Finding Books

Depending on your topic, different types of resources (books, journal articles, the web, newspapers, magazines, etc.) may be more appropriate than others. You need to be aware of what kind of information is in each type of resource and who the intended audience is.

Books usually offer a detailed analysis, or sometimes a compilation of articles from several scholars, on a subject, and are generally written within at least 1 year to several years after an event.

To find books on your topic use the Acorn Library Catalog to find the location and call number of over two million books and other materials owned by the Vanderbilt University Libraries.

To locate books not owned by Vanderbilt use other library catalogs such as Kudzu, the Southeastern Libraries online catalog, or Athena, the Nashville area libraries online catalog or WorldCat, an international union catalog of over 49 million records. A Reference Librarian can help you verify the location and availabiltiy of a particular book and tell you how you can get it.

Note #1: The Library of Congress Call Number System: the Vanderbilt Libraries use the Library of Congress call number system to classify most materials. Ask a Reference Librarian for help with using the Library of Congress Classification system or see this web site: Understanding LC Call Numbers if you have trouble.

Note #2: Books not owned by Vanderbilt may be borrowed from other libraries via the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Office. Books not owned by Vanderbilt but available at Kudzu or Athena libraries may be borrowed directly within the Kudzu and Athena catalogs.

Note #3: The Vanderbilt Libraries have a growing collection of electronic books which may be search at the E-Book Collections page. Most of these books are cataloged and listed in Acorn.

Updated August 2002