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Student Resources
Using Books For Fashion History Research
Tips by Lanajean Vecchione
When it comes to researching fashion history, the best places are
still off-line. This is because fashions were mostly shown in paper
form. This article offers quick tips for using books, magazines,
and for upcoming school projects.
But why go through the trouble?
You do love fashion, don't you? There are other reasons as
well. Fashion photography is protected under copyright and you
wonąt find much of it on the internet. You will find awsome photography
in magazines and in catalogs, and catalogs tell you what year
merchandise was for sale and for what price, a goldmine! Books
also tell you information in grater depth and with more accuracy
than you will ever find on the internet, which means you will
learn more. So here's how to excavate the good stuff from a place
you'll learn to adore,
Love Your Library
But where do I begin?
Librarians!
Whether searching for a specific fact or some broader information, librarians
save time and point you in the right direction. They help you
see if there is enough information on a topic, or if you need
to narrow down a search where there is too much information. If
you are to spend any time looking for books it is good to visit
a librarian. Even if you don't have a library card they can still
help you. In my library they are smart enough to help you with
searches for information on the internet. You can also search
the card catalog. The card catalog is no longer a box of cards,
often it is electronic, and some libraries let you access it at
home using your computer. Ask your local library how to do a search
for books using an electronic card catalog and your modem. Once
you find the titles of fashion books, you can research on-line
to see if anybody has done a review of them at Amazon.com to save
time. You can also put a hold on books (if you have a library
card) and have them waiting for you at the library within a span
of two to ten days. Because of the wait, it is better not to wait
until the last minute to do library research. For fashion books,
it is best to know a little about the dewey decimel system. Fashion
books share a common numerical code filing code. Books on costume
and the dress are in the 391 section. Sometimes a decimal point
will come after the 391 and this means it is a sub section of
the same category. The librarian is the person who keeps all this
code straight. Here are a couple of other places to look for fashion
books in the library:
391 General books on fashion and the culture of dress.
796 Fashion Designer Biographies
973 Pop culture by decade, often containing fashion fads
By the way, any of these search tips can used in an online
bookstore like Amazon.com, which also offers book reviews and
lists quite a few out-of-print title. Their search engine is much
like using a card catalog, only instead of using a number, you
use a subject key word to search. Often it is better to use general
keywords for search engines on-line, like sixties fashion, fashion
history, hair fashions, etc, You can also searches by author,
subject and exact title.
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