Landscape Architecture Research

Keyword Searching

• Whether searching in the Penn Library catalog or in a different database, searches default to Keyword searches. Keyword searches look for words anywhere in an item record (such as title of a work, chapter titles, description, or summary) and are a good way to start your research. Some example Keyword searches are: “erosion control”, “green roof”, and “Roberto Burle Marx”
• Keywords can be combined to get more specific results using the connecting word AND these phrases are called search strings. Here are some examples: “erosion control AND landscape architecture” or “erosion control AND native plants”
• It is a good idea to take note of which keywords are yielding the best fitting results for your research. You will want to refine your search using more specific or better-fitting keywords as you do more research.   

Subject Headings

• Keyword searches can lead you to useful Subject Headings. Subject Headings are agreed upon terms that describe the about-ness of a resource. In the library catalog all Subject Headings are hyperlinks so you can click through to find more resources on that specific topic.
• For example: the search for “Water gardens AND conservation” results in a number of books and e-books that have different call numbers (SB475, N6537, QH75, etc…) this means they are shelved in different parts of the library under different subjects. Some of the Subject Headings for these books include xeriscaping, water harvesting, landscape gardening—water conservation, and sustainable horticulture. Depending on your specific research interests, these subject headings may be useful to follow or to search for in other databases.

While Penn Libraries has many thousands of books, videos, and other sources, we do not have a copy of everything. 

• Search a Union Catalog (a combined library catalog of records from multiple institutions) to see if there are useful resources held at other libraries. 
• WorldCat Search the world's largest online library catalog. Lists books, journals, maps, recordings, films, scores, and other materials located in public, academic, corporate, school and specialized libraries all over the world. Check Worldcat for holdings of material that are not available at Penn. Available items may be requested through Interlibrary Loan.

Need a book that has LIBRA as the location?

That's the library storage facility. You can read this guide about requesting items from LIBRA.

Need a book that's not in Penn Libraries?

You can use WorldCat or database information to request from other schools, through BorrowDirect, EZBorrow, or Inter-Library Loan (ILL).

Need a book that's at Penn but designated as rare?

Request to view it through your Research Account for Special Collections.

If you would like to suggest a title be added to the Penn Libraries collection:

You can fill out the online Purchase Request form.