University of Texas at Austin’s Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection

     When doing research it is important to use primary sources to back up your opinion.  One primary source that is often overlooked are maps.  Historically, maps have been a key component to validate the times and culture of the people who produced them.  For an educator the use of maps provides a visual aid that adds context to a lesson being taught.  Before the internet it was hard for an educator to have access to a large array of maps to use in the classroom because it was not financially feasible for a school’s budget.  Advances in technology have made it easier with sites like Google for an educator to search the internet for maps.  With a little research you can search for maps of pre-communism Russia or weather maps of Superstorm Sandy posted by others to use in your lesson plan.  The problem is they will need to filter through your results to find what you want, which is not always easy.  You might encounter paid sites, sites that you might have to sign up for or sites full of ads that take forever to load.  If you want faster instant gratification in your map seeking needs than the University of Texas at Austin’s Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection is the place for you. 

     The University of Texas at Austin has digital uploaded many maps from their Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection and made them available to everyone on their site.  A good portion of their maps come from the Central Intelligence Agency.  The CIA maps are public domain and carry no copyright restrictions.  Links to privately owned maps are also available. 

     So how is this site good for educators?  First it is free.  In the past schools might have an outdated map of the World, a map of the United States of America and a globe in each classroom.  Now they have access to detailed maps from all parts of the world.  Being user friendly is another good aspect of this site.  The maps available online are arranged geographically and alphabetically.  A teacher can find a map showing the ethnic diversity of Tajikistan just as easily as finding a map of New Jersey.  The most important reason why this is good for educators/researchers is that it is FREE.  I know I mentioned this already but it is worth repeating.  All too often I have encountered roadblocks in my online research with sites that require you to pay to access the information you seek or the site is full of ads that take forever to load.  This site, much like Wikipedia but reliable, seeks donations but does not charge you to use the site and it loads quickly.  For this reason alone it is a good source to use.          http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/