The Farnham Peat Collection: A Subject Catalog of the Peat Research Materials in the Natural Resources Library

Abstract

This book is a subject catalog of the peat research materials in the Natural Resources Library at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. The content is organized into two parts. Part A contains the complete, subject catalog. Each entry in the subject catalog includes basic descriptive information, such as author, title, date, pagination, and publisher. The call number following each entry shows the location of the item in the Natural Resources Library. Part B is a Subject Index. The subject terms used here are basically keywords (uncontrolled vocabulary) from the documents. The keywords represent words from titles, abstracts, and in some cases, the actual content of the documents being indexed. The bulk of the subject headings are constructed around two principal terms, peat and peatlands. The distinction is whether peat the material is the focus of study or whether peat is looked at primarily in a geographical context. For example, a laboratory analysis of sphagnum would be found under the heading peat, whereas a discussion of wildlife ecology would be indexed under peatlands. Both peat and peatlands are extensively subdivided. When using this type of index, several terms must often be considered to ensure a complete search. Some basic rules for searching apply. Scientific or non-technical terminology may be used. Hierarchical terminology is common. Subject matter may be indexed at wildlife and birds, at horticulture and vegetables. Words and phrases with similar meanings often appear. One needs to look at trace elements and heavy metals, at pyrolysis and combustion, for example. Each term in the Subject Index is followed by a specific page reference, to facilitate moving through the book. A companion volume entitled The Farnham Peat Collection: Author Catalog of Peat Research Materials in the Natural Resources Library provides additional access to these materials. The peat holdings in the Natural Resources Library are almost entirely the personal library of Dr. Rouse S. Farnham, professor of Soil Science at the University of Minnesota, now retired. Dr. Farnham donated his library to the Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, in 1986.