Spanish & Portuguese Research Guide
Finding books
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 page "Library research help" of this guide.
Websites of interest
- Five College CatalogFind books, journals, and media collections held by UMass Libraries and the Five Colleges.
- UMass WorldCatLinks directly from WorldCat to ILL.
- Free, public WorldCatDiffers 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.
- Libraries & archives in Latin AmericaMegaportal at LANIC, UT Austin, to archives & libraries in Latin America.
