Got a book you need to find in the Library but not sure how to search for it in DiscoverEd? This beginner’s guide should help.
If searching for a known book use a combination of title and author keywords.
For example, if you were looking for this book:
A.A.M. Duncan, Scotland: the making of the kingdom (Edinburgh, 1992).
You could do a search using the keywords “duncan”, “Scotland”, “making” and “kingdom”. DiscoverEd will look for items that include all the keywords in the item record.
Got your reading list but not sure what you’re being asked to read (is it a book, is it an article, is it a bird, is it a plane…)? Or are you just not sure how you’re meant to search for and find these items in the Library (in print or online)?
Being unsure about this is very common for new students so you’re not alone but if you can learn how to read your reading list and recognise references now it will make you more confident using the Library and will save you a lot of time and effort in your studies. And these skills will be of use to you at all stages of your University life and beyond.
Reading lists are just lists of essential, recommended or further readings for your course. They can include a wide range of material including books, book chapters, journal articles, documentaries, films, newspaper articles, websites, blogs, etc., but I am going to concentrate on the 3 most common:
Over the summer the Library was able to purchase the British Politics and Society collection, part of Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO) from Gale Cengage. This is a major new resource for the Library and provides a fascinating look at this period of great change.
British Politics and Society brings together primary source documentation, allowing a greater understanding and analysis of the development of urban centers and of the major restructuring of society that took place during the Industrial Revolution.
You can access Nineteenth Century Collections Online: British Politics and Society via the Databases A-Z. Continue reading
