Finding Resources

There are a number of places to search for books through the library. You may want to try the following:

If you want to locate a book in the library or want to browse the library, you may want to learn how to read a call number. See the link below.

There are a few ways you can create a more advanced search. 

Boolean Operators

• AND
  Makes a search smaller by searching for items that have topic 1 AND topic 2 together.
  Example: canals AND history
   
• OR
  Makes a search bigger by searching for items that have topic 1 OR topic 2 available.
  Example: canals OR rivers
   
• NOT
  Makes a search smaller by searching for items that have topic 1, but NOT topic 2 available.
  Example: canals NOT love

Advanced Search Methods

• Quotation Marks
  Looks for a whole phrase together. Without them, you will probably find what you need, but it can help make your results smaller.
  Example: "historical canals"
   
• Parentheses
  Combines different operators to make your results smaller.
  Example: (canals OR rivers) NOT love
   
• Truncation (*)
  Searches for a wildcard after/in place of the *, which will help make your results bigger. You have to be careful using this or you will get too many results.
  Example: Wom*n (This will search for womEn and womAn).

For more help, visit the library research help page under research guides or click the link below.