TD--Environmental Technology (main floor)
• OVERSIZE COLLECTION - all subjects; good for images (3rd floor, southwest corner)

On nature writing

• American Nature Writers. New York: Scribner's, 1996. 2 vols. (Ref PS 163 .A6 1996)
• Netzley, Patricia. Environmental Literature: An Encyclopedia of Works, Authors and Themes. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio, 1999. (Ref GE 35 .E58 1999)

On literature in general

• American Writers. New York: Scribner's, 1979-87, with supplements (Ref PS 129 .A55)
• Contemporary Literary Criticisim. Detroit: Gale, 1973 to present (Ref PN 771 .C59)
• Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1978 to present (Ref PS 221 .A5)

On American history and culture

• Dictionary of American History. 3rd ed. 9 vols. New York: Scribner's, 2003. (Ref E 174 .D52 2003)
• Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History. New York: Scribner's, 2001 3 vols. (Ref E 169.1 .E624 2001)
• Encyclopedia of American Studies. 4 vols. New York: Grolier, 2001. (Ref E 169.1 .E625 2001)
• Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century. 3 vols. New York: Scribner's, 2001.(Ref E 169.1 .E626 2001)
• Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century. 4 vols. New York: Scribner's, 1996. (Ref E740.7.E53 1996 )

On art

• Dictionary of Art. New York: Grove Dictionaries, 1996. 15 vols. (Ref N 31. D5 1996)

On environmental studies

• American Environmental Leaders from Colonial Times to the Present. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio, 2000. 2 vols. (Ref GE 55 .B43 2000)
• Encyclopedia of World Environmental History. 3 vols. New York: Routledge, 2004. (Ref GF 10 .E63 2004)

Academic Search Premier
This general database of articles is interdisciplinary and includes popular, scholarly, and professional articles, many in full text. Try limiting your search to scholarly articles to find the most in-depth analysis.

MLA International Bibliography
The most in-depth index to literary criticism; best used for obscure topics or lengthy projects.

America: History and Life
A database of articles on North American History. May be useful if your topic has a historical component.

Using the Web

Your time won't be well-spent using the Internet for literary criticism; books and databases are more likely to be useful. But the Internet does have many primary sources worth considering.

• American Memory - a huge digital library from the Library of Congress.
• American Women's History - A Research Guide - contains a subject index, state and regional sources, and links to digital collections of primary sources.
• NYPL Digital Gallery - from the New York Public Library Research Collection, high-quality images of over 250,000 images available for personal use. Includes photos, prints, published material, popular culture, and more, searchable and sorted into topics.
• NYPL MidManhattan Picture Collection Online - from the New York Public Library Mid-Manhattan branch, provides well-organized access to over 30,000 visual images, including photographs, images from books and magazines, prints, postcards, and more, most created before 1923.
• Smithsonian American Art Museum - offers searches by artist or keyword.
• Using Primary Sources on the Web - a guide to finding, evaluating, and citing primary sources on the Web, from the Reference and User Services section of the American Library Association.