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The Map Room has an excellent collection of geological, mineral and mining maps of the United States. All of the Library's maps have been cataloged and can be accessed through the Library's on-line catalog, Catalyst.  WARNING: not all of the United States does has not been mapped geologically.  Also, the Library does NOT own all maps produced.

To find a map, always start your search with the NARROWEST geographic focus; a search that is too geographically wide will yield many irrelevant items. If you are looking for a map of "Mount Rushmore," begin your search with that term. If that fails, expand to the next widest geographic term, in this case, "Pennington County, South Dakota." If this proves unsuccessful, try "Black Hills." If that does not acquire requisite information, use the search term "South Dakota."  If you cannot find any items in Catalyst, or if you find too many items (over 10,000), see a librarian for guidance. WARNING: as you widen the geographic area of your search, the amount of detail that a particular maps shows will decrease.

Look for items in the following places. They are ranked in order of importance. ALWAYS start with #1.

1) The Colorado School of Mines Library's online catalog--Catalyst
2) National Geologic Map Database by USGS
3) Georef
4) Andriot's Guide to USGS Publications OUT OF DATE
5) Geologic Map Indexes of the individual states OUT OF DATE

1) The easiest way to search for a geological map is to do a CUSTOM SEARCH in the Library's online catalog, Catalyst. Use the name of the place you are looking for, like "Mount Whitney" or "Everglades National Park," and the words "map?" and "geolog?"; the "?" is the truncation character. It tells the system to search for all words that begin "geolog" and "map"--the words could be "geology" or "geologic" or "geological" and "map" or "maps". Doing a search of "Colorado" "geolog?" and "map?" is too broad; it will yield more than 10,000 items. By narrowing your search and using the "?" symbol, you will save time. If you cannot find any items in Catalyst, or if you find too many items (over 300), see a librarian for guidance.

2) The National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB) is a comprehensive list of geologic maps produced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), state agencies, and private agencies. It is easy to use. There are many ways to search the database including entering keyword and co-ordinates.  The NGMDB is not interconnected with Catalyst, therefore it will be necessary to check the NGMDB citations in Catalyst in order to determine if the Library owns the item. To connect to NGMDB, click http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/.

3) Georef is a database which contains an index to geologic publications, including maps. It is a comprehensive database, and its contents' dates range from the 1700's to the present. Georef may only be used on the CSM campus. Georef is interconnected with Catalyst, therefore it is easy to check to see if the CSM Library owns a particular map or book.  To connect to Georef, click here. Type in Georef and click on the link in the results.

4) THIS INDEX IS OUT OF DATE!!! Laurie Andriot's Guide to USGS Publications lists all thematic map series, Bulletins and Professional Papers produced by USGS. The book's call number is Z6034 .U49 G84 1998; it is green and located on the Map Room's Reference Table. NOTE: THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN 1998 AND IS VERY OUT OF DATE.  Only the following series are included: Antarctic Geologic Maps (A), Coal Investigation Maps (C), CircumPacific Maps (CP), Geophysical Investigation Maps (GP), Geologic Quadrangle Maps (GQ), Hydrologic Investigations Atlases (HA), Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Maps (I), Land Use and Land Cover Maps (L), Miscellaneous Field Studies Maps (MF), Monographs (Mono), Mineral Investigations Resources Maps (MR), Oil and Gas Investigations Charts (OC), Oil and Gas Investigations Maps (OM), State Hydrologic Unit Maps, Missouri Basin Studies Maps, Mineral Preliminary Strategic Maps, Bulletins, and Professional Papers. The Map Room has at least one copy of most maps listed in this book. The envelopes containing these receptive maps are located in gray filing cabinets under the mezzanine. One non-circulating copy of each Bulletin and Professional Paper is located in the Government Publications Reference Room. Circulating copies may be found in the Government Publications stacks, located on the first level of the Library. The call numbers for USGS Bulletins begin with I 19.3: followed by the number of the Bulletin. The call numbers of USGS Professional Papers begin with I 19.16: followed by the number of the Paper. Androit's book does NOT list maps produced in other series or publications such as USGS Open File Reports, USGS Water Resource Papers, nor USGS Circulars.

The first part of Andriot's book contains each map's complete bibliographic entry, listed by Thematic Map Series, Bulletin, and Professional Paper. The latter half of the book contains indexes by Area, Subject, Coordinate, and Author. The indexes refer you to the bibliography section--in other words, the indexes do not contain complete bibliographic information. That information can only be found in the bibliography section.

This book is easiest to use if you know the name of the USGS TOPOGRAPHIC QUADRANGLE that covers the area in which you are interested, because the geologic quad and topographic quad use the same name. State indexes to the USGS topographic quadrangles (commonly known as "topos") appear in the green booklets located on top of the map cases near the topos. You can search for a geologic maps using the topo name in the "Area Index". The "Subject Index", while useful, is cumbersome. This book also contains a "Coordinate Index" that can be used if you know the coordinates (latitude and longitude) of the area in which you are interested. This index is in Latitude order.

5) THESE INDEXES ARE OUT OF DATE!!! Starting in the 1970's, USGS produced "Geologic Map Indexes" for each state. These indexes are comprehensive--they show maps produced by a variety of organizations and authors. Copies of these indexes can be found on the Map Room's Reference Table.

The map indexes refer you to the bibliography section.  Although this bibliography lists papers as well as maps from a wide array of sources, the Arthur Lakes Library may not have every item mentioned.