Gazetteers

A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary. There are a number of types of gazetteers. Some, such as those published by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, give little information except for latitude and longitude coordinates for locating places on maps. Other gazetteers give basic information about the places they list. A good example of this type of gazetteer is The Ordnance Survey Gazetteer of Great Britain (Maps/Gazetteer DA640.O68 1989). Baedeker guidebooks are also shelved with the gazetteers.

Gazetteers are cataloged, and most are shelved in a special location (Map Collection, Gazetteer in STARS). They are shelved next to the cartographic journals between the atlases and soil surveys (see map of the map collection ). To differentiate them from other Map reference books, they have a yellow dot on the spine. Some heavily used gazetteers, including several general gazetteers and gazetteers of New York and Long Island, are shelved behind the Map Reference desk. Geographic names in the United States are also listed on the GNIS CD ROM (see Digital Maps )