Diversity/Multiculturalism

Diversity and multiculturalism cover a broad range of topics such as race relations, gender issues, Native Americans, sexuality, African-Americans, cross cultural awareness, disability issues, and more. Here we present links to sites which we believe give a sense of the material available via the internet. This is far from a comprehensive list. Rather it will serve its purpose if it introduces the searcher to the increasing usefulness of the internet as a means of completing research on many topics. We believe though that, rather than putting all one's eggs into the internet basket, a better research strategy involves integrating internet searching into a broader strategy which includes searching for books, articles, government materials, speaking with experts, and other more conventional means of completing research. Having said that, via these links you'll find much. And remember, doing research takes time.

Recommended Resources

Yahoo (Society and Culture)

Yahoo is a subject hierarchical search engine. Beneath the Yahoo topic "Society and Culture" you'll find links to such categories as disabilities, gay, lesbian, and bisexual groups, gender and much more. Many people believe Yahoo is one of the easiest search engines to use.

University of Maryland Diversity Datebase (University of Maryland)

An excellent source of all kinds of diversity information...age, class, national origin, gender, disabilities, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, and more. This system has a search engine which searches within its own family of databases.

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library)

The Schomburg Center home page provides links to a broad range of online materials related to African American studies. Among those subjects are history, art, and census information, but there is much more.

Comprehensive Resources

University of Maryland Diversity Database (University of Maryland)

Considered by many to be superlative as well as comprehensive. With links to diversity as it relates to age, class, national origin, gender, disabilities, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, and more. This system has a search engine which searches within its own family of databases.

Multicultural Pavilion (University of Virginia)

Includes a great range of links to multicultural resources, ranging from articles and data archives to listservs and statistics. Includes a search engine for searching this site exclusively.

CLNet Diversity Page (University of California at Los Angeles)

Provides a staggering array of links to online information about African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, women, gay and lesbian studies, and multicultural services.

Links to mor information via Search Engines

Using Internet Search Engines

The University of Southern Maine Library has developed links to all the major search engines like Yahoo, Altavista, Magellan, and many more. We've divided them into several categories like comprehensive, multi-engine, evaluative, hierarchical, etc. There's also a brief section called "What is a search engine anyway?"

Electronic Indexes, Catalogs, etc.

Academic Search Premier (general articles, restricted to currently enrolled students)

This index provides access to articles on practically any subject, diversity included. As such, it is a general index. It works well for many subjects but if you need a more specialized index (e.g. one for American history, nursing, psychology, or to newspaper articles) speak with a reference librarian. They have been trained to guide you in the best direction.

URSUS (books)

URSUS is a statewide catalog of books and other items like government publications. Via URSUS you'll learn about books in the USM Libraries as well as those in about a dozen other libraries around Maine. If the book you need is in another library you may order it then and there on the computer. Typically it arrives a few days later.

Worldcat (more books!)

Whereas URSUS will tell you about books in roughly a dozen libraries, Worldcat does so for tens of thousands of libraries, making it a very powerful, sometimes overwhelming, catalog. If you have searched URSUS and still need more, Worldcat is the place to be looking. But the books found in Worldcat are usually in other libraries so the Interlibrary Loan Department will need to get these items for you. Also, unlike URSUS, which anyone can search, Worldcat will ask you for your name and library bar code number as a means of confirming that you're a student or staff of the University.

America: History and Life (articles, dissertations, book reviews, etc. from historical journals about the US and Canada)...restricted to U.S.M. students.

Historical Abstracts (articles, etc. from historical journals, covering all parts of the world except the US and Canada)

Local/Regional Information About Diversity

USM Diversity Plan 2003-5
Entitled "A Diverse Education is a Quality Education," this paper describes the guiding vision and values of the University diversity-plan.

Editor's note: We would welcome your sharing with us those web sites which deal with diversity issues. While we cannot guarantee their inclusion in future editions/updates of this publication we eagerly seek to broaden and deepen the scope and range of its coverage.

Recommendations/additions should be phoned (780-4272) or mailed (Reference Department, Glickman Family Library, USM, 314 Forest Ave., Portland, ME 04101-2000). We would welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

Last Update: 03.2003
Comments: Ask-A-Librarian