Using TexShare Databases to Research Demographics
This pathfinder illustrates some of the TexShare resources for conducting demographic research. It also features links to other useful Internet resources.
Q: Where can I find historic demographic information for a particular town or county?
HeritageQuest Online
HeritageQuest is designed to help individuals trace their family lineage, but its primary source material can also be used for historic/demographic research. It contains more than 25,000 family and local histories, the complete U.S. Federal Census from 1790-1930, full-text e-books, the Periodical Source Index (PERSI), the Revolutionary War Pension Applications & Bounty Land Warrant Applications, and the Freedman's Bank Records.
Handbook of Texas Online
The Handbook of Texas contains more than 23,000 reliable articles on Texas history, geography, and culture. To get detailed demographic information on Texas cultural groups, towns and counties, try searching for them by name, e.g., "Harris County."
Q: What if I just want to find out about how demographics work, like perhaps to learn about the relationship between demographics and marketing? Also, can you recommend some good basic demographic reference books?
NetLibrary E-books
NetLibrary makes more than 27,000 full-text eBooks available online for browsing, searching, and virtual checkout. Search by title, author, subject keyword, publisher, publication date, or ISBN number. For example, you might try a keyword search for "demographics" and "marketing."
A couple of examples you might find include: Demographics : A Casebook for Business and Government and Handbook of Demographics for Marketing & Advertising : New Trends in the American Marketplace.
Additionally, the NetLibrary Reference Center is an excellent resource for demographic research, because it allows you access to a host of demographic reference works, including:
- Cities Ranked & Rated : More Than 400 Metropolitan Areas Evaluated in the U.S. and Canada
- Datapedia of the United States, 1790-2005 : America Year By Year
- A Historical Record of the Population of the United States
- Occupational Outlook Handbook
- A Statistical Portrait of the United States: Social Conditions and Trends
- Vital Statistics of the United States : Births, Life Expectancy, Deaths and Selected Health Data
- World Health Report 2003: Shaping the Future
- World Report on Violence and Health
Additional Internet Resources
American Factfinder
http://factfinder.census.gov
CIA World Factbook
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
United Nations Population Division
http://www.un.org/esa/population/unpop.htm
U.S. Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov/
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
http://www.hud.gov/
For further information on TexShare databases send questions and comments to texshare@tsl.state.tx.us
This page was written by Heather Nodler in Spring 2006 and updated by Wendy Thompson in Spring 2007.
INF 382S: Library Instruction and Information Literacy, taught by Dr. Loriene Roy
School of Information,
The University of Texas at Austin