finding books in libraries

For more information, see Tom Mann's Oxford Guide to Library Research, 1998, chapter 2.

If you know the author and/or title of a book, it's relatively easy to find in a library. One exception is when an author's name might be spelled differently. The Library of Congress maintains a name authority file that catalogers use to decide what form a name will be entered under. Catalogs often reroute a non-official author search to the "correct" name.

Searching by topic - Subject Headings

When searching by subject, these three principles of cataloging are worth knowing.

• controlled vocabulary - catalogers agree on one subject heading to describe a concept so all books on that topic can be found through that one heading. If you determine what heading catalogers are using, your search will be more successful. Note: it takes times for new topics to be given official subject headings and for archaic wording to be replaced by contemporary useage.
• scope - catalogers attach a limited number of headings to each book and the headings reflect the content of the book as a whole. If one heading is not available, catalogers will try to sum up the book in as few headings as possible - typically three or four. Books tend to have broader coverage than articles, so start with your concept but broaden it if necessary.
• specificity - catalogers will choose headings that are the most specific for the book as a whole. A book about lemons will have the heading lemons, but not fruit.

To find subject headings try one of these approaches

• Use the Library of Congress Subject Headings (aka "the big red books") to find out whether a term is used by catalogers and if not, which term is used (e.g. Morality - use Ethics) Also examine broader, narrower, and related terms. There is an online version available for both names and subject headings.
• Quick and dirty approach: Find one book that looks promising in the catalog and examine its subject headings - usually found toward the bottom of the record. These are usually hot-linked, but are also good clues for which terms may be useful in formulating a new search - e.g. if you want to combine multiple terms in an advanced search. (Note: A hot-linked subject heading may have several sub-headings that make it more specific than you want for your search.)

Keyword search

In addition to subject headings, most library catalogs offer a "keyword search" or "search anywhere" feature. This is not a full-text search of the book, but a search of the cataloger's record: words in the title and subtitle, a table of contents if available, notes, and subject headings. It can be a good way to start a search, but often returns too many unrelated results.

Classification

This is the simple concept that when you go to the shelves to find a particular book, other books on the same subject will be shelved nearby. (Online catalogs often offer an automated browse by hotlinking the call number.)

The flaw in the concept is that all categories reflect the thinking of those who originally created the categories. And interdisciplinary fields, such as Classics and Environmental Studies, are scattered in different places.

A shortened guide to the Library of Congress system, used by most academic libraries, can be found online.

NOTE: It's important to use both catalogs and browsing to find what's inside books. Subject headings will help you find which sections of the collection are best for browsing; only while browsing will you be able to locate details inside the books.

First, put yourself in a situation where the information you want is likely to exist, and then look around so you can recognize valuable things when you see them . . . the vast bulk of humanity's memory contained in books does not exist in digitized form, and never will; and researchers who neglect systematic browsing and scanning of the texts of books arranged in subject groupings are missing a vast store of material that cannont be efficeintly retreived in any other way. -- Tom Mann, Oxford Guide

Exercise:

Use the Big Red Books to find what subject headings are used for one the following subjects:

• Native Americans
• Death Penalty
• Multinational Corporations
• Film
• Women in the Third World

Try searching for books using three different catalogs. If you have a topic in mind for your literature review, this is a chance to see how library catalogs treat books on the subject.

• MnPALS (the Gustavus library catalog)
• MnLINK (a union catalog for Minnesota libraries - be sure you know how to use the "request" feature)
• WorldCat (a world-wide catalog of catalogs)

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