LibGuides at USA: Botany: 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 ("rare plants")
- Truncation – use ? after the root of a word to find all its variants (botan? finds botany, botanist, botanical)
- Browse the Subject(s) field in records to find the right words for searches. (Example: Try doing a keyword search for fungus, then look at the subject(s) field in several records. You’ll see that subject terms are "fungi" or "mycology." Click the subject headings to find more records with these subjects.)
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.

More SOUTHcat Resources

Basic Guide to SOUTHcat
An introductory guide to SOUTHcat

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 databases, 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 single keyword searches on SOUTHcat, since "and" is automatically added between words 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. SOUTHcat will ignore internal punctuation in a word, for example: ching will find ch'ing.

rare plants	botan? and (name? or nomenclature)
wetland flora	(aquatic or wetland) and plant?
botanical artists	photosynthesis
plant diseases	plant? and drugs
botany--nomenclature	botan? and chemistry
climbing plants	vines
fungi	"flowering plants"
trees	plant? and cultivat?

Subscription E-Books

The USA Libraries subscribe to many subscription e-book collections. Listed below are several that include relevant titles.

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.
ProQuest E-Book Central
A collection of over 70,000 electronic books covering all academic disciplines. Print by choosing Read Online, clicking the print icon to print to PDF, then printing from the PDF file when it comes up. Not all pages may be available to print from all titles.

Springer E-Books This link opens in a new window
A collection of over 29,000 electronic books from Springer Publishing. Search your keywords from the homepage, then limit to "Book" or "Chapter" to see e-books. Uncheck the "Include Preview-Only Content" box to eliminate material USA doesn't have access to.

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.