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Finding European Topographic Maps
- Before beginning research on your place, make sure the Library has a topographic map of that place. We do not have every country and we do not have every map in every series. We are more likely to have Western European Countries.
- European topographic maps are in the map cases under the "Intl. Topo Maps" sign, first floor of Knight Library in the back. Maps are organized by country and scale listed on the outside of the map drawers.
- Maps were acquired during the 1980s so country names reflect 1980s geography. (For example use Yugoslavia, East Germany, West Germany, etc.)
- The first drawer of a country or the first map of a specific scale should be the index map. Sometimes the index map is in a pocket on the top of that map set's folder. Individual sheets are filed alpha-numerically within the proper country/scale folder by the sheet number shown on the index map. The index map should indicate if we have a sheet by red underlining.
- If you cannot find a map (or index) we should have, check the refile area on top of the General Map Cases.
- I encourage you to use 1:25,000 or 1:50,000 scale maps for this exercise. They are more detailed than the 1:100,000 scale maps.
- Take a photograph or make a scan of the area you are interested in. Also make a copy of the citation information. You'll probably want to look at this map more then once.
- Search LibrarySearch to find country studies. Use the name of the country as subject and keywords country study. You might also find travel guidebooks useful for supplemental information. Use the name of the country and guidebooks as subject words.
