Library:Module 3 Finding Book by Topic Summon and Catalogue 3.2/UBCO

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3.2 Locating a Book Using Summon and the Catalogue

Locating a Book by Title or Author Using the Catalogue

Sometimes in your research you will come across a book that you would like to locate in the library. Although Summon is a powerful tool for finding resources, searching for books is sometimes easier using the library catalogue. The catalogue only searches items in the Library’s collection and - while you can find ebooks here – almost everything else that you’ll find is a tangible item that you can hold in your hands.

If you have the book citation it is easiest to use the library catalogue to locate it.

Let’s look at book citation example:

Kirkpatrick, D. L. (1998). Evaluating training programs: The four levels. San Francisco, Calif: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

To search for this book, we need to first identify the book title:

Kirkpatrick, D. L. (1998). Evaluating training programs: The four levels. San Francisco, Calif: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.


Now we are ready to find the book using the library catalogue.


To find the Library Catalogue, select the "Books, films,etc." link under the Resources section of the library homepage. Then select the "Guided Keyword Search" tab. This will bring you to the advanced search of the library catalogue.



To learn how to find a book title and author using the library catalogue, watch this video.



Locating a Book by Topic Using Summon and the Library Catalogue

Limit the content type of your Summon search to "Book/eBook."

To find books using Summon, perform the same search you would use for fining an article and use the limits on the left side of the search results page. Under "Content Type" limit your search to "Book/eBook." This will update your search results physical books and eBooks (electronic books) you can open on your computer screen.

Remember, Summon contains almost all the material in UBC Library. This will sometimes make it difficult to locate a specific item, especially a book.

For a more specific search for books on a topic, the library catalogue will be a better search tool choice.


To learn how to find a book by topic using the library catalogue, watch this video.