Government Information, Maps & Microform Services (GIMMS) is located on the second floor of Herman B Wells Library on the Indiana University Bloomington campus. Included in GIMMS are local, state, and federal government information and data resources, the largest map collection in Indiana, GIS services, and microform services.
This guide brings together a comprehensive list of GIMMS resources regarding food studies, globally and domestically.
For further information, or to request a consultation or IU Libraries instruction session, please contact us at libgimms@indiana.edu.
Many agencies in the United States regulate and conduct research on food. Below are some introductory websites from several of them. Additionally, if you are interested in finding more information from a specific agency, you can include their name in the Author field of your database searches.
International Organizations are groups like the United Nations that represent the cooperative interests of their member states.
Many of our materials are available on microform, sometimes only so. Do not be afraid! GIMMS equipment views and scans microfilm, microfiche, and microopaques. Images can be scanned in PDF, TIFF, JPEG, PNG and BMP formats and saved to CD, flash drive, or any Internet file storage service. Scans can also be printed like any other document.
Our microform collections are, for the most part, cataloged, so you shouldn't need to seek them out specifically, but here's a small sampling of the kinds of things you might come across in your search.
For non-governmental resources, see this list of databases, journals, and books. It was compiled by Theresa Quill for a "Geography of Food" course.
AGRICOLA is a database produced by the National Agricultural Library (NAL). It contains over 6 million records encompassing all aspects of agriculture and allied discipline.
AGRICOLA consists of two subsets of records:
1. Citations for journal articles that include abstracts (NAL Article Citation Database)
2. Bibliographic records describing monographs, serials, audiovisual materials and online content from around the world (NAL Cataloging Database)
Collection of resources related to environmental science, engineering, biotechnology, bacteriology, atmospheric science, ecology, and biology.
This multidisciplinary database, provides comprehensive coverage of the environmental sciences, and includes scientific journals, trade journals, new sources, conference proceedings, reports, monographs, books, and government publications. .
Major areas of coverage include: Agricultural biotechnology; Air quality; Aquatic pollution; Bacteriology; Ecology; Energy resources; Environmental biotechnology; Environmental engineering; Environmental impact statements (U.S.); Hazardous waste; Industrial hygiene; Microbiology related to industrial & environmental issues; Pollution: land, air, water, noise, solid waste, radioactive; Risk assessment; Safety science; Toxicology & toxic emissions; Waste management; Water pollution; Water resource issues.
Provides researchers with archival content, visual ephemera, books, and videos that explore how food shapes the world.
Examples of topics covered in the collection: organic farming/small farms, school lunch programs, childhood nutrition, marketing and advertising, packaging, food industry, environmental impact of GMOs, US food programs during WWI/WWII, food security, famine, vegetarianism, labor practices, food safety, wine making, obesity, gender roles through history, food habits around the world and more.
Digital access to primary source material covering the evolution of food and drink within everyday life and the public sphere. Includes printed and manuscript cookbooks, advertising ephemera, government reports, films, and illustrated content.
Includes access to Modules 1 and 2. The bulk of the material ranges from the sixteenth century to the early twenty-first century. Module 2 includes six rare Apicius cookbooks, the earliest of which dates from the ninth century.
Web-based mapping application that lets users create professional-quality thematic maps and reports using demographic, business, and marketing data. PLEASE NOTE: Users may "sign in as guest," or register for an individual account if they would like to save their work.
Allows users to:
-Access thousands of demographic, business, and marketing data variables.
-Develop interactive thematic maps and export high-resolution images to word processing or presentation software.
-Select, sort, and compare data across multiple locations and build custom reports that can be exported to a spreadsheet for additional functionality.
-Explore historical census data to understand how regions change over time and use estimates and projections to analyze current and future trends.
-Make informed personal and business-related decisions by asking questions like “what are the social and demographic characteristics of my neighborhood?” and “where should I locate my retail store?”
While Databases aggregate articles from many journals, sometimes going directly to a relevant journal is a good way to keep up on current literature and find articles. For each of these IUCAT (IU Libraries' catalog) records, you'll need to click on the [BLOOMINGTON] link to get access.
IU Libraries has many print books about Greek food and cooking. Below are a couple of recommended titles.