How to Find Maps at Evergreen --
Prepared by Carlos Diaz, Government Documents Specialist

(Lightly edited by Sarah Ryan -- thanks, Carlos!)

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Government Documents website: http://www.evergreen.edu/library/govdocs/index.html

The Evergreen State College (TESC) Maps Collection is a varied one that helps TESC Faculty/Staff and Students in their research needs and studies.

The collection not only includes maps published by Federal agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Department of the Interior (DOI), the U.S. Census Bureau, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) but also wall maps and products from commercial vendors such as Denoyer-Geppert, Rand McNally, and Klett-Perthes.

The collection includes topographic maps from Washington State, Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana and Oregon; nautical charts covering the Pacific Northwest area; U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Bureau of Mines maps. From Canada, we have British Columbia topographic maps of areas bordering with Washington State and nautical charts surrounding the Vancouver Island region. You will also find National Geographic colored maps that come with some issues of the magazine; and road maps and bike maps from Washington State and around the country.

The paper and CD-ROM titles are available for you to check out. You can also find maps on microfiche and via the Internet.

Most of the maps in the Maps Collection are on the online catalog except for the topographic maps. So far, all of Washington, Oregon, and one third of Idaho topographic maps are on the online catalog and any new topographic maps are immediately placed on the online catalog. More titles are added each day, so check back frequently.

The online catalog can be found on any terminal at the Library. You can access it from home by going to:

http://cals.evergreen.edu/search~b1i1c1a1/

Then, click on the KEYWORDS link to do a keyword search.

Once you are on the KEYWORDS search page, type in the name of the country or topic you are looking for in a map. For example, if you are looking for a map of Canada, type the word CANADA on the search engine. You will get 3,069 entries. Then, click on the LIMIT THIS SEARCH button where you will see different ways to limit your search. Click on the down arrow for MATERIAL TYPE. A pull-down menu will appear giving you several choices. Click on the one that says PRINT MAP. Then, click on the long button that says LIMIT/SORT ITEMS RETRIEVED USING ABOVE DATA. Wait for the results. You will notice that you have managed to reduce the entries from 3,069 to 194 which is a more manageable amount to work with.

To search for maps available on CD-ROM, return to LIMIT THIS SEARCH. Under MATERIAL TYPE, choose COMPUTER FILE. When using the Canada example, you will find 5 entries for digital maps of Canada. Most of the maps on CD-ROM will have as its location TESC Gov Docs CD-ROMs. 

Then click on the titles that are of interest to you. Most of them will have the location TESC Maps. You will also find maps and atlases located in Reference. Be sure to write down the call number and location because that is what you will need in order to retrieve it. If you have difficulty finding the map, be sure to stop by the GovDocs/Maps Office in L-3321 for assistance.

You can also do call number searching for maps. Go to:

http://www.evergreen.edu/library/govdocs/mapsudocslist.html

for a listing of maps available in the Maps Area. Click on the call number links and you will get a listing of all the maps we own in that series.

 Maps in the Government Documents Stacks:

A number of maps are also located in the Government Documents/Maps Stacks. Most of these are accompanied by reports published by the U.S. Geological Survey, Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Defense, Smithsonian Institution, and the Environmental Protection Agency to name just a few.

Maps in the Posters Collection:

You can also find some maps in the Posters map case of the collection. Some of these posters may even be posted on the walls of the Library. The Posters collection has a myriad of maps including photographs published by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), the Forest Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and more.

To find posters on the online catalog:

The online catalog can be found on any terminal at the Library. You can access it from home by going to:

http://cals.evergreen.edu/search~b1i1c1a1/

Then, click on the KEYWORDS link to do a keyword search.

Once you are on the KEYWORDS search page, type in the name of the country or topic you are looking for in a map. For example, if you are looking for a map of Canada, type the word CANADA on the search engine. You will get 3,069 entries. Then, click on the LIMIT THIS SEARCH button where you will see different ways to limit your search. Click on the down arrow for MATERIAL TYPE. A pull-down menu will appear giving you several choices. Click on the one that says 2-D Graphic. Then, click on the long button that says LIMIT/SORT ITEMS RETRIEVED USING ABOVE DATA. Wait for the results. You will notice that you have managed to reduce the entries from 3,069 to 1 which is a more manageable amount to work with.

A number of our holdings on the online catalog have hot links to the electronic version of titles. There are also a number of sources available via the Internet.

50 States, The: http://www.evergreen.edu/library/govdocs/statemaps.html

Canada Maps: Atlas of Canada: http://atlas.gc.ca/site/english/index.html

Census Bureau, U.S.: http://www.census.gov/

Country Information: http://www.evergreen.edu/library/govdocs/quickref/countries.html

International Organizations: http://www.evergreen.edu/library/govdocs/intlorgs.html

Mapping: http://www.evergreen.edu/library/govdocs/quickref/mapping.html

Maps Collection from the Perry-Castaneda Library of the University of Texas-Austin: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/index.html

National Atlas of the United States: http://nationalatlas.gov/natlas/NatlasStart.asp

Virtual Atlas of the Pacific Northwest: http://www.evergreen.edu/virtualatlas/home2.htm

Early Washington Maps from Washington State University: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/holland/masc/xmaps.html