In 1996 Brian Schwimmer charged that anthropology lagged behind other disciplines in the use of technology due to the reluctance of many anthropologists to learn new technology. That trend is gradually changing and these two sources are assisting in that transformation, though both are inferior to what is available in many of the other social sciences. Still, there are few alternatives within the field itself. Anthropological Index Online is an inexpensive option but has a British/Commonwealth bent and somewhat awkward search protocols. Baywood Press does not appear ready to offer an electronic version of its Abtracts in Anthropology at any time in the near future. That leaves the field open to Harvard’s Tozzer Library which has produced the print version of Anthropological Literature: An Index to Periodical Articles and Essays since 1979. This quarterly index is still available in print and is also accessible online through the Research Libraries Group’s CitaDel database service.
Although these two resources are similar, they will first be discussed separately largely due to the differences in their software.
Anthropology Bibliography on Disc is the cumulative catalog of Harvard’s Tozzer Library. Founded in 1866, this library at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology holds 210,000 volumes of books, monographic series and periodicals, maps and AV material. Tozzer’s cataloging of the articles in most of its journals and many edited collections is available on Anthropological Literature on Disc discussed below. Languages in the collection include English, German, Romance, Scandinavian, and Slavic. The scope of the collection is worldwide; but its Mesoamerican area is especially strong, particularly in the area of Mayan studies. This is roughly analogous to the Bibliographic Guide to Anthropology and Archaeology published by G.K. Hall.
The product did not install easily and required several attempts, including taking steps not included in the Technical Reference pamphlet to get it to load successfully. Once it was up and running, however, it performed well.
Surprisingly, this is a DOS‐based system. Nonetheless, it allows for basic Boolean searching, wildcards, truncation, and nested searching. Search tags for fields can also be used to limit a search.
Indexes may also be searched and browsed. Multiple items from an index may also be searched. Browsable indexes include author, title, series (keyword), anyword (global keyword), LC subject heading, contents (keyword), country, date, illustrations, illustrations (keyword), and language. Illustrations only means the record shows the item is illustrated or has maps. Illustrations (keyword) searches the description field in each record for more specific information. This, however, is a relatively short index list and not terribly useful as it will pick up roman numerals for plate numbers, for instance, rather than well defined examples of illustrations.
Results may be displayed in the brief/ default (material type, language, date, author, title, description, and Tozzer call number), full (record ID, material type, language, country date, LC card number, ISBN, LC call # title imprint, description series, notes, contents subject headings, added names, and Tozzer call number) or customized formats (selected from record ID, material type, language, country, date, LC card number, LC call number, ISBN, ISSN, coden, GPO item number, sudocs number).
Results of a search may be sorted by record ID, material type, language, country, date, reverse date, author, title, or series.
Items may be printed individually, from a marked selection, or as part of a range. Search results may also be saved to a floppy. However, it is not possible to overwrite or update previously saved files; so a new file name is needed each time a new item is saved. There are also a number of speed key options available.
Unlike its counterpart, Anthropological Literature on Disc is Windows‐based and uses the ROMView for Windows search software.
Anthropological Literature on Disc is also based on the Tozzer collection and is an index to periodicals, journals, and edited works. The principal concentration of the database is archaeology, anthropology (biological and physical, cultural and social) and linguistics. Also indexed are relevant articles from sociology, history, ethnohistory, demography, geography, international development, and human genetics ‐ the adequacy of indexing here is presumably based on the Tozzer holdings.
Articles of two or more pages in Germanic, Romance, Scandinavian, and Slavic languages are indexed. Articles in other languages are indexed only if a title is provided in one of the above‐mentioned languages. Obituaries with at least a partial bibliography are also indexed. Books, film and video reviews, interviews, and conference reports are not indexed.
This database installs easily. It is designed to be installed on Windows 3.x or Windows 95 standalone workstations or as part of a local area network. G.K. Hall does not limit the number of users on a network; but it does limit LAN use to a single building.
The database opens to a Search Command window where searches are constructed and entered, indexes (author, title, subject, source, notes, Tozzer call number, record number, and anyword) browsed, and the Search History list displayed. The top half of the Search window is the text input area where queries are entered. Term(s) selected from any of the indexes will also be placed here. On the lower half of the window are found a number of buttons. The SEARCH and VIEW buttons are self‐explanatory. The HISTORY button controls whether the Search window is in Index Browsing mode or History mode, which reveals search histories. The AND/OR Boolean function buttons are used when either the Indexes or Search History windows are active. There is no NOT function button. For complex searches, Boolean commands, proximity and relational operators, truncation, and nesting may be used in the text search window.
Retrieved records may be displayed in a brief format (author, title, citation); full format (record number, author, title, citation, Tozzer call number, subjects and added entries) or custom selected fields from the full display. In the Display window records can be marked and unmarked, sorted (by author, title, citation, Tozzer call number, subjects and added entries), and printed by current item, marked items or by range. Records may also be exported.
In addition to these functionalities, Anthropological Literature on Disc provides a number of other interesting features.
Commands saved to disk from a previous search session can be opened and used in new searches. Window management options are available to position and resize the Search and Display windows to fit next to each other on the desktop or cascading the Display or Search windows in an overlapping manner with the title bars visible. There are also a number of keyboard shortcuts available.
On the down side, there is no searchable date field. Dates can be searched in the anyword index; but this is imprecise at best.
Now that the differences have been discussed, there are some issues common to both Anthropological Literature on Disc and Anthropology Bibliography on Disc which should be mentioned.
Both say their subject headings are based on LCSH. However, neither mentions that terms developed by Tozzer’s cataloging department are also included. What makes this significant is that there is no separate thesaurus available for either one of these. Although both may be searched by subject index, cross‐references and related terms, scope notes, etc. are not available.
Both provide slim technical reference pamphlets. A toll‐free number is provided for technical support as is a Web site which is more oriented to producers than customers. Anthropological Literature on Disc has online help which is better than that provided in an accompanying pamphlet and is adequate. The online help for Anthropology Bibliography on Disc, on the other hand, is slight.
Although the search software in both products is quite different, both are needed to fully benefit from the breadth of material in the Tozzer collections.
We should note that both of these products are only citation databases and do not include abstracts or full text. Still, they meet a significant need for the researcher and serious student of anthropology whose only previous means of access (short of a trip to Cambridge, MA) was decidedly unfriendly print or microform indices. Access to these databases provides a time‐effective alternative to such formats as well as a cost‐effective alternative to the more expensive service offered through RLG (Research Libraries Group).
In spite of the shortcomings in both, these two databases are recommended for academic and research libraries and museums given the strength of their content and their overall value.
