Books

Use the Library catalogue to find printed and electronic books

  • To find books on a subject select Keyword Search.
  • Find other books relating to your subject by clicking on the subject headings that you find in the full catalogue record.
  • Click on All copies to find shelfmarks.
  • Find the electronic books by clicking on External links.
  • Click on the thumbnail book cover to find the table of contents of the book.
  • Scroll down to select More information about the book from Google books. There are links to scholarly references and to references on websites.
There is detailed information about searching the Library Catalogue and in the Help pages on the Library catalogue.

Reference Books

  • These books are very useful as starting points for research on a new subject, for background information and for facts and figures.
  • These books include information written by academic specialists in a subject.
  • There are often lists of further reading.
  • Encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographical information, scientific and engineering data and other sources of research information shelved in the Quick Reference sections.
  • Click here to find electronic reference books.

Searching for older publications

  • Books published before 1970 may not be listed on the computer catalogue. You should also check the card catalogue in the Robinson Library for this older material.
  • You can request material from the Research Reserve by making a Hold.
  • EEBO and ECCO are full-text electronic collections of books in English published from the fifteenth century until the end of the eighteenth century. To search the collections go to the Library's e-books page
  • Lists of references on a subject are published as books called bibliographies. A good bibliography will save you time. It will give you a list of references on your subject published over a long time period.
  • Look at the Research Reference section in the Robinson Library at 016, and Quick Reference in the Law Library at 016. Bibliographies are shelved with other books on the subject in the Walton Library and also in the Robinson Library.
  • Bibliographies are also available on the web. Check that they are compiled by academics - the website address should include .ac.uk or .edu
  • Older books are listed in other library catalogues. There are links on this page

Finding information about books

There are links to other library catalogues here
  • COPAC (over 32 million records from the catalogues of 24 UK universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, and also the British Library and the National Library of Scotland)
  • The British Library online catalogues, including the Document Supply collections
  • WorldCat - over 65 million records
  • Northumbria, Durham and Sunderland University Library Catalogues
  • Catalogues of other Higher Education and Research Libraries around the world
  • Check databases which list books such as BookData online (books in print).
  • Some subject databases will also include references to chapters in books.
  • The Library's electronic resources gateway provides further information about books here.
  • The Library's electronic resources gateway provides further information about Book Reviews here.
  • For more information see our pages on research information