Gender & Democracy in Russia, Eurasia & Beyond : Research Strategies & Sources  Tags: slavic russian women_and_politics women_and_media gender_studies  

Searching by series title or corporate author can also be an effective way to find monographic or alternative-format sources on your topic. Clicking on "Open Society Institute.; Network Women's Program.", which is listed as "Corp Author(s)" in the WorldCat database record for Debra Schultz's Gender studies & women's studies : resources in the countries of Central & Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union & Mongolia, Budapest, 1999 (click image to see record) brings up 25 other WorldCat records that list the same corporate author. Click (and then click again) on the image below to view this list of records.

Somewhere along the line, the subject headings attached to individual items in an American library catalog are the product of one individual cataloger's judgment on a seemingly simple question: "What is this book (video, etc.) about?" Inevitably there is a subjective element to this process. The cataloger's choices are also limited by both the arcane rules governing the use and creation of Library of Congress Subject Headings and by policies in force at their own institution. Nevertheless, simply because a human being has taken the time to consider what a particular item is about, subject headings can be an extremely valuable and efficient way to search for materials on a specific topic. They provide an added advantage when searching for non-English materials, since, for example, Russian books on gender identity would not otherwise be retrieved by a keyword search for "russia gender identity".

Researchers should keep in mind, however, that the most useful subject headings are not necessarily the most intuitive. (See, for example, the subject heading beginning with "Sex role--Former Soviet republics" in the record for Debra Schultz's directory in the box at left.) "Chasing" subject headings from one record to another, trial and error, perusing the subject headings of items with similar call numbers, asking a librarian, and resorting to the Library of Congress' own four-volume list of headings can improve the results of subject heading searches. The following are just a sampling of subject headings and types of subject headings that may be helpful in your research.

• Political participation--Russia (Federation)
• Uzbekistan -- Social conditions -- 1991-
• Demographic transition--Russia (Federation)
• Women in Islam
  
• Muslim women
• Muslim women -- Russia -- History
• Women -- Ukraine -- Crimea -- History
  
• Women in literature
• Women, Services for -- Former Soviet republics -- Directories
• Women -- Former Soviet republics -- Societies and clubs -- Directories
• Divorce -- Russia (Federation) -- Sakha -- Statistics -- Congresses
• Islam and politics --Asia, Central