How to find books
You have a lot of options for books and you can search in several ways.
To start a search for books in the University Library start at the home page of the Library.
Check the "Books" tab and enter search term(s) or keyword(s) into the search box. Remember that the Library Databases need you to break down your research question into keywords. So if you are looking for a book about Women's Voting Rights in France you would enter "voting rights" and "women" and "France". If you are using more than one search term it can be easier to start the search by hitting the "Advanced Search" option just below the search box. The advanced search page looks like this:
If you enter each search term on into its own search box you will be easily able to adjust the search terms to quickly find books on your topic.
Once you have a list of results you filter the results to find a list of just what you are looking for. The results list looks like this:
In the screenshot above you can see the filter on the left side with different choices for books and eBooks. For physical books the catalog listing will show you whether the book is available or checked out and where it is located (see above). For electronic books it will give you a direct link to reading the book online (above).
If you search and find a book that we don't have available for you, you can always request a free copy through Interlibrary Loan. Check the Interlibrary Loan tab on this guide for help and links to the form.
Finding Books in the Databases
Many of the subject-specific Library Databases contain entries for books as well. When you search a database such as Academic Search Complete or Historical Abstracts you can use a filter on a search to look for only books (this will include both physical and eBooks as well as book chapters).
Not every database collects books, but many do. You can always check the description of the database on the Database A-Z page.