HIST 665 Advanced Research Methods (Spring 2019)

Library Catalog

The search box on the library's homepage (https://library.unm.edu/ ) is set to search only UNM Libraries by default.  That makes it easy to see what we have here.

 

For comprehensiveness, change the radio button from "Search UNM University libraries" to "Search Libraries Worldwide".  This will allow you to use the filtering capabilities of the interface to narrow down the results.

WorldCat via FirstSearch

WorldCat is a powerful search engine from OCLC that searches the library holding of  more than 13,000  libraries representing millions of records.  It has been around for a very long time and is well know by most researchers.  However, the firstSearch interface is not being maintained at the level you expect today and there are many duplicate records in results.  Filtering is not as robust as other database platforms.  However, some types of resources might be easier to find using the firstSearch platform

 

Tips and Shortcuts

Quotation marks = phrase searching.

Boolean operators = connecting words and phrases so results include all of your terms.

Filters = in most database located on the left side.  It allows fine-tuning of results.

Database tools menu = most databases have tools menus (many located on the right side) that allows emailing, citations, stable URL, etc.  the tool menu rarely shows up until you select a single record.

Citation shortcuts = Most databases have in their tools menu a link to citing the resources using the top citation formats.