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English 10: Foundations of Literary Studies (Gao/Omeiza)

UC Library Search - Find Books, Articles, & More!

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Finding Books

To find and request books, use UC Library Search, the UC-wide catalog. If a book is not held at UC Merced, you can request it using InterLibrary Loan (ILL).

To use ILL: 

  • Find the search record for the book
  • Click on the Check Availability link and look for the section "Get It"
  • Follow the prompts to make a request using the form provided. 

Mini-Activity:

In table groups, use UC Library Search to find one of the following books. 

  • America Behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans, by Henry Louis Gates
  • 12 Million Black Voices, by Richard Wright
  • Class Pictures, by Dawoud Bey
  • Lorna Simpson, by Lorna Simpson, et al
  • Pitch Blackness, by Hank Willis Thomas, René De Guzman, and Robin D.G. Kelley
  • Pictures and Progress: Early Photography and the Making of African American Identity, by Maurice O. Wallace and Shawn Michelle Smith

 

Questions:

  • Do we have the book at UC Merced?
  • Were you able to see how you would request the book (or were you able to make the request, if you wanted to)?

eBook Databases

Multi-disciplinary Databases

University Presses

Using LC Subject Headings to Search

What are LCSH?

Books, videos, and other materials in library catalogs are assigned official subject headings by the Library of Congress (LCSH) by cataloging librarians. These subject headings describe an item's content and what it is about, and are useful for focusing research on broader, narrower, or related topics. Look for subject heading links in the library catalog to find more items on the same topic. Some subject headings are dated or even problematic, and they can be changed through a petition process.

For example, the book Dance and the Hollywood Latina: Race, Sex, and Stardom has LC subject headings to describe it like "Hispanic Americans in motion pictures" and "Race in motion pictures," but (as of 2022), "Latina" is not an official LCSH and "Latinos" is listed as a variant.

Catalog record for book "Dance and the Hollywood Latina: race, sex, and stardom" with Subject headings

 

Using LCSH in your LibrarySearch searches

If you know the subject headings that are likely to be tagged on the item you want to find, search by Subject. California -- Merced County is an example of a Geographical Subject Heading.

UC Library Search

Subject Headings appear as hyperlinked tags on a book's record in the library catalog.

Screen capture of Subject Headings including "Unviersity of California, Merced" and "Merced County (Calif.)"

To search by Subject Heading, start by going to the Advanced Search in UC Library Search, and use the dropdown menu to choose the Subject field.