Searching for books
Search for books by entering your search term(s) into the library
catalog’s (Athena’s) search screen. Your success will depend on how
well you choose the terms that you enter. You may find information
simply by typing in your topic, but usually you will need to try
some other search terms. For example, for information about Adolf
Hitler, you should enter: Hitler, Adolf because that’s how
proper names are indexed in Athena. For information on the bombing
of Hiroshima, you might enter Hiroshima. But you should
also try other words that will give you information on the same
topic, such as Atomic Bomb.
Use
these terms to search for books on your topic. Note their names and
call numbers.
A call number is a letter and
number code assigned to a book to indicate its location in the
library. Use the call numbers to locate the books on the shelves.
Important: Once you locate one book on your topic, look
for others near it that may also be useful!
As
you start reading about your subject, you will discover more terms
to use to find information. These can be helpful when you are ready
to start searching on the internet, where narrowing down your search
may help you get better results. For example, for information about
the role of women in World War II, you could try women and
World War II and women and war. But you would soon
learn that the term homefront (or home front) is also
a good term to use when researching this subject.