We have over 16,000 print books in the media center, most of which are available for research.
Print reference books are organized by subject with the Dewey Decimal system. You may roam the shelves to find books relevant to your research or use the library catalog to find a book.
When searching for books, there may not be a whole book about your specific topic, rather look for books that might include your research topic.
See below for more tips about finding the right book and how to navigate a print resource.
Note: We can not update books that are already printed. Pay attention to the publication date of a book, and keep that in mind when using it as a source. Some information may be out of date.
It is a little trickier to find the right print book than it is to navigate online resources. When you search the media center catalog, the catalog searches through the book titles, notes, and a short subject list (which does not and cannot include all topics mentioned in a book). So you may have to look through a few books to find a source that works best for your needs.
Tips:
Whole books devoted to one specific topic or person may be long and difficult to navigate. They are great for in-depth research, but may not be great for a general research paper.
Instead, consider a larger subject related to your topic.
For instance, you will find a lot of information about the Selma marches in books about the Civil Rights Movement
Or books about World War II may have good information about a specific battle.
You can also use the Dewey Decimal System to try and find the best book.
Search the shelves, pulled books, or library catalog for a general subject related to your research, and start there.
You may not be able to do a full text search of a print book, but there are many tools available to help you navigate the books.
Table of Contents:
Many books have a Table of Contents at the beginning. If available, look there to find chapters or articles that will relate to your topic.
Index:
Most of our informational texts have an index. The index is an alphabetized list of topics in the book. The index will tell you the page number (and volume if the title has multiple volumes). Note: the words you use to describe your topic may not be the same words the author or editors of the book use. Look for synonyms, related topics, and or other descriptions.
Book Organization:
Some reference books do not include a Table of Contents or Index, because the entries are already organized alphabetically. If that is the case, again, keep in mind that the words you use to describe the topic may not be the same that the book uses. Consider alternative descriptors when searching the book.
