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ELISE | Informing your studies: Books

 

Tip Library collection

Refine My Results in the left column, helps focus your search by:
   Topic
   Creator (author)
   Date
   Collection 
   Journals or Articles

You can also check item records for more information:

Get It
   Availability of print version
   Location & item number

Details
   Publisher
   Place of publication
   Date of publication

Item records may also include other editions or formats of an item, e.g. an online version or a video.

Where is it?

Everything on Library shelves has an item number. 

Use Library collection (Catalogue) to find the item number and location.

Learn more:
Tip Library locations, under the
UNSW information tab.

More on your topic

Tip  To find more information on your topic, check if the author of a text on your reading list has written other books on the same subject:

  • search for the author in a catalogue or database
  • click on the author's name to find other works

Find a book when you know the title

 To find a book on your reading list for example:

  • search for the title, or author and title if the words in the title are common, in the Library collection
  • limit your results to eBooks and Print Books using Refine My Results in the left hand column

Books may be either:

  • in print, located on Library shelves, or
  • online. To access an ebook, click View It on the Library collection record

Tip  Locating tip for print books

  • check the item record for a Get It tab. This tells you where the print copies are located within the Academy Library or another UNSW Library.

Some items on your reading list may have been placed in the Course Reading Collection. Search by title to find them. Try narrowing your search results by Collection, via the Refine My Results listing in the left hand column.

Learn more:  Tip Library collection on this page

Learn more:  Tip Understanding your reading list under the Discover tab

Finding books on your topic

For an assignment, you need to find information on the topic government policy regarding carbon tax.

Start by identifying the main terms in your assignment. In this case - carbon tax.

To find books, go to the Library’s home page and type the keywords carbon tax into the search box.

You retrieve a huge number of results that are a mixture of books and journal articles. To make your search results more relevant, use Refine My Results in the left hand menu.

There are many options in this menu to help focus your search. In this example, where you are looking for books, the most useful option to start with is to refine by Resource Type. Choose Print Books and eBooks.

This narrows your search down to approximately 1000 results, all books, but these results don’t look particularly relevant.

Next, try refining the search by Topic. To see the complete list of topics to choose from, click More options.

Emissions trading and Climatic changes seem to be relevant.

Click the box next to these topics to search for these terms within your list of search results for carbon tax.

  Sort your results to show the most recent information first, using the sorted by drop-down list. Choose date-newest.

  Check On This Subject under Suggested New Searches in the left hand menu for alternative search terms.

What if you can't find it?

Check that the spelling is correct:

  • are there alternative spellings?
  • did you type it correctly?
  • is the spelling correct on the reading list?

Is the item you are looking for out on loan?

  • check to see if there is another copy at a different location
  • is there an earlier edition? Check for other versions of the item in the Library collection.
    Note - your lecturer may require you to look at a specific edition
  • check to see if there is another copy in another library
    Tip  Use Trove, the catalogue of the National Library of Australia, to search all Australian library catalogues (then request via Document Supply)
  • try searching Google Scholar. You may be able to find the full text of some articles via the Findit @ UNSW links
    Tip  Set up Google Scholar Library Links via Scholar Settings

Check Help in Library collection for tips on how to improve your searches.

For further assistance, contact the library by clicking the Ask Us on  the Library homepage, or visit the Library during current opening hours.

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