While not all libraries collect graduate theses and dissertations, the Yellowstone Research Library maintains a vast collection of graduate research available for public access and use. This collection contains invaluable, Yellowstone-related research conducted by graduate students in the 20th and 21st centuries. For the past few months, Yellowstone librarians have been refining the catalog records for our vast collection of dissertations to make them more searchable and consequently more useful for research.
Dissertations and theses are not always the first type of resource that researchers gravitate toward, but they offer a unique type of insight into various fields of study that a book or journal article often don’t. Authored by emerging scholars, these publications often showcase new trends, methodologies, and perspectives within a given field. They also have extensive bibliographies and literature reviews that the author spent upwards of a year reading and curating. An additional benefit of dissertations that we see often in our collection is their narrow scope. Dissertations and theses are often written about uncommon or niche topics that might not be extensively researched or written about otherwise.
Some of the titles that exemplify the tone and potential uses for the collection are as follows:
- Losing steam: a multi-scale historical analysis of human impacts on geyser basins
- Reinventing nature in America's first national park: struggles over management policies in Yellowstone
- Sparking change; the archeology of firefighting in Yellowstone National Park
The unique geology and history of Yellowstone National Park lends itself to these unique and specialized topics that can often only be studied in Yellowstone, consequently creating a collection of graduate research that is not replicated in any other institution. This collection is just another reason why the Yellowstone Research Library is and continues to be a distinctive and special resource.
If you have any questions about our collection of dissertations and theses (or anything else related to the library), don’t hesitate to reach out! We are open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 am to 4 pm. We are also available via email at yell_research_library@nps.gov or via phone at (307) 344-2264.