International Students Library Guide

Finding Books at the McGraw-Page Library

The search box on the library homepage searches a lot of different resources. It casts a wide net and can be used to find books and articles. These are the steps to finding a book in the library:

• Go to the library library homepage.
• Click the "Books" tab.
• If you know the title or author of the book, type them in the box and search!
• If you don't know the title or author but want to find books on a particular topic, type your search terms into the search box. 
• Once you've found a book you want find the call number (boxed in red in the image below).
• Use the call number to locate the book on the shelf in the library. If you need help with this step feel free to ask for help. Folks working the library are excited to help you!

Searching and Requesting Books from Other Libraries

If the library doesn't have a book you need, we can contact a library that does, they will send it to us, and we will check it out to you. The steps for finding a book the library doesn't own and requesting it through Interlibrary Loan (also called ILL) are:

• Go to the library library homepage.
• Click the "Books" tab.
• If you know the title or author of the book, type them in the box and search!
• If you don't know the title or author but want to find books on a particular topic, type your search terms into the search box. 
• Expand your search to other libraries by click "Libraries Worldwide" on the left side of the screen (boxed in red in the first image below.
• Click on the title of the book you want to request.
• Remember with books ILL can take a week or so to arrive, so plan ahead! 

Finding Articles using the Library Website

To find articles you can try clicking the "Articles" tab on the library homepage, searching your keywords, and see what comes up. However, a better way to find articles is:

• Click on the "Databases" tab on the homepage.
• Click on the "View Full Database List A-Z."
• Browse the databases and select a couple that you think will work for your research.
• Type in your keywords and search!
• After searching you can usually use the left side of the screen to narrow your results but things like: year, language, subject, and author.
• Click on the title of an article you want to read.

On the left side of the screen click either "Find It" or "PDF Full Text.

• Click "View Full Text."

• If the library doesn't have access to an article you will be prompted to request it through ILL.

• Requesting an article through ILL should only take a couple days to arrive.
• Plan ahead!