HIST 204: Civil War & Reconstruction (Spiro): Locating Sources in the Library

Check the Catalog

To find out if the Libraries own a particular book, you can use either CrossSearch, or the Library Catalog. 

CrossSearch is the Libraries' multi-search "discovery" tool. CrossSearch searches a cross-section of journal articles, newspapers, CDs, images, and many other types of resources available through the libraries. To look for books specifically,  you
can use the Catalog Only limit in CrossSearch. Watch our video introduction to CrossSearch 📺 to learn more! 

The Library Catalog searches specifically for physical items such as books, DVDs, and magazines, as well as electronic versions of these items. It does not search, for example, individual articles. 

Regardless of where you search: 

• Search for the title of the book you would like to find "in quotations." This tells the search tool that you are looking for a specific phrase, as opposed to anything with those terms in it. 
   
• It's not necessary to search for the entire title; in fact, if your book has a longer title with a subtitle, it's best not to! (the search tools sometimes get confused by colons : ). Ex - for the book From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America,  you might just search "From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime." 
   
• Don't stop at the first result -- there are many factors which determine the order in which CrossSearch and the Catalog show you results, and sometimes they get it wrong. If your book isn't first, it may be second, third or even fifth (usually, it will be on the first page, though). 
   
• Some books may have similar titles, so make sure that the full title and author of the book in the catalog, match what you are looking for. Note that in some cases, we may also have older versions of a book. Compare the publication date to your reading list, and ask your Professor if you want to make use of an older edition, as some information may be outdated. 
   
• Likewise, in CrossSearch, some results may turn out to be article reviews of the book, rather than the book itself. The icon to the left of each entry can help straighten out what you're looking at! 

Find a Book in the Library

If the book you want has a call number listed, like so -- 

-- and the status says Available, you're in luck -- the book is here! but what now? 

Books at Dinand Library are arranged by Library of Congress Call Number. Call numbers provide an exact 'address' for where you will physically find the book in the library. They also help us keep all of the books in order by subject! 

• Call numbers A through G are on the upper (Mezzanine) level.
• Call numbers H through Z are on the lower (Ground) level (with a few exceptions).
• M call numbers are located in the Music Library, in Brooks Hall. 
• N and TR call numbers are located on the main level in the Visual Arts Wing.
• Q, R, S and all other T call numbers are located in the Science LIbrary, in Swords Hall. 
• Oversize books (with a "+" in the call number) are shelved at the end of the normal section for that letter. 

The Stacks Guide handout attached here has more information about how the stacks are organized, and the best places for you to look. 

You can also watch our Call Numbers video tutorial 📺 to learn more about how call numbers work. Or, check out the Library of Congress Classification Outline for a detailed breakdown of our call number system. 

Use an Ebook

In most cases, your best option is to use the "Read Online" feature for our e-books. Most academic e-books do not work with devices that you might use to read personal ebooks, such as a Kindle or Nook (believe me -- this frustrates librarians too!). There is software that you can download onto a PC or iPad, but this can be difficult to use, so if you have a stable internet connection, I recommend reading online. 

However, if you would like to download the software, or if you are having trouble accessing any particular ebook, please feel free to contact us (libref@holycross.edu) or see our e-books guide linked below: 

NOTE that most ebooks do have limits on printing. Each publisher has different functionality and rules for downloading and printing ebooks. 

Follow the Citation

All of the information that you need to track down an article is located in its citation -- like this one below! Note that the | is not part of the citation -- these symbols mark where each component of the citation begins and ends.  

Check by Title

One way to find a specific journal article is to use CrossSearch.

CrossSearch is the Libraries' multi-search "discovery" tool. CrossSearch searches a cross-section of journal articles, newspapers, CDs, images, and many other types of resources available through the libraries. To look for books specifically,  you
can use the Catalog Only limit in CrossSearch. Watch our video introduction to CrossSearch 📺 to learn more! 

Search tips: 

• Search for the title of the article you would like to find "in quotations." This tells the search tool that you are looking for a specific phrase, as opposed to anything with those terms in it. 
   
• Don't stop at the first result -- there are many factors which determine the order in which CrossSearch and the Catalog show you results, and sometimes they get it wrong. If your article sn't first, it may be second, third or even fifth (usually, it will be on the first page, though). 
   
• Some articles may have similar titles, so make sure that the full title, author, and journal (if you know it) match what you are looking for. 

Search by Journal (Online)

Browzine, our  E-Journals search (also on the library homepage) is a "cheat-sheet" to our research databases -- it will tell you which journals we have online access to, for which dates, and in which online tool. 

To use Browzine to find an online copy of an article: 
 

1. Locate the important citation information for the article you want. This will include things like the name of the journal, the volume and issue in which the article was printed, and the year it was published. 
   
   Ex - Cormier Hamilton, Patrice. "Black Naturalism and Toni Morrison: The Journey Away from Self-Love in The Bluest Eye." MELUS, vol. 19, no. 4, 1994, pp. 109-127. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/468206.
    
2. Search for the Journal Title (not the article title!) in the search box in Browzine. 
   
   In the above example, our journal title is MELUS.  
    
3. A panel will pop out with a list of any journals by that title in our online collection. If the journal you want is listed, click on it. Browzine will open the landing page of the journal you have selected. If not, proceed to the next tab (Print Journals)! 
   
   
    
4. If the article you are looking for has been published in a fairly-recent issue, you may be able to find it on this page. Use the article citation to guide you in browsing through recent issues of the journal. 
   
   In the above example, since our article was published in volume 19, issue 4, which was published in 1994, you will first need to scroll through the list of dates on the left to click on 1994, then click again to access Vol 19 Issue 4, then click a final time on the specific article. 
   
   If the issue you are looking for is an older one (i.e., usually those published before 2005), it will not be listed on the landing page. To access these older articles, first scroll to the very bottom of the date list on the left side of the screen, and choose See All. 
    
5. You will see a list of databases where the journal is available, which will be similar to (but may not look exactly like) this one: 
   
   


6. Choose the database with dates that match the article you are looking for.
   
   In this case, our article is from 1994, so we could choose any databases in this list except for Oxford Journals, and possibly ProQuest Central (depending on the month). If more than one database is available, feel free to choose any of the databases listed. 
    
7. The link will bring you to a 'homepage' for the journal which will usually include either a list of available issues, or a link to the Archive (which will contain a list of issues).  Using the citation information you found above, browse to the correct year, then find the correct volume and, if necessary, the issue within that volume. The citation above is labeled with all of the pieces you will need. 
    
8. Once you have opened the correct issue, all articles published in that issue will be listed in page number order. Use the citation information you found above to identify your article's page numbers and browse to your article in the list. 

Print Journals

If the journal, or the issue of the journal you need, is not available online, check to see if we have a print (physical) copy.  It sometimes happens, particularly with older articles, that an article will not be in our online collection, but may be available somewhere in the library building.  The Library Catalog and CrossSearch both contain information on everything we have in physical copy  in the libraries. 

To look for journal articles that may be available in physical copy: 

1. Again, make sure that you have the citation information for your article handy. 
   
   Cormier Hamilton, Patrice. "Black Naturalism and Toni Morrison: The Journey Away from Self-Love in The Bluest Eye." MELUS, vol. 19, no. 4, 1994, pp. 109-127. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/468206.
    
2. Go to CrossSearch or the Library Catalog, and search for the journal title (not the article title). 
   
   For example, in the citation above, MELUS is the journal title. 
    
3. If using CrossSearch, narrow your search to Catalog Only. 
   
   
    
4. If we own the journal (not necessarily this article) in physical copy, you will see a record like this one, with a call number.  If not, proceed to Sources Beyond the Library. 
   
   
   
5. Read the entry for the journal. Check to be sure that the date of your article is included in the range of volumes/issues that the library owns. Note that not every issue will be listed, so you need to read the date ranges carefully. If not, proceed to Sources Beyond the Library. 
   
   In this case, we need the volume for 1994. We do have the issue!
   
   

6. If the Libraries own the volume/issue you need, note the call number and location. Journals in Dinand Library will typically be shelved by call number, alongside books in that section. Follow the instructions for finding books to locate the specific journal.  Journals in the Science Library are shelved alphabetically in a separate section of the library. 
   

7. Once you find the volume in the library, use the issue number and page number from the article citation to locate a copy of the article. All 3 campus libraries have scanners that you can then use to send a PDF of the article to your email.