Pacific Islands Studies

The surest way to find books is to search the online catalogs listed in the side box. Here are some other tips for locating and evaluating books:

Tips for General Book Searching

When searching for books, there are a few useful starting strategies to keep in mind:

• Searching a library catalog is different from searching Google or full text databases. The data provided is usually quite basic, including title, author, subject, and sometimes table of contents. You may need to broaden your search or try alternate keywords before finding books on a particular topic.
• Most library catalogs do not contain articles or article indexing. Instead, they will tell you if the library has a subscription to a specific journal or magazine, and if this includes any electronic access. Use an article database to find specific journal articles.
• If you already have a relevant book or article in hand, use its bibliography to find other sources on the same topic.
• Do a subject word (not just a keyword) search in a catalog. The Research Library has print copies of Library of Congress subject headings available, and advanced researchers may also want to consult the LC Authorities catalog to locate subject headings on different topics.
• Due to major space restrictions in the Library, note that some materials may be located at the Southern Regional Library Facility, or SRLF. These can usually be requested via the UCLA Library Catalog, and are usually available for pickup within 48 hours at one of the UCLA Libraries.

Here are some recent publications on the Pacific islands.

1. When searching for information on Pacific islands, there are a number of terms you should use, such as Pacific islands, Oceania, South Pacific, or South Seas. You should try truncating a search term, i.e. use "Pacific island?" so it gets keywords or subjects with Pacific island, Pacific islands, Pacific Islander, and Pacific Islanders. Searching under Pacific, on the other hand, would yield too many results.
2. You could also search by subregion (i.e., Melanesia?, Micronesia?, Polynesia?) or by specific islands or countries (e.g. Solomon Islands, Tonga?).
3. Keep in mind that materials are classified according to the most specific topic.Thus, when doing a subject search, remember that something specifically on Tonga would be classified under Tonga, and not under Polynesia or Oceania.

The UCLA Library uses the Library of Congress classification system to categorize its materials. The following are call numbers related to Pacific Islands Studies.

The New Zealand Electronic Text Centre (Victoria University) is a free online archive that offers a searchable set of digitized books, manuscripts, journals, and images on New Zealand and other Pacific islands.

The Center for Pacific Island Studies at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa provides an open access repository of its digitized publications.

Is there a book that you think the library should have?  You can recommend a book purchase here or make a comment below.