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. It is also our main library catalog -- the tool you use to find books, journals, films, and other items physically located in the library, as well electronic versions of those items.
To leave out individual articles and focus on things like books and films, you can use the Catalog Only limit in CrossSearch.
Watch our video tutorial to learn more about CrossSearch!
Search Tips:
Try searching for books using a very basic keyword search. Books tend to be on broad topics, so the terms you search with should be broad, too! Once you've found a few books that look interesting to you, you can use clues from the books to help you find other books. For example....
Locating Books in the Library
Books at Dinand Library are arranged by Library of Congress Call Number.
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.
And of course, you might also find books you'd like to read at other libraries -- read more about Interlibrary Loan on the Access Options page.
Searching for E-Books at Holy Cross
To search for e-books located at Holy Cross, use CrossSearch.
Then, use the Resource Type limiter in the side navigation to focus your search on e-books.
You may also want to search in our specific e-book collections:
When searching within a specific ebook collection, you will be able to search the full text of each book allowing more detailed searching. For example, you may search the library catalog and not find any titles on your topic, but a search in ebrary might find a book with one chapter focused on your topic.
Accessing E-Books:
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 e-books, 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 e-book, please feel free to contact us (libref@holycross.edu) or see our e-books guide linked below:
NOTE that most e-books do have limits on printing. Each publisher has different functionality and rules for downloading and printing ebooks.
A collection of important reference works in the visual arts, including The Concise Dictionary of Oxford Art Terms, The Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and The Oxford Companion to Western Art.
Encyclopedia of Catholic history, culture and theology.
Helpful Databases
History
Journal articles, book chapters and magazines about the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450-present.
Citations for journal articles, reviews, books, and other sources about the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700).
Citations for journal articles, essays, books, and other sources about the Medieval period in Europe, North Africa, and the Near East (300-1500 AD). **Limited to 2 users at one time. Please click "Logout" and close the website when you are done.
Journal articles in almost every subject area, including some historical articles back to the 17th century.
Art
Journal articles, magazines, and book chapters about art, art history, architecture, and design.
Citations and summaries for journal articles, books, conference proceedings, dissertations, and exhibit catalogs about art, published 1975-2007.
Religion
Citations for journal articles, books and book chapters on all religious topics.
Academic and professional journal articles, dissertations, magazines and other publications pertaining to religion and spirituality, from both religious and nondenominational publishers and covering all religious traditions.
E-Journals
In addition to the research databases, you can use the Libraries' E-Journals Search to look for articles in specific journals.
This can be a useful strategy when:
Just make sure not to rely too much on one or two specific journals. To get the broadest perspective possible on your topic, it's best practice to use multiple sources.
Here are some journals you may want to use as a starting point:
One such tool can be found in the Historical Abstracts database. Most databases will allow you to search for articles published within a certain time-frame, but this is not as useful if you are trying to locate information on a specific historical era -- you won't be looking for (secondary) sources published in the 1600s!
These databases include Historical Period information for each article, allowing you to search for articles about a specific time period.