Guides and databases: Anthropology: Books and e-books

Books and e-books

The principal book collection for Anthropology is located on the first floor of the Science Library.

Explore is UCL's library catalogue. This is the principal tool to find books, journals and other materials (either in print or in electronic format) held in UCL libraries. On the catalogue, you will find details such as: library site, collection and shelfmark, when you are looking for print resources. In order to access e-books via Explore, you will always need your UCL user ID and password.

Print books are arranged on the shelves according to their shelfmark. For example:

ANTHROPOLOGY B 34 LEW for a book on primate evolution

ANTHROPOLOGY QG 300 PRI for a book on Neur religion in Southern Sudan

Other collections

A rt: is a useful collection that contains more specific material on art for a background in visual culture. The collection also includes Film Studies.
History: is a useful collection for individual European countries' political, social and economic history and the Latin American History collection for extensive coverage of Latin American social, political and economic history.
Economics: is a useful collection for background material on this subject.

Geography: is a useful collection for material on human geography and physical geography.
Biosciences: is the library subject guide for the UCL Division of Biosciences. Relevant Science Library book collections for this Division include: Biological Sciences, Biology and Medical Sciences. These contain additional material on evolution, ecology, evolutionary biology, genetics, human anatomy, physiology, molecular biology, pharmacology, immunology, history of medicine, biochemistry and conservation.
Psychology: is a useful collection for additional material on psychology and the human sciences.

Archaeology: is the main collection for archaeology, egyptology and prehistory. There is also material in this library on museum studies.
Built Environment: is the subject guide for the Bartlett UCL Faculty of the Built Environment, which includes book collections on architecture, sustainable heritage, energy, sustainable resources and environmental design.
Language and Speech Sciences: is the subject guide for the UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences. the LaSS library contains useful additional material on linguistics and human communication.

General reference works and encyclopedias

Consult introductory material or general reference works for a broad overview of your issue or topic, and to identify key concepts, theories and researchers in the field. Introductory material may include:

subject or discipline specific dictionaries and encyclopaedias.
handbooks.
companions.
introductions.
guides.
biographies.
histories.

Find introductory material in Explore by combining a topic keyword with one of the material type descriptors above, e.g. international enceclopedia of anthropology.

These are some examples of introductory material available electronically for Anthropology. The list is not extensive, and you should perform your own searches on Explore to see what else is available in print in UCL Libraries.

Companion encyclopedia of anthropology
Provides a comprehensive survey of contemporary thinking in biological, social and cultural anthropology and establishes interconnections between these three fields.
International encyclopedia of anthropology
One of the most complete reference resource for the field of anthropology and interrelated areas, providing an authoritative and expert overview of the concepts, research, and techniques that together define the discipline.

Oxford Art Online
Cross-search Grove Art Online, Oxford Companion to Western Art, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, and Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms through one interface. Accessibility statement for Oxford Art Online.

Oxford Bibliographies - Anthropology
Combining the best features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, this cutting-edge resource directs researchers to the best available scholarship across a wide variety of subjects.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Illustrated collection of more than 50,000 specially written biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's past, from the fourth century BC to the present. Original biographies as they appeared in the Victorian Dictionary of National Biography are accessible by clicking on DNB Archive at the bottom of the page if they have been superseded.
Oxford Reference Online
Full text of dictionaries, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press, including 130 English and bilingual dictionaries. Accessibility statement for Oxford Reference.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology
A collection of in-depth, peer-reviewed articles written by subject experts across a wide-range of topics in Anthropology.

Stores service

UCL Library Services off-site store is a closed access collection which houses important research material not currently in high demand. The material at this site will have 'Store' as its location on Explore. Users can request store material for delivery to the Science Library. Users should complete a Store Request Form in order to request material from this location.

Finding e-books in Explore

A brief guide to finding and accessing e-books via UCL Explore.

How can you tell if a book is available online?

On UCL Explore, you can look at the results of your search to quickly discover if a book is available in print or/and online: View Online means that the book is available electronically, while Available means that the book is available in print. In some cases a book is available both in print and online.

Search Explore

Check out our Explore guide to find out more about how to use Explore for your research.

Explore guide

Suggest a purchase

Suggest a purchase
Is there a book or resource you would like to see in our collection? Perhaps you've noticed something missing on your reading list? Please let us know by filling out our suggest a purchase form.

ReadingLists@UCL

ReadingLists @UCL is an online service that gives students easy access to materials on their reading lists wherever they are, and allows academic staff to create and update their own reading lists.

ReadingLists@UCL webpages