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HY 442: Research Seminar in European History: Empire and Migration in the British World: Finding Books

This guide was created to support Dr. Strong's HY 442 course in Spring 2025.

Books

A lot of history research is published as books.

You can find books through 4 main pathways:

  1. SOUTHcat, the Library's catalog
    1. You can find physical books (through the call number) and e-books (through links)
    2. SOUTHcat will only show you books the Library owns or pays for subscription access.
    3. Not all subscription e-books will appear in SOUTHcat search results.
    4. Search SOUTHcat by using suggested search terms.
  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 SOUTHcat 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. In a book or article you like, read the bibliography/references. Let that author do your research for you.
    1. If you find an interesting book in the bibliography, you can search for the book in SOUTHcat (by title, not IBSN).
    2. If the book isn't in SOUTHcat, you can request the book through Inter-library loan.

SOUTHcat

SOUTHcat: USA Libraries' Catalog - Search the catalog for books and government documents.

  • Use the Suggested search terms box to search the catalog
  • Use search punctuation tricks:
    • Quotation marks hold phrases together ("british empire")
    • Question marks truncate words.? (brit? would give you search results that include britain or british or brittany)
  • Use the catalog's vocabulary (subject terms) in its item descriptions:
    • A book might have the subject term, "Great Britain --Emigration and immigration." or "United States --Emigration and immigration --History --19th century."  Click on this subject term to find more records that are tagged with this same subject.
    • You can search for subject terms by changing the within drop-down box to "Subject Headings Browse". This will allow you to search for subject terms that fit your topic and browse the items that are described with that subject.
    • Screenshot of a basic search for subject headings browse in SOUTHcat.
  • Find physical books in the Library.
    • Use the book's call number to locate it on the shelves. The first letter of the call number corresponds with the letter on the end of the line of shelves.
    • Books are positioned near each other when they have the same major subject! Browse the shelves around a book you like to find similar books.

Suggested Search Terms

These are some suggested search terms to use when searching the SOUTHcat catalog.

Leave out the word "and" when doing a keyword search on SOUTHcat. Put phrases in quotation marks. Use ? as a truncation or wildcard symbol.

  • "british empire" history
  • "great britain" history sources
  • women "great britain" history
  • "george v" history "great britain"
  • imperialism
  • "great britain" "foreign relations"
  • britain colon? history
  • "social condition?" "19th century" brit?
  • "prime minister?" correspondence "great britain"
  • history "19th century" "great britain"
  • "womens rights" brit? history
  • victoria "great britain" history
  • women literature "great britain"
  • politic? "great britain" source?
  • "imperialism in literature"
  • engineer? history brit?
  • india? independence
  • brit? "ethnic relations"
  • travel? europe? histor?
  • sport? brit? history
  • military brit?
  • colonial? diar? brit?
  • brit? biography engineer?
  • "great britain" emigration history

 

Subscription E-Books

The USA Libraries subscribe to several e-book collections. Some of these collections focus on a specific discipline.

WorldCat Search

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

WorldCat searches the catalogs of many other libraries. If you find something you like, we may be able to get the item for you through Interlibrary Loan.

Search Google Books

Google has digitized some books from other libraries. Only books in the public domain are shown in full text. Other books may be limited to just citation information or a few pages of text.

Google Book Search

Project Gutenberg

"Project Gutenberg is an online library of free eBooks."

Things to Remember about ILL

Please keep these things in mind when considering using Inter-Library Loan (ILL):

  • ILL staff will cancel an ILL request if the Library already has the book or journal or journal article.
    • Check SOUTHcat to make sure we do not have the book or journal either available in print or electronically
      • When searching for a book, do a title or author search--DO NOT use the ISBN only. We may own a different edition or version of the book (ex. hardback vs. paperback)
    • Check Our Journal List to make sure we do not have the journal available in print or electronically
    • Check WorldCat for libraries that have your material. In WorldCat, look for the green highlighted "University of South Alabama," indicating we own that item
      • Remember, libraries in-state are often faster at delivering materials than those libraries at great distances
      • Rare books and archival material will not be sent through ILL
  • Use the "Click here for ILL" link in WorldCat to import the bibliographic material into the ILL system

For more detailed information on ILL, see InterLibrary Loan Policies and Procedures

Step-by-Step Guide to ILLiad