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Finding
Books
Search
the following library catalogs to identify books written by and
about your author or subject.
FINDING BOOKS AT MIT
Barton,
the MIT Libraries' Catalog
http://libraries.mit.edu/barton
Barton includes books and journal titles owned by all of the MIT
Libraries. Search here first!
You can use Barton for both primary and secondary sources.
It does not list journal articles (we’ll get to finding those later).
Using Barton: Keywords vs. Subjects
Keywords are words normal people would think of. They
can appear ANYWHERE in the record (title, author, subject, publisher, notes, etc., etc.).
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are “officially sanctioned” by the Library of Congress; you will never guess them on your own. They
appear in the “Subject” section
of a Barton record.
You can use keywords or titles to figure out subject headings
(and remember: use this same strategy with other catalogs and databases!).
- For example: Do a "Keyword" search for "Japanese American internment." You'll see the LCSH subject heading is "Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945."
- Do a "Title begins with" Barton search for Desis in the House. You'll see the LCSH subject heading for Indian Americans is "East Indian Americans."
For more on keyword vs. subject searching, see the Information Navigator.
Using Barton: Basic vs. Advanced Search
Basic search is good for title, author, and keyword
searching. With advanced search, you can combine searches
and limit by language, format, and library.
FINDING BOOKS OUTSIDE OF MIT
WorldCat
http://libraries.mit.edu/get/worldcat
WorldCat includes books owned by libraries around the world; it's useful
for the serious researcher who needs to go beyond the scope of
the MIT Libraries. WorldCat indicates which libraries in the Boston area own the book you need.
HOLLIS
http://hollis.harvard.edu/
Harvard's online catalog.
Google BookSearch
http://books.google.com/
Searches the full text of books scanned from publisher and library partners.
Full text is mostly only available for older books (pre-1922), but TOCs are usually available for all books.
Boston Library Consortium (BLC) Libraries' Catalogs
http://www.blc.org/library_user_services/mem_cats.html
MIT students are eligible to check books out from other BLC libraries (see Get Full Text for more information). You can search the BLC libraries' catalogs separately to identify additional titles.
THERE'S MORE TO RESEARCH THAN LIBRARY TOOLS
We love library tools, but sometimes informal approaches work better. You can get leads from footnotes and bibliographies in books and articles, or use call numbers to browse the stacks or Barton for similar books.
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