Find books in DC
How can you get books in Washington DC? Not from your campus library, sorry to say.
But you do have access to academic and professional libraries in DC:
- Collections at your internship can be helpful
- The Library of Congress is open to you. It's very big and has a lot, but you have to go there to use materials-- Library of Congress basic facts.
- You can read [not borrow] books from academic libraries in the DC area, including Howard University, American University, Georgetown University and George Washington University.
- To find books in these and other DC libraries, use Melvyl. How-to video
Find eBooks
Since you are away from your library, electronic books become even more convenient for your research. All campuses purchase ebooks, and there are various ways you can find them, but these differ by campus.
A basic approach is to use your library's catalog. Limit your search results to online resources-- this usually requires an advanced search. Here's an example, using the Santa Barbara catalog [quick video]
You can also use Melvyl and limit the results to your own campus.
When to Use Books | When to Use Articles?
So you need scholarly resources for your paper. These can be either books or articles: How do you know when to use which?
Books
• Long• Information tends to be less current because it takes time to write and publish a book. • Subject matter is broad; can give an overview of a topic • Find them using a library catalog
Book chapters
• Briefer; like an article • Information tends to be less current because it takes time to write and publish a book. • Subject matter is narrow, like an article; could be a case study for example. • Find them using a database/ search engine, like JSTOR
Articles
• Briefer • Information tends to be more recent than books • But not as current as news items • Subject matter is narrow; could be a case study for example • Find them using a database/ search engine, like JSTOR
For more information see our tutorial