This research guide relays some basic information on library and information resources pertaining to the concerns of this department, as provided by University Libraries and/or sites on the World Wide Web.

1. To Shelf-Browse for Books (using main Library of Congress Subject Divisions)

Books on subjects associated with this field are shelved under the call number ranges listed below. Use TOPCAT to search for specific items in the collection, or more narrowly-defined subjects.

Golf Courses & Greens (GV975) ------- Economics of Agriculture (HD1401 - HD2210 & HD9000 - HD9495) ------- Agricultural Insurance (HG9966 - HG9969.4) ------- Rural Sociology (HT401 - HT485) ------- Plant Physiology (QK640 - QK707) ------- Microbial Ecology (QR111 - QR113) ------- General Agriculture (S) ------- Plant Culture (SB) ------- Forestry (SD) ------- Animal Culture (SF) ------- Aquaculture/Fisheries (SH) ------- General Hunting (SK1 - SK21) ------- Agriculture Bibliography (Z5071 - Z5076) ------- Botany Bibliography (Z5351 - Z5358) ------- Dairying Bibliography (Z5706 - Z5707) ------- Gardening Bibliography (Z5996 - Z5997) ------- Horses Bibliography (Z6240) ------- Tobacco Bibliography (Z7882)

2. To Find Journal and Magazine Articles (using indexing/abstracting/full-text services)

The following services are recommended for courses for first-year students and nonmajors:

• Academic Search Premier and MasterFILE Premier: These two all-subject WWW-based services (they are part of the EBSCOhost system) feature indexing and abstracting of many journals and magazines WKU Libraries receives in hardcopy, plus a large selection of articles in full-text.
• Science (Magazine) Online (AAAS).
• Google Scholar: A free Web-based Google service that restricts searches to the scholarly literature. Now features linking to full-text of articles held by WKU.

The following services are recommended for use by advanced students and researchers:

• AGRICOLA: A WWW-based service that provides indexing and some abstracting for many important research journals and magazines in agriculture.
• ArticleFirst: FirstSearch database available to faculty and graduate students (and to undergraduate students by special permission). Indexes almost 13,000 journals and magazines from 1990 onward, including some ninety percent of the ones University Libraries carries in hardcopy.
• Science (Magazine) Online (AAAS).
• Nature (Magazine) Online.
• SpringerLink: Access to about 1000 Springer journals with full content back to about 1997.
• Ejournal collections by individual publisher: Cambridge Journals Online, SpringerLink, and Wiley Interscience. Abstracting of the nearly 2000 science journals published by these companies, with some full-text available at each site (individually).
• BIOSIS Previews: This abstracting service combines Biological Abstracts and Biological Abstracts/RRM (Reports, Reviews, and Meetings) to provide global coverage of the life sciences and biomedical sciences literature.
• DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals): "This service covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals" (across all subject areas, and in multiple languages).
• Electronic Journal Service: EJS (EBSCOhost): Full-text articles, tables of content, and abstracts from journals across all subject areas.
• Google Scholar: As described above.
• Ingenta: A free online database indexing some 28000 journals and magazines from the 1980s onward. Offers for-pay text delivery.
• Marcive Web DOCS: A WWW-based service that indexes monographic series by the U.S. Government, including those on agricultural subjects.

Special resource:  Comprehensive List of Indexes, Abstracts, and Full-Text Services Related to the Natural & Applied Sciences Held by University Libraries
Special resource:  TDNet Electronic Journal Finder [use to access Libraries' electronic journals, magazines, and newspapers, as well as some indexes and databases containing full-text articles; includes a comprehensive A-Z listing of titles]

3. Monographic and Other Reference Materials in the Helm Library and Kentucky Building

The following are recommended for use:

• handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, directories, etc.: available in Reference, mainly in the S, SB, SD, SF, and SH parts of the collection. See the Shelf List of Science & Technology-Related Reference Works in the Reference Department, Helm Library.
• artifacts, publications and manuscript materials in the Kentucky Building on agricultural practices, tobacco, forestry, care of stock, veterinary medicine and farming.

4. Department of Agriculture Faculty

WKU Department of Agriculture Faculty http://www.wku.edu/agriculture/faculty&staff.htm

5. Related Professional Societies (for professional news, careers/jobs, memberships, etc.)

• [Special:]  Scholarly Societies Project: Agriculture [list of agriculture-related professional societies] http://www.scholarly-societies.org/agric_soc.html
• Agricultural & Applied Economics Association http://www.aaea.org/
• American Dairy Science Association http://www.adsa.org/
• American Forage & Grassland Council http://www.afgc.org/
• American Horticultural Society http://www.ahs.org/
• American Nursery & Landscape Association http://www.anla.org/
• American Phytopathological Society http://www.apsnet.org/
• American Society for Horticultural Science http://www.ashs.org/
• American Society of Agricultural & Biological Engineers (ASABE) http://www.asabe.org/
• American Society of Agronomy http://www.agronomy.org/
• American Veterinary Medical Association http://www.avma.org/
• Crop Science Society of America http://www.crops.org/
• Golf Course Superintendents Association of America http://www.gcsaa.org/
• The Irrigation Association http://www.irrigation.org/
• Kentucky Forage and Grassland Council http://www.kfgc.org/
• National Institute for Animal Agriculture (hdqts, Bowling Green) http://www.animalagriculture.org/
• Royal Horticultural Society http://www.rhs.org.uk/
• Society of American Foresters http://www.safnet.org/
• Soil and Water Conservation Society http://www.swcs.org/
• Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) http://www.soils.org/
• Southern Agricultural Economics Association http://www.saea.org/
• United States Golf Association http://www.usga.org/
• Water Environment Federation http://www.wef.org/

6. Web Sites Recommended by Department of Agriculture Faculty

Gateways, etc.  :  Agricultural Issues  :  Companies   :  Dairy/Animals/Vet Med  :  Plants/Horticulture/Crops/Pests/Soils

Gateways & General or Miscellaneous Sites:

• AgEcon Search: Research in Agricultural & Applied Economics [archive of articles in full-text] http://agecon.lib.umn.edu/
• Agricultural Research Service (USDA) http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/main.htm
• Agriculture, Food and Forestry [gateway for ag, food & forestry-related internet resources] http://www.intute.ac.uk/healthandlifesciences/agriculture/
• Agriculture Network Information Center (AGNIC) [international cooperative gateway] http://www.agnic.org/
• Agripedia (University of Kentucky) [gateway] http://www.ca.uky.edu/agripedia/
• AGRIS (FAO) [searches world literature in agriculture] http://www.fao.org/agris/
• AquaNIC: Aquaculture Network Information Center [information gateway] http://aquanic.org/
• Center for Rural Affairs http://www.cfra.org/
• Core Historical Literature of Agriculture (Cornell) http://chla.library.cornell.edu/
• Elite Farmer [portal for products, services, and information] http://www.elitefarmer.com/
• Farmland Information Center http://www.farmlandinfo.org/
• Farms.com http://www.farms.com/
• INASP Rural Development Directory [profiles & links to worldwide organizations] http://www.inasp.info/file/202/directory.html
• Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (University of Nebraska) http://www.ianr.unl.edu/
• Kentucky Department of Agriculture http://www.kyagr.com/
• LandscapeOnline.com [portal for the landscape development industry] http://www.landscapeonline.com/
• National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA) http://www.nass.usda.gov/index.asp
• Plant Information Online (Univ. of Minnesota) [includes horticultural information] http://plantinfo.umn.edu/
• The Virtual Library: Agriculture [links] http://vlib.org/Agriculture.html

Agricultural Issues-Related Sites:

• Action on Smoking and Health http://www.ash.org/
• Ag Biotech InfoNet [genetic engineering applications & implications] http://www.biotech-info.net/index.html
• Agricultural Biotechnology http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?navid=BIOTECH&parentnav=AGRICULTURE&navtype=RT
• Animal Welfare Information Center http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/
• biotechterms.org [biotech terms glossary] http://biotechterms.org/
• Dairying for Tomorrow [news, case studies, reports, etc.] http://www.dairyingfortomorrow.com/
• Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) http://www.fao.org/
• FAO: Food and Nutrition http://www.fao.org/ag/agn/index_en.stm
• FSRIO (Food Safety Research Information Office) http://fsrio.nal.usda.gov/quicksearch.php
• National Agricultural Law Center (U. of Arkansas) http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/
• National Centre for Biotechnology Education http://www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk/
• Public Perception Issues in Biotechnology http://filebox.vt.edu/cals/cses/chagedor/
• Transgenic Crops: An Introduction & Resource Guide http://cls.casa.colostate.edu/TransgenicCrops/
• U.S. & World Population Clocks http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
• United States Department of Agriculture http://www.usda.gov/
• USDA: Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education http://www.sare.org/about/index.htm
• United States Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/
• United States Food and Drug Administration http://www.fda.gov/

Companies:

• A & L Western Agricultural Laboratories [analytical services] http://www.al-labs-west.com/
• Dow Agrosciences http://www.dowagro.com/homepage/index.htm
• Monsanto http://www.monsanto.com/
• Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. http://www.pioneer.com/
• R. J. Reynolds http://www.rjrt.com/home.asp
• Strathkirn http://www.strathkirn.com/
• Syngenta http://www.syngenta.com/en/index.aspx

Dairy, Animals & Vet Med:

• The AgNIC Dairy Information Center [portal] http://minds.wisconsin.edu/handle/1793/8404
• Breeds of Livestock http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/BREEDS/cattle/
• The Cattle Pages [breeds, supplies, resources] http://www.cattlepages.com/
• Dairy Cattle Nutrition (Penn State University) http://www.das.psu.edu/dairynutrition/
• Dairy Network.com http://www.dairynetwork.com/
• Dairy Science Department, University of Wisconsin http://www.wisc.edu/dysci/
• Hoard's Dairyman http://www.hoards.com/
• HolsteinWorld http://www.holsteinworld.com/
• Johne's Information Center [veterinary medicine] http://www.johnes.org/
• The Merck Veterinary Manual http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/htm/home.htm
• Veterinary [portal for animal health-related internet resources] http://www.intute.ac.uk/healthandlifesciences/veterinary/

Plants, Horticulture, Crops, Pests & Soils

• Bioversity International (IPGRI) [international plant genetic resources news & info] http://www.bioversityinternational.org/
• Clemson Entomology Insect Information http://entweb.clemson.edu/cuentres/
• Crop Index http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Indices/index_ab.html
• Global Crop Diversity Trust [news & programs] http://www.croptrust.org/main/
• GrainGenes: A Small Grains and Sugarcane Database http://wheat.pw.usda.gov/index.shtml
• Green Beam Pro [horticulture news] http://www.greenbeampro.com/
• growit.com ["serving the wholesale nursery industry"] http://www.growit.com/
• HortiPlex [database containing plant images & links to resources] http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/
• Internet Glossary of Soil Science Terms https://www.soils.org/publications/soils-glossary
• Jobs in Horticulture Inc. http://www.hortjobs.com/
• The National Food Safety Database http://foodsafety.ifas.ufl.edu/
• NASIS: National Soil Information System http://soils.usda.gov/technical/nasis/
• Natural Resources Conservation Service http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/
• New York Botanical Garden http://www.nybg.org/
• Perry's Perennial Pages http://www.uvm.edu/~pass/perry/
• Pesticide Action Network Pesticide Database http://www.pesticideinfo.org/
• Plant Dictionary (Ohio State University) http://plantfacts.osu.edu/images.lasso
• Plant Facts (Ohio State University) http://plantfacts.ohio-state.edu/
• The Plant Pathology Internet Guide Book http://www.pk.uni-bonn.de/ppigb/ppigb.htm
• Plants Database http://plants.usda.gov/
• Soil Science Division, College of Agriculture, University of Idaho http://soils.ag.uidaho.edu/
• The Succulent Plant Page http://www.succulent-plant.com/home.html
• Weed Identification Guide http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/rightsid.htm
• Wisconsin Corn Agronomy http://corn.agronomy.wisc.edu/

University Libraries Liaison: Charles H. Smith (x6079 / charles.smith@wku.edu) last updated 4/20/2009
page maintained by Charles H. Smith