Search Everything
The best place to begin your search for credible information sources is the search box on the library's home page. This simple, powerful discovery tool will help you find physical items in our library (e.g. books, DVDs, reference materials), tens of thousands of ebooks available online, and subscription-only content from scholarly journals, trade publications, popular magazines, and newspapers.
Using the library's search box allows you to search multiple databases and thousands of periodicals all at once. The library subscribes to over 60 databases--some are focused on periodicals related to a specific subject/topic, others gather sources related to a broad range of disciplines. Rather than searching each database individually, search them all at once.
Finding Books in Van Wagenen Library
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Enter two or three keywords in the search box. You may need to try different combinations of words to find exactly what you're looking for. To limit your search to books, check the box next to "Books/eBooks" in the "Material Type" panel.
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Once you've found a book you're interested in, write down the "call number" provided. This is the address where that books lives on the shelves.
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Look for the signs on the ends of the rows to help you find the shelf that has your book.
Books about similar subjects are grouped together on the shelves, so take a look at the books beside the one you were initially interested. Chances are good you'll find other relevant sources nearby!
If you need help, ask a librarian or staff member at the main desk on the library's first floor.
Finding Articles
If you're looking only for articles--including scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles--use the dropdown menu beside the main search box to select "Articles."
Enter a few important subject-related keywords in the search box and hit the "Search" button.
You can narrow your results even further on your search results screen. If you're only interested in articles from Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed journals, look for the "Limit To" panel and click the box that says "Scholarly Sources." Your results list will be updated to weed out non-scholarly sources.
