Humanities Research - Finding Books

Books in the Lee Library

Look for books and exhibition catalogs located in the Lee Library in the Library Catalog. Remember the difference between subject and keyword searches. Subject searches must be the official Library of Congress subject headings. Keyword searches pull words from any field in the record (title, subject, notes, etc.)

TIP: Start with any keywords that describe your topic and use connectors such as AND, OR, NOT. Don't be too specific-- subject headings are usually broad. Look carefully at the subject headings found, then click on them to expand your search. It's very important to learn the correct terminology used in subject headings and how books are cataloged.
Basic problems in searching:
A. Found too much? Redo the search and narrow the topic by adding other terms.
B. Found too little or nothing? Read more about the topic and search more broad terms or related subjects.

LC Call Numbers for Humanities Subjects:

AZ Humanities Scholarship
B Philosophy
BH Aesthetics
BL-BX Religion
GR Folklore
GV 1580-1799 Dance
M Music
N Visual Arts (general)
NA Architecture
NB Sculpture
NC Drawing
ND Painting
NE Print Media
NK Decorative Arts
NX Fine Arts in general (including Performing Arts)
P Languages
PN Literature
PN1600-1692 Drama
PN1865-1999 Cinematic Arts, Puppetry, Pantomimes, Television, Radio
PN2000-3299 Dramatic Representation
PQ Romance literatures
PR English literature
PS American literature
PT Germanic literatures

Books in Other Libraries

For additional books on your topic, search online catalogs of other libraries. You can search specific libraries (academic or public) or national consortia of libraries, such as RLIN (Eureka) or Worldcat. Also try searching Google Scholar which indexes scholarly books, articles, dissertations, etc.

Once you identify other books, you can order them online, through Interlibrary Loan Services. Fill out an online request for the materials, and be sure to allow enough time for arrival (about a week). Books are checked-out to you free of charge.