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HY 365: History of Islamic Civilization from 1453: Finding Books

Physical Books and eBooks

You can find books through 4 main pathways:

  1. OneSearch, the Library's main search feature on the Marx Library Homepage. (Filter your search results to only show resources: books and e-books.)
    1. You can find physical books (through the call number) and e-books (through links).
    2. Not all subscription e-books will appear in the search results.
  2. Library e-Book List
    1. The Library subscribes to separate e-book collections.
    2. You can find e-books that don't appear in the One Search results here.
  3. Searches outside of the library
    1. WorldCat is a website that allows you to search for almost any book that has ever been catalogued in any library. You can use WorldCat results to find books in nearby libraries, or you can find books to then request through the Library's InterLibrary Loan service.
    2. Google Books is a search engine inside of Google. You will only get full-text results for books in the public domain. You can also find titles to request through Library's InterLibrary Loan.
    3. Project Gutenberg is an online collection of digitized books that are in the public domain.
  4. Related Books
    1. In a book or article you like, read the bibliography/references. Let that author do your research for you.
    2. When you find a physical book, look at the other books around it. They will be about the same or related topics.

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.

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
islam? doctrine?
islam? "united states"
arab? history
"mughal empire"
"ottoman empire"
iran "foreign relations"
"genghis khan"
"islamic countries"
arab? "middle east"
"saudi arabia" "politics and government"
iran? clergy
"islamic civilization"
women "islamic countr?"
mongol?
islam religion
muslim? biography
islam? politic? turkey
"islamic empire" "social condition?"
arabia "social life and customs"
"country profile?" iraq
sharia?
bukhara or bukhoro
religious fundamentalism?
islam? "21st century"
muslim? "social condition?"
"united states" "ethnic relation?"
"islamic countries" "foreign relations" "united states"

WorldCat Search

Search for an item in libraries near you:
WorldCat.org >>

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.

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.

Google Book Search

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.