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Study Abroad: Cornell Library Services: Learn about
your destination

Learn about Library support for study abroad and international research

Kayaking? cooking? koalas?

What will you talk about when you meet people?

Gain background knowledge -- then don't neglect to learn about some aspect of your destination that interests you!  Movies -- sports -- art or theater. Learn how to consult Cornell's e-resources (books, journals, encyclopedias, images) through links from the Library's home page and research guides.

Country information

Find reliable country information quickly: these are efficient and reliable sources for facts and summaries about national politics, economics, education, infrastructure, media and much more.  Use them to gather information or to check your understanding. Online (mostly); link through the Cornell Library Catalog.

eiu.com [Economist Intelligence Unit]  Country Profiles, Country Reports, Country Commerce, Viewswires for nearly 200 countries, regions and organizations.

Europa World Plus  Political, social and economic information about 250+ countries;  incudes country maps and a directory of business, cultural and political organizations in each country and 1,900+ international organizations.

Political Handbook of the World  (Print: Olin Ref JF37.P76+, and online) Focuses on country politics, but also addresses the media in each country. Print only.

World Factbook  (US Central Intelligence Administration) "information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities."

Statesmans Yearbook  (Current year in print only: Olin Ref JA51.S79;previous years in multiple formats/locations) "This classic reference work presents a political, economic and social account of every country of the world together with facts and analysis."

Cultural and social information

Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia and Africa (2012; Print: Olin Reference HM626 .C843 2012, 4 volumes; online)

Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Popular Culture (2007) Olin Ref HM621.G74 2007; 6 volumes.  Covers six continents, each in one volume, and offers topical essays which include additional resources such as architecture, fashion and appearance, food and foodways, films, books, sports and recreation, transportation and recommended websites. (Print only, unfortunately.)

ILR School researcher looks at "tight" and "loose" cultures  (Science 27 May 2011:
Vol. 332 no. 6033 pp. 1100-1104)

Read fiction from or about your destination

Literature Resource Center  Learn more about writers, their works, their lives and their times in this huge full text resource. Includes living and historical writers of both fiction and non-fiction, global coverage. Try searching by author's name or nationality, country, genre, work title, and more.

Words without Borders  "The online magazine for literature in translation."  Articles, features, reviews. Especially good for work outside the publishing mainstream.

Float through your research

Dead Sea newspaper; credit: inro, Flickr, Creative Commons license.

Art, culture and music: start here

Web Accessibility Assistance
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