Library

Nickel and Dimed Resources - LPC Library Research Guide

Pease ask a reference librarian for assistance at any time. We will be glad to help!

Reference Sources

Use reference sources for background information, broad overviews and summaries. The reference collection includes general and subject dictionaries and encyclopedias, biographies, directories, almanacs, atlases, etc. Many also contain bibliographies for further research. Reference books cannot be checked out from the library but may be photocopied. The suggested articles are just a few of the articles that you can find by using the table of contents or index of each encyclopedia.

Selected General Encyclopedias with Suggested Articles:

Encyclopedia Americana      Ref AE5.E333 2005 (online)

New Encyclopedia Britannica      Ref.AE.5.E363 2002

The World Book Encyclopedia      Ref AE5.W55 2005

Selected Subject Encyclopedias and References with Suggested Articles:

Alternative Income Estimates in the United States 2003      Ref HC110.15.A48 2005

Alternative Poverty Estimates in the United States:2003      Ref HC110.P6.A48 2005

Analysis of the Upcoming Release of 2003 Data on Income, Poverty, & Health Insurance      Ref HC110.I5.A53 2004

Areas with Concentrated Poverty: 1999      Ref HC110.P6.A74 2005

Brief Look at Postwar U.S. Income Inequality      Ref HC110.I5.W45 1996

Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society      Ref HQ767.84.E53 2003

Encyclopedia Latina      Ref E184.S75.E587 2005

Encyclopedia of Family Life      Ref HQ534.E53 1999

Encyclopedia of Women and Gender: Sex Similarities & Differences & the Impact of Society on Gender      Ref HQ1115.E43 2001

An Eyewitness History: Working In America      Ref HD8066.R44 2000

Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History      Ref HC102.G35 1999

Health Insurance Coverage in the United States      Ref RA412.2.M6 2004

Labor Conflict in the United States: An Encyclopedia      Ref HD5324.L32 1990

Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2003      Ref HC110.I5.D47 2003

Making Ends Meet      Ref HD.4919.C2.M35 2003

The Mexican American Experience: An Encyclopedia      Ref E184.M5.M4535 2003

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History      Ref HC15.O94 2003

Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004-2005      Ref HA202.U58.S7 2004

Work In America: An Encyclopedia of History, Policy, and Society      Ref HD8066.W637 2003


Books & Audiovisuals

Use the library catalog to find materials in the library. This will show you all the books and audiovisual materials both LPC Library and Chabot library own. You can search for a book or video by the author, title, subject, or keyword. A subject search allows you to find books about a topic or a person. In power search you may also LIMIT your search in many ways, for instance by type, "DVD" or type, "video" to find only DVDs or videos.

Examples of subject headings:

Selected Book Titles at LPC with Related Themes

These are just a few of the titles you can find with subject and keyword searches in the Library Catalog.

Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic      HN60.D396 2002

Child Labor and Sweatshops: At Issue.      HD6231.C455 2006

Class: A Guide through the American Status System      HN90.S6.F87 1992

End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time      HC59.72.P6.S225 2005

Farmworker's Daughter: Growing Up Mexican in America      E184.M5.G84 2005

From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend: A Short, Illustrated History of Labor in the United States      HD8066.M86 2001

Great American Jobs Scam      HV6769.L47 2005

Great American JobsScam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation      HV6769.L47 2005

Homeless: Opposing Viewpoints      HV4493.H644 2002

In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story of Sam Walton and How Wal-Mart is Devouring America      HF5429.215.U6.O78 1998

Is the Gap Between the Rich and Poor Growing: At Issue.      HC110.I5.I8 2006

Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker      HD4901.R67 2005

New Ruthless Economy: Work and Power in the Digital Age      HC106.83.H4 2003

Other People's Money: The Corporate Mugging of America      HG4930.5.P75 2004

Politics of Public Housing: Black Women's Struggles Against Urban Inequality.      HV1447.B25.M55 2004

Poverty and the Homeless: Current Controversies      HV4505.P68 2004

Poverty: Opposing Viewpoints      HC110.P6.P63 2004

Social Justice: Opposing Viewpoints      HN90.S6.S56 2005

Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity      RA418.5.S63.M37 2004

The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure      HD4904.6.S36 1991

Welfare: Opposing Viewpoints      HV91.W467 2003

Which Side Are You On? Trying to Be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back      HD8072.5.G46 2004

White-Collar Sweatshop: The Deterioration of Work and Its Rewards in Corporate America      HD8039.M39.U563 2001

Without a Net: Middle Class and Homeless (with Kids) in America: My Story      CT275.K458525.A3 2005

Working Poor: Invisible in America      NC110.P6.S48 2004


Selected DVD and Video Titles at LPC

These are just a few of the titles you can find with subject and keyword searches in the Library Catalog.

Morgan Spurlock's Living on Minimum Wage    On Reserve for ESL

A. Philip Randolph: For Jobs and Freedom    MV 23381

Affluenza    DVD HF5415.33.U6.A345 2005

American Dream    DVD HD5325 .P152 A54 2000

America, What Went Wrong?    MV 21814

American Jobs. "...the impact of low-wage foreign competition on American's workers, families and communities.    DVD HD5724.A43 2004

Bettina Gray speaks with Luis Valdez    MV 22185

Capital and Labor. "Laborers of the period--working under grueling conditions, organizing into unions, and making a stand against the reigning money man of the day."    MV 23291

Destination America. Immigrants'  "...assimilation was often difficult, [but] they or their descendants prospered and contributed to life in the United States."    MV 22053 V. 1- 9

Down and Out in America    MV 21673

Escape from Affluenza    DVD HF5415.33.U6.E4 1998

Harvest of Shame    MV 22211

In the Land of Plenty    MV 23376

Is Wal-Mart Good for America?    DVD HF5429.215.U6.I7 2004

Living on the Edge    MV22702

No grapes    MV 23378

On the Edge; America's Working Poor.    DVD HC110.P6.O6 2004

The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need.    DVD HF5415.33.U6.S36 2003

The Story of Immigration.    DVD JV6450.S86 1997

Strikestory: San Francisco before the '34. "100,000 workers in San Francisco staged a general strike that paralyzed the city and eventually resulted in legislation giving workers the right to organize unions."    MV 22245

The Ties That Bind: Immigration in the United States    MV 22289

Periodicals & Electronic Print Resources

Periodicals provide in-depth analyses of events and trends, research studies on particular subjects, and professional literature. Find articles by using an electronic print resource. These databases can be accessed in the LPC Library or from home at the LPC Library Homepage. Good choices for topics with related themes:

Academic Search Premier (EBSCO) - largest scholarly, multi-disciplinary database containing full text for more than 4,600 scholarly publications, including more than 3,500 peer-reviewed publications.

CQ Researcher - full text, each issues covers a single topic, well researched articles, (also available in print), suggestions:

Ethnic NewsWatch and GenderWatch (ProQuest) - contains full-text articles of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press and the impact of gender on culture and society

History Reference Center (EBSCO) - contains thousands of citations and full-text articles on history. The database features cover-to-cover full text for more than 650 historical encyclopedias and other non-fiction books. The database also includes full text for more than 50 leading history periodicals.

Opposing Viewpoints (Thomson Gale) - Current topics for information on social issues, including viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles on the facts and the pros and cons of each issue

Potential Topics and Search Terms:

Try any of the following search terms or topics in the different databases or the indexes of the encyclopedias. Only the most general terms will work in the Library Catalog.


Internet Resources

You may want to explore some Internet resources to supplement or enhance your research. Always be cautious of information you find on the Web since the quality of sources varies tremendously on the Internet. It is always a good idea to check the information against another source. As with all information resources, whether in print or on the Internet, you evaluate its quality based on the following criteria:

Use the Librarians' Internet Index (http://www.lii.org).

Citation of Sources

Keep printouts of your sources, or write out all pertinent information on author, title, publisher, date, or Internet address to identify where you got the information. Follow the format recommended by your instructor or ask a librarian to show you a "style manual." There are links to these instructions on the LPC Library web page: Citation Style Guides, as well as to the online resource, NoodbleBib, a bibliography composer. Please ask a reference librarian for help!

LPC Librarians


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Library Telephone: 925.424.1150
Library Fax: 925.606.7249

Page last modified: February 07, 2008