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African Studies 

Last update: Jun 19th, 2009 URL: http://guides.library.umass.edu/africa  Print Guide  RSS Updates

Finding books             Print Page
  
 

Finding books

Book

 

Every non-fiction library book has subject headings assigned to classify it. Sometimes using key words will find you books on your subject, but except for very specific searches with distinctive words, using subject headings (known as LCSH's, or Library of Congress subject headings) will usually retrieve more books than just a keyword search.

Use key words to get LCSH's for better results. See the PowerPoint on this search strategy.

Also, remember to take your searches, if you like, from the local to the national/international level, by using Worldcat. If we have four or five books on subject x, and you want or need more information, search Worldcat using the same LCSH's you used for our catalog, and if you find books we don't own, you can order them by using Interlibrary loan (ILL). PowerPoint presentations on using Worldcat and ILL are on the home page of this guide.

 

Library catalogs

  • Five Colleges Library Catalog  
      
    Catalog of Five Colleges books, e-journals, films, scores, recordings, etc.
  • WorldCat  
      
    The combined catalogs of most U.S. libraries. Material not owned by UMass Amherst can usually be borrowed through Interlibrary Loan.
  • Free, public WorldCat  
      
    Differs from UMass WorldCat subscription in that it can be accessed freely from any location. However, you cannot request books through Interlibrary Loan from this site.
 
 

Call numbers

Call letters/numbers for Africa run from DT1 to DT995. A longer (but older) list, with individual country call numbers, can be found here. DT is shelved on floor 14 of the Du Bois Library.

 
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