What are Reference Sources?
Libraries collect and preserve the graphic records of human experience.1 Not every experience is documented, and not every documented experience is collected and preserved. How, then, can you know what part of the historical record remains for you to study? Reference sources are your map to the graphic records of human experience.
Even if every human experience hasn't been documented, and every document hasn't been preserved, there remains a plethora of sources available for the historian to study. Here at the University of Illinois Library, you have access to over 14 million printed books, 9 million microforms, 120,000 periodicals, 148,000 sound recordings, 1 million audiovisual resources, 280,000 e-books, 29,000 cubic feet of archival records, 3 terabytes of electronic records, and 650,000 maps—that's over 24 million potential primary sources for your research. Reference sources are your map to the Library's collections.
Half of one aisle at the University Library's remote storage facility on Oak Street.
Use reference sources for factual information like the date the Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law, or where in the United States Statutes at Large to find it. You can also use them to find more complex information, like marriage law in Islam. They often include bibliographies, making them profitable places to begin a research project.
Encyclopedias
- Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts byPublication Date: 2013
- Cinema, the Magic Vehicle: A Guide to its Achievement byPublication Date: 1975-1979v. 1. The cinema through 1949. -- v. 2. The cinema in the fifties.
- Critical Dictionary of Film and Television Theory byPublication Date: 2001
- The Encyclopedia of American Independent Filmmaking byPublication Date: 2002
- Encyclopedia of Film Themes, Settings and Series byPublication Date: 2001
- The Encyclopedia of Novels into Film byPublication Date: 2005
- The Film Encyclopedia: The Complete Guide to Film and the Film Industry byPublication Date: 2012
- The Film Studies Dictionary byPublication Date: 2001
- History of the American Cinema byPublication Date: 1990-10 vols. Part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library.
- Magill’s Cinema Annual byPublication Date: 1982-presentAn annual publication, with each volume covering films released during the preceding year.
- The Oxford Companion to Film byPublication Date: 1976
- Encyclopedia of American War Films byPublication Date: 1989
Separate guides to national cinema are available in the Literature and Language Library reference section. Here are three examples:
- Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film byPublication Date: 2001
- Guide to the Cinema of Spain byPublication Date: 1997
- Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema byPublication Date: 1999
- The Irish Filmography: Fiction Films, 1896-1996 byPublication Date: 1996
Bibliographies, Filmographies, and Catalogs
- The Afro-American Cinematic Experience: An Annotated Bibliography and Filmography byCall Number: 016.79143 H991APublication Date: 1983
- The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature FilmsCall Number: 791.43 AM3APublication Date: 1971-Covers films released 1893-1970. Volumes for 1911-1920 are available ACLS Humanities E-Book Project.
- The British Film Catalogue byCall Number: Q. 791.43 G36b2001Publication Date: 2001v.1. Fiction film, 1895-1994 -- v. 2. Non-fiction film, 1888-1994.
- Documentary Film Classics, Produced by the United States Government byPublication Date: 1980
- Enser's Filmed Books and Plays: A List of Books and Plays from which Films have been Made, 1928-2001 byCall Number: 016.7914375 En98f2003Publication Date: 2003
- Radicalism in American Silent Films, 1909-1929: A Filmography and History byPublication Date: 2000
- Hollywood and American History: A Filmography of over 250 Motion Pictures Depicting U.S. History byCall Number: 791.4309 P68HPublication Date: 1984
- The Critical Index: A Bibliography of Articles on Film in English, 1946-1973 byCall Number: 016.79143 G316CISBN: 0807724386Publication Date: 1974
- Film: An International Bibliography byCall Number: 016.79143 H122fISBN: 3476015238Publication Date: 2002
- The Film Audience: An International Bibliography of Research with Annotations and an Essay byCall Number: 016.79143 AU76FISBN: 0810816229Publication Date: 1995
- The Spanish Civil War in Literature, Film, and Art: An International Bibliography of Secondary Literature byCall Number: 016.9737 M764sISBN: 0313292620Publication Date: 1994
- Film as Literature, Literature as Film: An Introduction to and Bibliography of Film's Relationship to Literature byCall Number: 016.79143 R733FISBN: 0313245959Publication Date: 1987
- The Film Index: A Bibliography byCall Number: 016.79143 W93F1988ISBN: 0527293296Publication Date: 1988Reprint.
- Film Review Index byCall Number: Q. 016.7914375 F487ISBN: 0897741536Publication Date: 1986Divided chronologically into two volumes: v. 1. 1882-1949 -- v. 2. 1950-1985. Film organized alphabetically by title, and citations to reviews listed beneath.
- Retrospective Index to Film Periodicals, 1930-1971 byCall Number: 016.79143 B32RISBN: 0835206602Publication Date: 1975
- The New Film Index: A Bibliography of Magazine Articles in English, 1930-1970 byCall Number: 016.79143 M12NISBN: 0525165541Publication Date: 1975
- Film Study: An Analytical Bibliography byCall Number: 016.79143 M312FISBN: 083863186XPublication Date: 19904 vols.
- Guide to the Silent Years of American Cinema byCall Number: 791.4309 M123gISBN: 0313303452Publication Date: 1999
- Guide to American Cinema, 1930-1965 byCall Number: 791.43750973 W578gISBN: 0313294879Publication Date: 1998
- Guide to American Cinema, 1965-1995 byCall Number: 791.430973 C936gISBN: 0313296669Publication Date: 1998
- Index to Critical Film Reviews in British and American Film Periodicals, Together with: Index to Critical Reviews of Books about Film byCall Number: 016.79143 B68IISBN: 0891020403Publication Date: 19752 vols.
- Literature and Film: An Annotated Bibliography, 1909-1977 byCall Number: 016.79143 W444LISBN: 0824094778Publication Date: 1981
- Literature and Film: An Annotated Bibliography, 1978-1988 byCall Number: 016.79143 W444L1978-1988ISBN: 0824058437Publication Date: 1993
- Projecting Ethnicity and Race: An Annotated Bibliography of Studies on Imagery in American Film byCall Number: 791.436520693 H18pISBN: 0313317410Publication Date: 2003Covers publications published between 1915 and 2001.
- Selected Film Criticism, 1896-1960 byCall Number: 791.4375 SE48ISBN: 0810815753Publication Date: 19827 vols.
- Variety Film ReviewsCall Number: Q. 791.4375 V427Publication Date: 1907-1996Compiles movie reviews from the trade newspaper, Variety. Easy to use, and no keyword searching required.
- The New York Times Film ReviewsCall Number: Q. 791.43 N48Publication Date: 1913-2000Conveniently compiles all film reviews published in the New York Times into a single source, making the reviews easier to locate than in the digitized New York Times.
In addition to the bibliographies listed above, there are bibliographies on individual directors scattered throughout the 016.79143 A-Z call number range. Because so much of the collection is now stored offsite, the only way to browse these is through the Library's "Classic Catalog":
- University of Illinois Library Catalog: Browse SearchUse this interface to browse the catalog by author, subject heading, or call number. Choose the type of browse you want to conduct using the drop down menu at the left of the search box.
Web Resources
British Film Institute and BFI National Library.
“Making Sense of Films.” By Tom Gunning. (History Matters) http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/film
“Modern History in the Movies.” From the Modern History Sourcebook. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbookmovies.html
Notes
1. Jesse H. Shera, The Foundations of Education for Librarianship (New York: Becker and Hayes, 1972): 193.