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Atlas and Map Collection

The Atlas and Map Collection contains print atlases and maps and a variety of geospatial programs for viewing maps or generating custom maps. This guide contains a general description of geospatial resources available in the collection and in other collections in the Library, along with guidance in how to best search for geospatial resources in these collections.

Geospatial Resources (Maps, GIS, Imagery) is a complementary research guide that selectively lists Internet and print resources by broad subject category, e.g. soil maps; or by geographic area, e.g. California.


 

The Atlas and Map Collection is located in the southwest corner of the first floor of the HSU Library at approximately 40° 52' 36"N, 124° 04' 49"W (WGS84/NAD83); UTM 10 408976E 4525630N (WGS84/NAD83); and in the SW 1/4 of the NW 1/4, Section 28, T6N, R1E of the Humboldt Meridian.


ATLASES


The Atlas Collection contains approximately 650 world, regional, national, state, and thematic (subject) atlases. The following approaches can be used to find specific atlases:

  1. Browse the atlas shelves using the Library of Congress Classification System which arranges atlases geographically by continent. Use the Browsing Guide to Atlas and Map Call Numbers as a guide or the more detailed Map Finder developed by the Map Library at Pennsylvania State University.

    Atlases are shelved in two separate areas depending upon their physical format--smaller atlases are shelved upright and larger atlases are shelved flat. Since the classification sequence is repeated twice you should browse in both areas.

  2. Search the HSU Library Catalog to find specific atlases.
    • To find general atlases with world coverage search under Atlases as a subject (General world atlases published outside the United States are listed under Atlases qualified by the country of publication, e.g., Atlases, Russian.)
    • To find atlases covering a specific geographic area or subject use on the basic search screen to limit to the Location: Atlas and then do a keyword search using as keywords the geographic area, or subject in which you are interested. (Note that "Quick Limits" on the basic search screen allows you to limit to a combined Atlas & Map Collection.)

The Atlas Collection is a noncirculating reference collection. A few circulating atlases are located in the regular bookstacks on the second floor in the G 1000-G 3100 classification.

MAPS


The map collection complements the atlas collection by providing larger scale (more detailed) general, topographic, and thematic maps. While the collection concentrates on the western U.S. and California in particular, it also includes maps covering the United States in some detail and the world in less detail. The collection consists of the following subdivisions:

Large-Scale Topographic Maps - See Topographic Maps for a description of available print maps, software programs and Internet accessible topographic maps.

Road Maps and City Plans - See Street and Road Maps for a description of available print and electronic maps.

Cataloged Thematic, Intermediate-Scale and Small-Scale Maps - Includes approximately 2,000 titles, some of which are composed of multiple map sheets. The following approaches can be used to find these maps:

In looking for maps of a specific geographic area use the following search principles:

Following are some of the major map series in the Map Collection. Other series are listed in the Geospatial Resources guide. Consult the indexes to each series for available maps.

Raised Relief Maps - 1:250,000 scale plastic raised relief maps for California are filed in drawers under the large planning table.

OTHER MAP LOCATIONS


Humboldt County Collection. In this specialized collection are historical, topographic, and thematic maps of northwestern California. Maps of northwestern California which are part of a larger series., e.g., Soil-Vegetation Maps, are located in the main map collection. Maps in this collection are not listed in the HSU Library Catalog. There is a binder in the Humboldt Room which lists available maps. See also Northwestern California Maps for a selected list of print and Internet maps.

Documents Collection. Many federal government agencies produce maps. As a federal depository the HSU Library receives many of these maps with some of the prominent series being:

The U.S. Government Publications Monthly Catalog (Marcive version) indexes 40,000 federal maps published from 1976 to the present. To search for maps click on Combined Search at the top of the search page. In the Format box enter the keyword map and in the Anyword box enter the subject or geographic area in which you are interested.

Books and Periodicals. Many books and periodical articles contain maps. To find these maps you can:

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY and IMAGERY


Aerial photographs of northwestern California are located in the Humboldt Room. Available flights range in date from 1941 to 1983 at scales from 1:12,000 to 1:24,000. See Northwestern California Aerial Photography & Imagery for additional information on locally available aerial photography.

For information on aerial photography and remote sensing resources in general see the "Imagery and Remote Sensing" section of the Geospatial Resources research guide.

GEOSPATIAL PROGRAMS and DATA


Two "Geospatial Computers," located near the Atlas and Map Collection, are loaded with ArcView and other geospatial programs. For further information see HSU Library Geospatial Programs and HSU Library Digital Spatial Data.