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- Urban affairs & planning
- Essentials -- start here
Urban affairs & planning: Essentials -- start here
What'a here
This subject guide for urban affairs and planning identifies principal resources for most research in the field at Virginia Tech.
Resources listed on this landing page are grouped into Essential databases for accessing scholarly literature in the field; Background information sources; Contact information for the subject librarian; and tabs identifying Additional information.
Parts of this guide are also available in Bruce Pencek's other subject guides: Data sources for social research; News/journalism/streaming media; Advice for searching/citing/engaging scholarly literatures; and Accessing VT Library resources from off campus.
Essential: most literature-searching will start here
- North American City ReportsThis database is available on trial only through March 3, 2023.The North American City Reports module in Policy Commons preserves the full text of over five million pages of surveys, budgets, statistical records, case studies, planning documents, training manuals, policy guidelines, reports, and news from the five hundred largest cities in North America. It also includes select materials from hundreds of related agencies and non-governmental organizations. Please provide feedback on this database.
- Urban Studies Abstracts from EBSCOhost
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Indexes citations and abstracts of journal articles on all aspects of urban studies, 1973-present. Use GetVText link to get to full-text articles online or to order via ILLiad. - ULI Development Case Studies ULI Case Studies showcase innovative approaches and best practices in real estate and urban development. Each case study provides detailed information about the ideas, plans, performance, and lessons learned for an exemplary and often award-winning development project. Each also includes project facts, timelines, financial data, site plans, and photos. You must sign in with the library's member login and password access all ULI case studies and briefs from 1994 to present; contact the VT Ask a Librarian service for the password.
- HUD User Managed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R), HUD User hosts research, publications, and data sets in housing, community development, and more.
- Environment Complete from EBSCOhost Environment Complete indexes citations, abstracts, and full-text articles from journals, conference proceedings, and books on the agricultural, biological, social science, and technological aspects of the environment. Full text available in HTML and PDF. The database allows limiting to peer-reviewed journals. 1888-present.
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- CAB Abstracts from CAB Direct CAB Abstracts indexes citations and abstracts from journals, books, reports, handbooks, conference proceedings, field notes, and theses in agriculture, life sciences, natural resources, veterinary sciences, applied economics, nutrition, tourism, and the environment. Includes the CAB Abstracts Archive. Some full text available as PDFs. 1910s-present.
- Public Administration Abstracts from EBSCOhost Public Administration Abstracts indexes citations and abstracts of articles from public administration journals. 1974-present.
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- ProQuest One Business Expanding on the former ABI/Inform, ProQuest One Business is an important source for scholarship and the trade press about management of public and nonprofit organizations, organization theory, organization behavior, and other areas where social science intersects business. ProQuest One Business indexes citations, abstracts, and full text news articles, market, industry reports, country reports, downloadable data sets, dissertations, business cases, working papers, annual reports from North American companies, and company profiles and histories. You can limit searches to peer-reviewed journals. Full text provided in HTML and PDF. 1971-present.
- Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals from EBSCOhost Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals indexes citations, abstracts, and full-text articles in architecture and design from American and international scholarly and trade journals, popular magazines, and publications of professional organizations. In addition, this database also provides citation records for architects' obituaries. Full text, when available, is in PDF and HTML. 1800s-present.
- Architecture, Art & Design databases from ProQuest This database indexes citations and abstracts for journal articles, books, and dissertations (in full text PDFs) across multiple architecture, art, and design databases on the ProQuest platform. Use the Databases link at the top of the screen to change which databases are searched. You can limit to peer-reviewed sources.
- Art & Architecture Complete from EBSCOhost Art & Architecture Complete indexes citations, abstracts, and some full text from journals, magazines, trade publications, and books covering all aspects of art and architecture. It also includes a large image collection. 1901-present.
Find background in urban affairs and planning
Routledge Handbook of Planning Research Methods by Call Number: HT165.5 -- .R688 2015ebISBN: 9781317917038Publication Date: 2014
Handbook of Local and Regional Development by Call Number: HD82 .H27525 2010ISBN: 9780203842393Publication Date: 2010- International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2d ed) byISBN: 9780080970868Publication Date: 2015Comprises over 3,900 articles, commissioned by 71 section editors, and includes 90,000 bibliographic references as well as comprehensive name and subject indexes; more than 80 percent of the chapters are new or updated since the original text. Both its format and integrated chapters encourage discovery and map contexts and connections within the social and behavioral sciences. Some experts prefer the first edition (2001).
- Gale EbooksGale Ebooks is a collection of searchable ebook reference works. You can search within a particular work or across the entire collection. Individual articles from these sources are presented in HTML and PDF. Illustrations, photos, maps, and multimedia content is often included.
- SAGE Research Methods Online
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Allows you to explore the concepts and mechanics of social research to design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct research, and write up your findings. With its focus on methodology rather than disciplines and sophisticated search options, SRMO can be used across the social sciences, health sciences, and more. Incorporates full-text content from over 720 books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and articles. SRMO incorporates specially commissioned instructional materials illustrating the application of particular methodologies:- videos,
- sample cases,
- practice datasets.
Temporary, trial access only -- use while you can
The University Libraries at Virginia Tech regularly secure short-term, trial access to online resources in order to gauge their appropriateness to our university's teaching and research missions. These trials run in October, February, and sometimes April. Most trials run 30 days.
This box highlights some of these opportunities. All active trials are listed in a sidebar in the main Databases A-Z directory and as a tab atop this libguide.
Each entry includes a link to a user survey. I and other subject librarians invite you to email us your detailed assessments of resources. Responses from the Virginia Tech community are vital to the library's deliberations about whether and when to acquire or enhance databases and the like.
As appropriate I will list trials and user survey links a resource trials tab in this and my other libguides. Entries for trials I may include in the body of my libguides will go away when the trial period ends.
- Hispanic Life in America Series IIIThis database is on trial through March 1, 2024. Please provide feedback on this database.
Hispanic Life in America Series 3 provides coverage of the Hispanic American experience from 2010 to the present, sourced from more than 17,000 publications, including 700 Spanish-language newspapers and periodicals. An easy-to-use online resource—updated daily with new material—that illuminates Hispanic history, culture, and daily life.
Social Sciences & History Librarian
Office #3050
560 Drillfield Dr
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Email is the best way to contact me with questions or appointment requests.
Office hours (walk-in and/or Zoom): T 1-3:00 pm, W-Th 2-4:00 pm (Eastern time), and by appointment.
- virginiatech.zoom.us/j/95623507981
Ask a Librarian
Interlibrary Loan Services
All current Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff, regardless of your location, may request through ILLiad for materials:
- not owned by Virginia Tech (books, articles from journals and conference proceedings, book chapters, standards, and technical papers)
- owned by Virginia Tech but are unavailable for use (print books)
- owned by Virginia Tech and available in print (scans of articles from journals and conference proceedings, book chapters, standards, and technical papers)
We ship requests via UPS to users outside the immediate Blacksburg area (Montgomery, Giles and Pulaski counties).
Articles, book chapters, and many technical papers are delivered in PDF format to your ILLiad account. Occasionally, due to copyright restrictions, a paper copy of an article or standard is held for your at the Newman User Services Desk or sent o the mailing address listed on your account.