How to find books and e-books

Transcription

1 Library Services How to find books and e-books Introduction This guide will explain how to access and search: - the Library Catalogue to find relevant books on your topic or locate a specific book from your module reading list and - LJMU s search tool Discover to find and access an e-book. 1. Find a book using the Library Catalogue 1.1 Access the Library Catalogue You can access the library catalogue via your LJMU student home page, the Quick Links menu on the Library services home page or the Library Tab in Blackboard. It is also available on dedicated PCs in the library. 1.2 Search the library Catalogue Enter your keywords in the search box, such as the author s name, an exact book title or subject terms as shown below. To make your search even more specific, you can click on the drop down arrow to specify where you would like you would like to search, anywhere in the item record, within the title or in the author field. 1

2 Click search to view your results. The results screen shows brief publication details for each item, including the title, author name and year of publication. The results screen shows a combination of print and electronic resources. You can easily identify anything electronic because it will have the term [electronic resource] next to its title and there will be a link to view the relevant e-book online. More information on how to find e-books will be provided later in this guide. Click on Location for any of the print items to view how many copies we have and where they are located. 2

3 For the item shown below, you can see that we have 5 copies available. The left column indicates the loan period of the item, usually 7 days. Items which are popular or on multiple reading lists might also be available as Room Use Only which means one or several books will always stay in the library. The middle column indicates the availability of the items. If an item is currently available on the shelf, you can borrow it straight away. If it is out on loan to another user, you may click on the Request link. This will ensure that when the item is returned to the library we will notify you and it will be held for you to collect. The right column shows the location of the item. In this instance, it is held at the Aldham Robarts Library. A class number is also provided to indicate the subject area of the book and to help you find it on the shelves GIL is on the first floor of the Aldham Robarts library. Make sure you also make a note of the 3 letters at the end of the class number as they are the first 3 letters of the author s name and they will help you find the book quickly if we have a lot of books on that particular subject. If you would like assistance to find a book, please ask a member of library staff. Otherwise, follow the signage in the library. Each bookshelf will have a sign indicating which class number it contains. Undergraduate and taught postgraduate students may borrow up to 20 items at a time. To borrow a book, please use one of the self-service machines located in the library. 3

4 2. Find an e-book using Discover 2.1 Access and Search Discover Discover is LJMU s search tool that allows you to search multiple resources in one go. You can use Discover to search for books, e-books and journal articles. This guide focuses on how to search for e-books. You can access Discover via the Library web pages or the Library Tab in Blackboard. For my search I would like to find e-books on study skills so I am going to enter in the search terms and then click on Search 2.2 Look at the results and refine your search Once logged into Discover you will then be presented with a results screen which will include books, e-books and journal articles. My search has over 750,000 results. To refine my search further I am going to add in the term academic writing. I now need to limit my search to e-books. Under Limit by publication type, click on Show More, select e-books from the list and click on Update. You can at any point also further limit your search by selecting any of the other limiters on the left hand side, such as date or language. 4

5 2.3 Access the full-text The results screen provides brief details of the e-books found and a link to the full-text. The full-text link should then be presented in a new tab. If you are off-campus, you may need to login. Once on the publisher s login page, look for the Open Athens/Institutional login and then login with your LJMU username and password when prompted. Depending on the supplier, the functionalities on the page will vary but you will usually get a table of contents and be able to access each chapter individually. When viewing the chapter, options for downloading then saving or printing will be displayed. 3. Further help If you would like further information or training please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian. Contact details are available online at: Guide Updated: September 2016 Library Services 5