How Do I Find Books on My Topic?

To do a topical search for books, either start from the Quick Search box (Books, Media, More tab) or hit the CLICnet catalog link on the home page:

If you hit the CLICnet link, you'll see the basic search screen:

Let's say you're researching arguments about the proposition that access to water is a basic human right; upon searching in either option using the terms displayed in the screenshots above, you'll see the following results screen:

As you can see, there are numerous options on the result screen for narrowing or sorting your search results.  If you think you've narrowed the search too much, hit the "X" next to one of more of your refinements to remove it:

Let's take a closer look at an individual book record to see what helpful information it contains:

At the top you'll see basic citation information: title, author, publisher, copyright date.  There will be a section indicating locations available (often several locations--you may need to drill in to see the full list). Further down in the record there are often items like a table of contents or summary, which can give you more info on whether the book is likely to useful for your topic.

There are also some options here for additional searching.  Clicking on the author's name will show you other works in this catalog by the same author, useful if they've written other related works.  Clicking one of the subject heading links will show you other works in this catalog that are "about" the same thing as this book (subject headings are included in catalog records by librarians who have reviewed the work, and can help you find items that are about the same thing but that don't happen to use the same terms as your initial keyword search). 

Once you've found a book likely to be useful to you, you can use some of the options on the left side of the record:

1) Request it: opens a login screen (use name for username, e.g. John Smith), fill out form to request

2) Add to cart: places items in a list for this session; see "My Cart" at top of screen to view list and print/save/email

3) Classic catalog: links to  item record in the original catalog for an alternate view

4) Export to RefWorks: sends the record to the RefWorks citation manager program

This new catalog interface is designed for quick discovery of the content of our collections.  For more intensive or comprehensive research, you may want to try some of the more advanced search options in the CLICnet Classic catalog, or ask a librarian for assistance.

Created September 2009