Map Use Across the Disciplines

Abstract

Abstract University map libraries are not just for geographers, geologists, and the occasional archaeologist or historian. In running the Edwin J. Foscue Map Library at Southern Methodist University for the past five years, the author observed persons from a wide array of disciplines using map library resources. The research performed for this article demonstrates that maps are a useful expression of knowledge in every major academic discipline. The result is a better understanding of the scope of map use in academia, and of the broad role that map libraries serve in virtually every discipline.