Welcome to Great Lakes Essential Resources, a multi-disciplinary research guide intended for researchers and students of all ages!

For a general overview of the Great Lakes, please see the facts, videos and news sites on this home page. Navigate using the subject tabs and drop-down menus at the top of the guide to explore resources related to the history, environment and culture of the Great Lakes region. 

The creation of this guide was funded by the American Library Association (ALA) Carnegie-Whitney Grant. 

The Carnegie-Whitney Grant provides an award that is based on a special fund first established by Andrew Carnegie in 1902, “the income of which is to be applied to the preparation and publication of such reading lists, indexes and other bibliographical and library aids as will be especially useful in the circulating libraries of this country.” The Carnegie Fund was subsequently enhanced by a merger with a fund established by James Lyman Whitney in 1910. The Publishing Committee, a standing committee of the American Library Association, administers the grant. 

The Carnegie-Whitney Grant provides grants for the preparation of popular or scholarly reading lists, webliographies, indexes and other guides to library resources that will be useful to users of all types of libraries in the United States. 

This guide was created and curated by Carolyn Klotzbach-Russell, Social Sciences Librarian and Kimberly Plassche, former Map Librarian. Thank you to Briana Youngquest (University at Buffalo, Environmental Engineering 2023) for her valuable help with the initial creation of this guide.