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English 151 / GASP 103S (Brokaw)

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

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Searching vs. Browsing - Books

Use UC Library Search to both search and browse for books. You can also browse the physical items on the shelf to explore your topic and related, nearby books on that topic.

  1. Search for a book on a topic you are interested in.
  2. Find at least one book that looks interesting to you, Example: Shakespeare and Costume
  3. You have two options: 
    1. Continue to browse online using UC Library Search. To do this, open the link to a book's record (the page with the title, author, etc.) and scroll to the bottom. Look for the "Virtual Browse" section at the bottom of the screen.

A screen capture of the virtual browse feature in uC Library search highlighting the left and right arrows  

  1. Visit the area of the Library Stacks (a.k.a. shelves) to find this book, then browse nearby. To do this you'll need 1). The Item's location (General Collection), 2). The item's call number, and 3). make sure the item is on the shelf and available before you go find it. Browsing the books on the shelf nearby your book is called "Serendipity Browsing" because you just might happen upon another great book on your topic by doing this!

A screen capture of UC Library Search showing the call number

  1. Repeat as many times as necessary.

Sample E-books

To find eBooks:

  1. Conduct a search in UC Library Search using a keyword like 'Shakespeare' or 'Elizabethan dramas' 
  2. From there, select "Online Items" under Show
  3. Select "Book" under Resource Type
  4. Click on Apply Filters

This search will show you eBooks available at UC Merced. To narrow down your results, add additional keywords or use some of the available filters on the left column.

eBook Databases

Multi-disciplinary Databases

University Presses

eBook FAQs

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.

About LCSH Subdivisions

About Subject Heading Subdivisions

Subdivisions, or subheadings, are words or phrases which may be added to a subject heading to create a more effective search. They are hyperlinked in LibrarySearch so that you can use them to see all records they are connected with. 

Some standard subheadings are:

Type of Subdivision

Examples

Useful for:

Topical – What this item is about (content)

Museums

Aging

Statistical Methods
Narrowing a broader topic into subtopics

Form 

Dictionaries

Periodicals

Textbooks
Useful for locating specific types of materials

Chronological

21st century

Japanese Heian period, 794-1185

Middle Ages, 600-1500
Locating information about a particular era or time period 

Geographical (place)

England --London

Merced (Calif.)

California -- Merced

Narnia (Imaginary place)
Finding information about a specific place or region
Other Common Subdivisions

Bibliography

Biography

Criticism and interpretation

Translations into [language]

Social life and customs

Fiction
Locating bibliographies, fiction, etc. 

 

Cataloging librarians follow specific rules for adding LC Subject Headings to an items record. For questions, please contact library@ucmerced.edu 

Use Interlibrary Loan - ILL (Infographic)

Infographic "Use Interlibrary Loan"; Follow the long description link for a text accessible version

Long description of "Use Interlibrary Loan" for web accessibility

This graphic was adapted from the original at IUPUI University Library and is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.