Library
Politics and International
Relations
A guide to finding information
What information does the Library have on politics and international relations? How do I find
the information I need? This guide does not tell you everything but should prove useful as a
starting point for your enquiries.
For more specific help, please consult your subject librarian, Nickey Barnard.
Contents
Finding books in the Library
Searching the Library catalogue
Useful shelfmarks for books
Encyclopedias and handbooks
Dictionaries
Government publications
Statistics
Journals
Electronic databases
Managing your references using Endnote
Internet sites
More information
p.1
p.2
p.2
p.2
p.3
p.4
p.4
p.4
p.5
p.6
p.6
p.6
Finding books in the Library
Library Catalogue: - The key to finding what the Library holds is the Library Catalogue. The
Catalogue gives you details of all the material held in the library and where to locate it. You can
access the Catalogue from the library, any of the pooled computer rooms or off campus at:
http://catalogue.brookes.ac.uk/
Material of interest to the student of politics and international relations is to be found in several
different places throughout the Library. Remember that there is a range of different resources
available to you, including books, encyclopedias, journals and electronic information. Some
material from book lists may have been put in the short loan collection on the first floor - the
Catalogue will give you this information.
Directorate of Learning Resources
www.brookes.ac.uk/library
General information about the Library and its services is contained in a number of guides which
are available by the Enquiry Desk and also on the web - from the Library's own home page at
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/
Searching the Library Catalogue
If you know the author’s name or book title you can search by either of these on the Catalogue. A
useful tip is to search by author and Keyword from Title search - type in the author’s surname and
one or two keywords from the title. The Catalogue will tell you the book’s shelfmark - where to find
it on the shelves.
Search by keyword search option to find information on a particular topic.
Useful Shelfmarks for Books
You will find books and other material of interest and relevance to your study of politics and
international relations in many different areas throughout the Library. The main area for politics and
international relations is 320 – 329 on the Ground Floor of the Library. The history section on the
Top Floor of the Library may also contain material of relevance – search the Library Catalogue by
subject or keyword search for a particular topic.
I have listed below some shelfmarks you may find useful. The list is only a guide, search the Library
Catalogue by subject or keyword search for a particular topic.
301.16
320
320.1
320.3
320.5
320.54
320.9
320.94
320.941320.942
320.947
320.973
321.8
323.4
323.6
324…
325
327
327.41
327.73
328
328.41
329
352
Mass media
see also 302.23...
Politics general
Political theory and thought
Comparative government
Political ideology and thought
Nationalism
Political history
European political history
British political history
Russian political history
American political history
Democracy
Human rights
Citizenship
Elections
Imperialism
International relations
British foreign policy
U.S. foreign policy
Parliament
British parliament
Political parties
Local government
Encyclopedias and Handbooks
Encyclopedias are useful for finding summaries of a particular subject and may well provide
references to other material. I have listed a number of useful sources below, browse the shelves or
check the Library Catalogue for further sources
A-Z Guide to Modern Social and Political theorists,
SQR 300.1 AZG
The Almanac of British Politics,
SQR 324.941086 WAL
2
Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought,
SQR 320.03 BLA
Oxford Companion to politics of the world,
SQR 320.03 OXF
Political Systems of the world,
SQR 320.03 DER
SQR: Subject floor quick reference shelves, Ground Floor of the Library
Dictionaries
Some examples include:
Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics,
SQR 320.03 CON
Dictionary of British Politics
SQR 320.942003 JON
A Dictionary of Human Rights,
SQR 323.03 ROB
A Dictionary of Modern Politics,
SQR 320.03 ROB
A Dictionary of Political Thought,
SQR 320.503 SCR
The Dictionary of World Politics,
SQR 320.03 EVA
The Facts on File Dictionary of American Politics
SQR 320.973 HIL
Routledge Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Political Thinkers, SQR 320.09 ROU
Biographical Dictionary
Dictionary of National Biography,
SQR 920.041 DIC
Provides detailed information about political figures. It is also available online from the Library web
pages at: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/eleclib.html
Other useful reference books
Statesman's Yearbook,
provides details of countries worldwide
SQR 900 STA
Whitaker's Almanack,
provides details of a range of mainly UK information
QR 052 WHI
Keesing's Record of World Events (updated)
SQR 909.82 KEE
The Annual Register. A record of world events (annual publication) SQR 909.82 ANN
SQR: Subject floor quick reference
QR: Quick reference shelves
3
Government Publications
The Library holds a range of (but not all) government publications. They are not housed in a separate
sequence. Search the Library Catalogue for our holdings. Many (but not all) government publications
are published by the Stationery Office. The Stationery Office’s online catalogue is at
http://www.tsonline.co.uk
The UK government web site at: http://www.direct.gov.uk/ is very useful and provides links to
government departments and related sites as well as giving access to government documents.
Hansards Parliamentary debates (House of Commons and House of Lords) are verbatim reports of
what is said in Parliament. Hansards are available online at:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmhansrd.htm
The Library handout Government Publications, provides details of tracing different types of
government publications, including useful web sites. The guide is available in print from the Library
and online at: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/govpub.html
Statistics
The Statistics Collection is located on the Top Floor. There is a subject list on the end of the shelves,
which will help you locate relevant statistics.
The following publications will also help you trace statistics:
Guide to Official Statistics,
314.1016 GUI Statistics collection
It provides a very useful subject index to all the main government statistical series.
The Library produces 2 guides – British Statistical Data and International Statistical Data which
provide further details of tracing statistics, available in print in the Library, and online at:
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/guideintro.html
A range of official statistics are also available from the National Statistics Office web site at:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk
Journals and Newspapers
Journals provide one of the best sources of information on current and past developments. The
Library subscribes to a wide range of journals in print and electronic format.
Use the Library Catalogue to find out which journal titles the Library holds – search by title. The
Library Catalogue provides details of all our print journals and all of our electronic journals.
NB the Catalogue does not provide details of articles from journals – see the Electronic Databases
section overleaf for tracing information from journals.
Electronic Journals – the Library web pages at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/ejnls.html provide
a complete list of our full text electronic journals with access details. Many of these journals are
available from on and off campus.
Current events
Newspapers and journals provide valuable sources of current events and information.
The Library takes a range of daily newspapers, located on the second floor. All the main British
newspapers are now available online full text, including Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Financial
4
Times, Guardian & Observer, Independent, Times and Sunday Times. Access from the Library
web pages at: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/newspaper.html
Journals such as: Time at J 300 T, Economist at J 330 E (also available full text online),
New Statesman at J 300 N and Newsweek at J 300N are published weekly and are useful for current
affairs, nationally and internationally.
Electronic databases
Databases help you trace information primarily from journals, some databases include other
publications, e.g. book chapters, book reviews. They provide full bibliographical details of each
article (author, title, journal title with volume and page numbers). Many databases provide an
abstract (summary) and some are full text and provide the whole article. See below for a list of useful
databases for politics and international relations.
These services are available as Web resources and can be accessed on the pooled room computers
in the Library or in the computer rooms. Many of these resources can also be accessed from outside
the University. Passwords are required.
The Library web pages at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/eleclib.html provide further information
on all our electronic resources. Select Databases and browse a complete list of titles by subject,
title or keyword. Click on a database title for access details and password information.
Alternatively, you could go to your subject page for Politics and International Relations, and look at
the Databases list there: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/politics.html
A key database for Politics and International Relations is:
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences - useful for all aspects of politics and international
relations, provides details of journal articles and some abstracts.
Other useful Abstracts and Indexes and Databases include:Academic Search Complete – a multi-disciplinary database which includes a range of politics and
international relations journals, provides abstracts and some full text of journals.
ASSIA - Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts - provides bibliographic details and
abstracts from a wide range of journals, including politics, policy.
BOPCAS – British Official Publications Current Awareness Service, provides bibliographic details
of government publications with abstracts and some full text links.
British Humanities Index - useful for current affairs, indexes journals and newspapers.
EBSCOhost Electronic Journals Service - provides journal articles (mainly full text) from a range of
subject areas, including politics and international relations.
Factiva - international news database providing an archive of 10000 sources from 152 countries in
22 languages. Leading national newspapers, local newspapers, trade and professional journals
including the BBC Monitoring Service (transcripts of world radio broadcasts).
Historical Abstracts – abstracts from history journals.
LexisLibrary - A database primarily for law resources, it also has full-text access to UK national and
regional newspapers.
5
Sociological Abstracts - broad based sociology database includes politics and policy.
Web of Science – includes the Social Science Citation Index - useful for all aspects of politics and
international relations.
Managing your references using Endnote
Endnote is a reference management software for assisting with studying, research and creating
bibliographies. Endnote allows you to create your own database of references. It is available on all
the pooled room computers in the Library and computer rooms. You can also purchase Endnote
for home use.
You can add references to Endnote manually or cut and paste from other sources.
Endnote also allows you to import references which have been retrieved from a range of
databases, using import filters.
Further details about Endnote including using import filters are available from the Endnote Library
Web page at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/endnote.html
Internet sites
I have listed below a few selected internet sites – see also
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/politics/politint.html
Intute: Social Sciences - http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences this site is an information gateway. It
collects, describes and evaluates social science resources on the internet. It provides many very
useful sites for politics and international relations.
Government site - http://www.direct.gov.uk/ very useful for a range of UK government information,
including parliament, departments, official information.
Political Science Resources - http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/ access to a wide range of political sites, UK
and international.
Europa - European web site - http://europa.eu/index_en.htm access to a range of European
information, including official documents, information on key topics and institutions.
More information
The politics and international relations library web pages provide further details of relevant resources
at: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/politics.html
If you need any help or further information in finding information, please contact your Subject
Librarian, Nickey Barnard, by email, telephone or at her office on the Ground Floor of Headington
Library.
Full contact details are:
NB 09/09
Nickey Barnard,
Subject Librarian,
Oxford Brookes University,
Gipsy Lane, Headington,
Oxford OX3 0BP
Tel : 01865 483077
Email : nbarnard@brookes.ac.uk
6