Rhode Island Maps Research Guide

Check out the newly published online guide to sources for Rhode Island Maps

New Database Subscription - Urban Studies Abstracts

Urban Studies Abstracts

Urban Studies Abstracts includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to urban studies, including urban affairs, community development, urban history, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. The index contains more than 46,000 records, which are carefully selected from the most important sources within the discipline. Journals Indexed

Combine searching Urban Studies Abstracts with the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals for awesome architectural search results!

See > Guide to Searching Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals


RISD Library Databases Key
Includes some Full Text
Contains Images
RISD Library subscription database.
Licensed for RISD Students, Faculty & Staff. Available On + Off Campus - How to Login

Available to All. RISD Library includes these links on our website because they are authoritative sources of information of interest to library users.

SAHARA Landscape Design, Architecture, & Built Environment Collection in ARTstor

Access ARTstor from the library's website, Images page: library.risd.edu > Resources > Images

Approximately 9,000 images of architecture, landscape design, and the built environment from the Society of Architectural Historians' (SAH) SAHARA project are now available in ARTstor. SAHARA (Society of Architectural Historians Architecture Resources Archive) is a community-built archive of digital images for teaching and research in the field of architectural history. SAH members, including scholars, architects, historic preservationists, and students, upload their own built environment images to SAHARA to be shared with the Society. The SAHARA collection in ARTstor consists of photographs that have been peer-reviewed by the SAHARA editorial board for their photographic quality and the accuracy of their descriptive information. Additional images will be added to the ARTstor Digital Library as the SAHARA archive grows over time.

Related collections:
* QTVR Panoramas of World Architecture (Columbia University)
* Contemporary Architecture, Urban Design; and Public Art (ART on FILE)
* Ralph Lieberman: Architectural Photography
* Ezra Stoller Archive (Esto)
* Wayne Andrews: Architecture (Esto)
* The Museum of Modern Art: Architecture and Design

Architectural Drawings of RISD Buildings

RISD Archives (Fleet Library, 2nd floor) has a collection of 12,000 drawings (originals and copies) of RISD buildings. The drawings are indexed in a searchable Filemaker pro database by the following information: drawing title, document type, information about the creator(s) of the drawings, dates, building name, location, and type, number of sheets, scale, and a short descriptive note.

See Architectural Drawings Collection for a detailed description.

An overhead scanner allows Archives staff to provide copies as long as a CD, DVD, or USB device is provided. Students, faculty, and researches are welcome to use the collection by appointment.

Archives, 2nd Floor
Monday - Friday 9am-4:30pm
Phone: 401.709.5922

RI Business Recycling & Renewable Energy Resources

What are some sources of information on recycling for businesses in Rhode Island?

Green Zone Rhode Island
People's Power & Light
Rhode Island Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency
Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources
Rhode Island Resource Recovery's Resource Exchange

RI water resources

How can I find information on RI water systems?

The RI Office of Water Resources offers historic and current reports on water quality, watershed management, fresh and coastal water ecology.

Browse RI Office of Water Resources by Topic

For articles on water-related topics (not specific to Rhode Island) search these databases through the RISD Library Articles page:
Academic Search Premier
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
Firstsearch > Search these databases: Basic Biosis, BioDigest, Geobase
Garden, Landscape, and Horticulture Index
GreenFile
JSTOR > Search by Discipline: ecology & evolutionary biology

RI natural habitats and species

Where can I find information on Rhode Island natural habitats, land use, plants, & animals? Do any of these sources contain maps?

Look in the RISD/Athenauem catalog under these subjects:

Birds - Rhode Island
Botany - Rhode Island
Land Use - Rhode Island
Marine Ecology - Rhode Island (includes maps)
Natural History - Rhode Island
Open Spaces - Rhode Island

Try searching the catalog with keywords such as plants, mammals, fish*, birds, ecolog*, natur* + "Rhode Island". Using the asterisk * at the end of a keyword will give more results by finding variants of the root word.
ecolog* = ecology, ecologies, and ecological

Search the Providence Public Library for additional sources.

Check out this State website for statistics and maps:
RI Department of Environmental Management
Use the site's drop down menus to locate more specific topics

world architecture digital photo panoramas

Where can I find panoramas of architectural sites?

There are QuickTime panoramas available in Artstor. Search by a building or site keyword + "QTVR" to locate the Quicktime files.

Learn more at Artstor: How do I view QTVR files?

Current Periodicals housed in Special Collections

Which current periodicals are kept in Special Collections?

2wice
Bloom: a horti-cultural view
Form + Zweck
Idea: International advertising art =Aidea : sekai no dezain-shi
Matrix
Perspecta
Volume

Why are they kept in Special Collections rather than on the Balcony with the other current periodicals?

A select group of current magazines and journals are kept in Special Collections to ensure their safety due to cost and/or to protect unique features of the publications such as printed inserts or large format.

Site plans, elevations, sections & drawings

How do I find site plans, elevations, diagrams, and drawings of a building project?

Start at library.risd.edu
Select RISD Online Resources
Choose Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals

The Avery Index has a search box which allows you to select and search for the type of Illustration you need. The drop down menu includes the following types of images:
Aerial images
Charts
Computer generated images
Details
Diagrams
Drawings
Elevations
Engravings
Graphs
Illustrations
Maps
Models
Photographs
Plans
Plates
Sections
Site Plans
Sketches
Tables
Views

To search for more than one type of image at a time, hold down the shift key while clicking on the Illustration type.
Once the search is complete, choose Check Your Library Holdings for Availability to see if RISD Library owns the journal.
RISD periodicals don't circulate so use the face-up scanner to scan articles and images. Save scans as color or greyscale jpg, tiff, or pdfs. Save to a flash drive or email the scans to yourself.

Providence architecture & neighborhoods

Where can I find information on historic buildings and neighborhoods in Providence?

Good sources to start with include:

Buildings of Rhode Island

The PPS/AIAri guide to Providence architecture

Providence Preservation Society's guide to downtown Providence : commerce in architecture

National Register of Historic Places - Rhode Island

When looking for information on a neighborhood, search by keyword in the RISD/ATH catalog using the neighborhood's name and "providence".
Example: elmwood providence

The City of Providence website, Department of Planning & Development has Neighborhood Profiles for each of the city's 25 neighborhoods. These profiles include census data on popluation, diversity, and income. Also available are sidebar links to an aerial photo, and maps showing Land Use, City Wards, Diversity, Open Space/ Parks, Recreation, Public Facilities, and Service Providers. Historic Plat maps which show land division and ownership are available at City Hall Archives, 5th floor, room 502. The Archives have a range of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, City of Providence Atlases from 1798 to 1937, and City Directories from 1850-present. The RI State Archives also owns a range of Plat books and coastal maps. Both the City and State Archives allow the use of digital cameras.

Search the Rhode Island Historical Society's RIHS Online Catalog for historic maps and documents. The Providence Public Library also collects information on Providence and RI architecture.