Workshop handout

Southern California Resources on the Web

Presented by
Rick Crawford, Special Collections-California Room
San Diego Public Library

This Internet Subject Training session will introduce you to a wealth of resources about Southern California.

Libraries

Increasingly, library resources are being made available on the Web. Old "card" catalogs are now online. The following library sites are particularly useful.

MELVYL is the name of the online catalog for the University of California system. (It also includes the holdings of the State Library in Sacramento.) It can be used to search for books, periodicals, and special materials in any UC library: UC San Diego, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, etc.

The Circuit is a consortium of four San Diego area libraries: San Diego State University, UC San Diego, the CS San Marcos, and the University of San Diego.

The Los Angeles Public Library has an elaborate site, which features--in addition to books and periodicals-an extensive, searchable, photograph collection. It also provides guides to its regional history collections.

The LAPL photograph collection has 2.5 million images in many different collections. This photograph database is searchable and patrons can even order prints online.

The LAPL "Electronic Neighborhood" is a one-stop resource on California and regional history topics. Besides photographs, patrons can research a fiction database, California events and people, and even restaurant menus.

The National Archives at Laguna Niguel is the Southern California's repository for archived Federal Records, including a vast genealogy library. The recently released 1930 Federal Census is available at Laguna Niguel on microfilm.

Search engines and utilities

Search engines are essential to finding information on the Web. Popular engines include Yahoo, Alta Vista, Google, Hotbot, and Ask Jeeves. A good search engine makes navigating the Web quick and easy, particularly for a broad subject term such as "Southern California Resources."

Google is popular among librarians. It is very easy to use and provide quick, reliable results. Searchers can indicate whether they want to search Web text or images.

Refdesk is a useful "one-stop" source for locating information in a variety of categories. This is popular site for librarians.

The Librarians' Internet Index is another site used by professionals.

Historical sites and landmarks

California State Historical Landmarks in San Diego County (official site)

California State Historical Landmarks - San Diego County (unofficial site with photos)

Museums

@LA: Museums in Southern California [link no longer valid; removed.]

Missions

Annotated Links to Websites Related to California Missions

Vacation ideas, amusement parks…

Tourist Attractions in Southern California [link no longer valid; removed.]

San Diego Tourism

Statistics

The Web is particularly good for finding current local statistics. Try these two sites-SANDAG and RAND-- for information ranging from crime statistics to housing prices.

SANDAG - San Diego Association of Governments

RAND California
(from outside the library, log-in here

Local history

The San Diego Historical Society

This Web site, which began in 1995, is a very large "one-stop" source for San Diego history. It's an ideal starting point for researching people, places, historical events, and genealogy.

From here we can search links to thousands of historical photographs, online history articles from the Journal of San Diego History, the names and addresses of local historical organizations, a list of Master's theses on local history, and much more. The site even includes its own "search engine" which can locate even the most obscure historical information.

A good starting point is the Web pages for the Research Archives in Balboa Park.

This facility has materials similar to the collection of the California Room but has limited public hours. Much of the information is available online.