LibGuides at USA: HY 364: History of Islamic Civilization to 1452: Finding Books

SOUTHcat

To find books and government documents in USA Libraries' collections, use SOUTHcat: USA Libraries' Catalog.

Catalog tips and tricks:
- Keyword searches – use quotation marks to hold phrases together ("islamic countries")
- Truncation – use ? after the root of a word to find all its variants (islam? finds islam, islamic, islamism )
- Browse the Subject(s) field in records to find the right words for searches. (Example: Try doing a keyword search for islamic, then look at the subject(s) field in several records. You’ll see that the subject term could be "islamic countries--politics and government." Click the subject heading to find more records with this subject.)
Revise and refine your searches.
Watch for repeating call numbers and browse stacks in that area.
Pay attention to the Location and Status fields. You will need this information to locate the item in the library.

Search Google Books

Part of Google's library-scanning project. Only books in the public domain are shown in full text. Others may have just a citation or show selected pages from the book. Remember, you can check SOUTHcat to see if we have a book you find in Google Books if the full text is not available.

Subscription E-Books

The USA Libraries subscribe to several subscription e-book collections. These collections tend to focus on a specific discipline or field of study in their coverage.

ACLS Humanities E-Book Project
Full text to books of major importance in historical studies. Formerly the History E-Book Project.
EBSCO eBook Collection
Formerly called NetLibrary 3. A collection of about 11,173 current electronic books. The checkout period for books from EBSCO is currently 7 days. In order to check out a book, you must create an account with EBSCO. Click on Sign In at the top right on the blue bar, then choose Create a New Account. A maximum of 60 pages may be printed at one time.

SpringerLink This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to 1,961 journals, 1997-current. Also contains a collection of over 29,000 electronic books from Springer Publishing for the years 2005 to 2011. Sort your results by date so that the books we have access to will appear first. You can also tell if a book is part of our collection if the square to the left of the title is green.

Ebrary Academic Complete
A collection of over 70,000 electronic books covering all academic disciplines.

WorldCat Search

If you cannot find what you are looking for in SOUTHcat, try looking in WorldCat. It will allow you to search the catalogs of many other libraries around the world. If you find something you like, let a librarian know, and we may be able to get the item for you through Interlibrary Loan.

Suggested Search Terms

Below are some suggested search terms to use when searching the SOUTHcat catalog or library databases. Search techniques may vary with each database, so look at help screens or ask a librarian for suggestions about using quotation marks and truncation symbols.

Leave out the word "and" when doing a keyword search on SOUTHcat, since this is automatically added if the phrase is not in quotes. Put phrases in quotation marks to search as a phrase. Use ? as a truncation or wildcard symbol in the catalog. Use Advanced Boolean Search for combinations of concepts and phrases.

islam? history
arab? history
"byzantine empire"
"ottoman empire"
iran "foreign relations"
persia?
"islamic countries"
bedouin?
"saudi arabia" "politics and government"
crusade?
"islamic civilization"
fatimid?
mongol?
islam religion
muslim? biography
muhammad
"islamic empire" "social condition?"
hejaz
arabia "social life and customs"
abbasid?
"country profile?" iraq

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