This tutorial goes over how to search for resources like books, eBooks, and journal articles within the Libraries' catalog and various library research databases. We'll also go over Interlibrary Loan, which is a free service that lets you borrow resources from other libraries worldwide. The content may feel a little dry, but these are really practical things to know so that you can access and use Libraries resources effectively. You'll have opportunities to practice all of this, too.
By the end of Tutorial 3: Using Libraries Collections, you should know how to:
Estimated tutorial time: 35 minutes
Take a look again at the Libraries' homepage. See a big "Search the Catalog" search box? The catalog is a great place to start exploring our Libraries collections. The catalog includes records for lots (but not all!) of our resources - things like different journal and magazine articles, books and eBooks, DVDs, streaming videos, and music. You can select an option from the catalog's Search All drop-down menu if you want to limit search results to a particular format or type of item, like only music or only articles:
Entering the search term "sustainability" into the catalog and keeping the Search All setting (to search all formats) will return many results, including items held by the CSB and SJU Libraries as well as items held at other libraries worldwide that you can borrow through Interlibrary Loan. (We'll cover Interlibrary Loan later in this tutorial.)
Each result lists the item's format, call number, and location. In this example, the first item on the results page is a print book located at CSB Clemens Library. The second item is an eBook and the record includes a link to the full text. For more information about the library catalog, check out our Search Tips page.
The library catalog is where you'll want to go if you're looking for books. (You can use the catalog to find articles, too, but sometimes we'll also point you to certain library research databases for articles.) Here are some tips for finding print books and eBooks.
You can find most of our eBooks by searching directly in the library catalog. On the catalog's search results page, narrow your results to eBooks by using the filters on the left side of the screen (limit results by Format to Book and then further to eBook). Watch the video below for step-by-step instructions.
Source: CSB and SJU Libraries. "Finding and Using eBooks." YouTube, uploaded by CSB/SJU Libraries, 12 November 2021. (3:34)
To find a particular print book in our libraries, you need to know which library it's in and its call number. A call number is like the book's address in our collections; the whole system helps us shelve books on similar topics together in the library. The video below explains our call number system in more detail:
Source: Laurentian Library. "Reading LC Call Numbers." YouTube, uploaded by Laurentian Library, 6 August 2014. (1:45)
Note: Most college libraries in the United States use Library of Congress or "LC" call numbers. Rather unhelpfully, most public libraries and K-12 school libraries use a different system (Dewey Decimal). If you feel at all daunted about figuring out this new system of organization on your own, you can stop by the help desk and ask a library employee to help you find the book(s) you need! We are happy to help!
You can also place a hold on a book if you'd like to have it ready and waiting for you to pick up at the Libraries help desk. From the library catalog's search results page, click the title link of a book to view its full record. Click the blue "Place Hold" button on the right side of the page. The Place Hold Request Form lets you choose either CSB Clemens or SJU Alcuin as the pickup location (even if the book is usually shelved at the other campus). Watch our "How to Place a Hold" video for step-by-step instructions.
Source: CSB and SJU Libraries. "How To Place a Hold." YouTube, uploaded by CSB/SJU Libraries, 12 November 2021. (1:56)
Some of your instructors are going to ask you to use peer-reviewed sources in your research. This usually means using scholarly articles that have gone through the peer-review process prior to publication.
Scholarly articles are written by subject experts for experts in a narrow field of research, and they're published in scholarly journals. You can search for scholarly articles in the Libraries' research databases, which we'll cover in more detail later in this tutorial. Scholarly articles are dense and often use terms with which the general public (or first-year students new to a major) might not be familiar. Original research articles frequently use similar headings or sections within the article (e.g., Abstract, Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Analysis, Conclusion), and they almost always include detailed bibliographies.
We usually recommend having you start off by reading more general introductions to your topic and refining your research topic before having you dive into narrowly focused scholarly articles. But once you know the basics on your topic, scholarly articles are useful for gaining an in-depth understanding of your topic, learning how others in a discipline have researched that topic and what questions or areas for further research still remain, and finding bibliographies that direct you to other relevant information.
Peer-Reviewed Articles: Your instructors will sometimes specify that they want you to use peer-reviewed articles, a subset of scholarly articles that are "peer reviewed" or vetted by other scholars (the author's peers in that particular field) for accuracy, quality, and importance. If you are not sure if an article you found is peer-reviewed, check online for details about the journal in which the article was published or ask your librarian! Many research databases include a feature so that you can limit your search results to only peer-reviewed articles.
Watch this short video to learn how peer review works:
Source: North Carolina State University Libraries. "Peer Review in 3 Minutes.” Uploaded 1 April 2014. Licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US License. (3:15)
A database, very generally, is a searchable collection of information. A library's research databases are searchable collections of information sources like journal, magazine, and newspaper articles. Each research database contains lots of journal articles that were originally published in many different journals, so you'll find more results, faster, by searching for articles in a database compared to searching within a single journal's issues or a newspaper's website for relevant information.
Some library research databases are full text, where they provide the complete text of the sources they have records for, while some offer a mix of full-text articles and article abstracts. ("Abstracts" are brief summaries.) Other databases - well, indexes or indices, to be precise - only provide publication information and abstracts for their search results.
[Explain distinctions and pros/cons of database searching vs Internet/online searches.]
The CSB and SJU Libraries own or provide access to more than 200 distinct research database collections. Where should you start? Identifying the best databases for your topic is an important step in your research strategy.
Our librarians can also recommend a few options, too!
As you explore the library catalog and our databases, you'll want to think about the keywords and search terms you'll use to get the best results. Keywords are the important words, phrases, or concepts related to your research topic. You’ll need to identify your main concepts and search terms to find the most relevant sources in our library collections.
Search engines like Google use a natural language algorithm. That means you can enter an entire question or even just talk to Google and get lots of results. If you search Google for "What is the effect of social media use on university students’ sleep?" you get millions of results.
But searching for an entire question in a database will not get you any results, or at least not many good ones. Library databases are more specific and will only give you exactly what you put in. Instead, enter just your keywords, often separated with one concept per search box:
A database’s keyword search looks for the words you’ve entered anywhere in an article’s record fields (such as the article Title and the article abstract), and sometimes in the article full text. In the example database article record below, you can see the keywords "sleep," "social media," and "university students" in bold wherever they appear.
Keyword highlights in the article title in the database's search results:
Take some time to develop a list of keywords early on in your search. Then you'll have other terms ready to try if your initial search results aren't a good match for your topic or if you feel like you're seeing the same sources showing up across your searches. If you’re not sure which terms or combinations of terms might work best, talk to a librarian.
Most databases support phrase searching. If you want to search for a phrase, concept, or name that includes two or more words (rather than a single keyword), place quotation marks around the words or phrase to search for those specific words in that exact order.
Example: A search for United Nations (without the quotation marks) might bring back results about First Nations peoples in Canada and the United States, or about the different nations United Airlines flies to, while "United Nations" (with the quotation marks) will return only results where the two words appear together as a phrase - in this case, the global human rights organization.
For a quick demo, watch the video below:
Source: North Carolina State University Libraries. "Tips and Tricks: Phrase Searching." Uploaded on 1 April 2020. Licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US License. (1:15)
As you learn more about your research topic, pay attention to whether it seems too broad, too narrow, or just right for your assignment:
Too narrow: Topics that are too narrow often retrieve 1) no sources, 2) only a few sources that directly relate to your topic, or 3) sources that only indirectly address some aspect of your topic.
Example: The effect of amphetamine use on the athletic performance of high school-aged hockey players in Argentina
Too broad: Topics that are too broad often retrieve 1) too many sources or 2) sources that are too general or "big picture" to be useful.
Example: Drug abuse
Keep in mind that if you're looking for an all-in-one source that addresses your topic perfectly, you might need to change your approach. Watch this short video to learn what to do when you can't find enough resources on your topic.
Source: North Carolina State University Libraries. “One Perfect Source?” Uploaded by libncsu on 9 July 2014. Licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US License. (2:08)
If you aren’t finding many good search results in a library research database, try some of these techniques to help broaden your search:
There are several techniques you can use to narrow or limit your search if you're getting too many search results, results that aren't relevant, or even if your topic is just feeling too big to tackle:
Limiters are tools that help you narrow the focus of your search so that the information retrieved is limited according to the values you select. You can apply more than one limiter at a time. The types of limiters available will vary by database, but some common ones are listed below.
Not all research databases are full text, where they provide the complete text of every article they have. Some databases only provide abstracts, or summaries, of their articles. When viewing an article record in a database, look for a link or button for the PDF or HTML Full Text.
If you don’t see a full-text option for an article you need, look for a Find It button. Clicking on Find It will show you - either through LibKey or the Find It page - if the full text of an article is available in one of the Libraries' other collections or if you will need to request a copy through Interlibrary Loan.
In the example below, clicking on Find It takes you to a LibKey page that provides a downloadable PDF of the full-text article and a link to the article in a different database:
In the example below, clicking on Find It takes you to a page displaying the article's details and the database (here, ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Database) that has the full text. Click the View Full Text link to go to this database and access the full text:
Sometimes, as in the example below, the Find It page will indicate that there is no full text available for a particular article in any of the Libraries' collections. Click the Request Item through Interlibrary Loan button:
Even if we don't have the book or article you need in our collections, we can often supply what you're looking for, quickly and for free, from another library through Interlibrary Loan. As a CSB and SJU student you should never have to pay for an online journal article that's behind a paywall. (A paywall is when a site offers to provide full access to an article or other resource, but only if you have a subscription or pay an access fee.) If you are having trouble tracking down or accessing a book, article, or other source you need, talk to your librarian!
If you search for articles online, you can run into paywalls where you're asked to pay money to access an article's full text. As a CSB and SJU student, you should not pay for individual articles. Instead, request a free copy of the article using Interlibrary Loan or talk to a librarian for help getting access.