COMM 15000: Intro to Communications: Finding Books

1. First, ask yourself if it is likely that a book or video has been created on your topic.  The answer is yes for topics such as alternative energies, immigration law, or stem cell research.  The answer will be no for such topics as parking at KSU East Liverpool, Mountaineer Race Track, or Yellow Creek four-wheeling.
2. Search the KentLINK catalog for books and other materials owned by University Libraries.
3. Search the OhioLINK catalog to find additional titles available from the libraries of Ohio's colleges and universities.
4. Still need more?  Ask the library staff for assistance or check Worldcat, ebrary, or Google Books. 

Academic libraries use Library of Congress call numbers to organize materials.  These call numbers, found on the spine of the item, serve as the "address" for the book on the shelf.  Call numbers keep materials on same or similar topics grouped together.  Library of Congress call numbers use a combination of letters and numbers to identify an item. 

Here is the meaning of the number:

HQ        > H is for Social Sciences, HQ is family, marriage, woman

792       > indicates children

.C3P76  > this line may represent a more specific topic, the author's last name, or the title

2000     > year of publication

Here is how to find the call number on the shelf:

HQ        > Find the HQ section in the library. Start with H, then HA, HB... 

792        > This is a whole number, follow the numbers in sequence to locate it.

.C3P76  >  Look "alphabetically" and "numerically" to locate

2000      > Materials will be in chronological order, find the year

Finding Books on the Shelf is an online skills module that covers identifying the call number, status and location of items in KentLINK. part of the module is specific to the Kent campus library (such as the library building guide).

Also remember: The Library staff can help you to locate materials!

 KentLINK

The KentLINK catalog includes all the materials (books, journals, videos and more) owned by the 8 Kent campuses. Start by typing the "keywords" of your topic.  Here are some additional tips:

• Use "and" to ensure that you get all aspects of your topic.  Example:  gays and marriage
• Use "or" for synonyms. Example: teens or teenagers
• Multiple words will be searched as phrases.  Example:  Animal Experimentation
• Use "*" for truncation.  Example:  environment*

To expand a search, click on the OhioLINK button at the top of a results page to see what is owned by other libraries in Ohio.

Loan periods are typically 6 weeks with unlimited renewals for KentLINK materials and 3 weeks with up to six renewals for OhioLINK items.

For more information and help, try these online skill modules.

1. Developing a Search Strategy: Tips and Tricks  Covers identifying Keywords, brainstorming for synonyms and applying Boolean connectors and other search techniques.
2. KentLINK: Searching for Books by Topic  Covers searching KentLINK by Keyword, reviewing Boolean connectors and truncation, identifying and searching by Subjects and limiting searches.

The OhioLINK catalog contains the materials of OhioLINK consortium libraires (88 college and university libraries and the State Library of Ohio).  OhioLINK may be accessed through KentLINK or directly.  Online borrowing, fines, and loan periods are similar to KentLINK. 

For this course, you should be able to find all you need in KentLINK and OhioLINK.  The additional sources below have limited coverage (ebrary), will take longer to get (WorldCat), or may be dated materials (Google). 

WORLDCAT

Use Worldcat when KentLINK and OhioLINK do not have what you need.  Worldcat searches KentLINK and OhioLINK and thousands of other libraries around the world.  Ask at the circulation desk about getting a title found in Worldcat.

eBRARY

ebrary is a nursing and allied health electronic book collection.  The titles are listed in the KentLINK catalog or thery may be accessed directly from ebrary.

GOOGLE BOOKS

This Google service searches the full text of books that Google has scanned, converted to text, and stored in its digital database.

Books in the public domain (copyright no longer applies) are available in "full view" and free for download. For copyrighted books, Google limits the number of viewable pages.