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Absolute Beginners - Finding books, articles and other materials in the Library

How to get started for anyone new to tracking down resources, and a refresher for those who have already mastered some of the skills.

I want to find books by a particular author

The best way to look for a book on a certain topic is to use LibrarySearch (this replaces MultiSearch).

There are links to this on the side bar of the main library page, and on the MyDay Portal. If you are in BRIGHTSPACE, go to the Library Resources dropdown menu at the top of the page and select Library Homepage, then LibrarySearch from the sidebar. 

  • If not already signed in, sign in at the top of the page using your usual UHI username and password

  • In this example we are going to look for books by Stella Cottrell

  • In LibrarySearch type the author's name into the search bar

  • THe result of the search is 60 items. That will give us all the books by Stella Cottrell, but also books by Stella Smith and Brian Cottrell, etc. Let's narrow it down. 

  • Click on the Advanced search button, under the UHI logo on the top left. That will bring up this screen

  • Change the drop down search box to author and put in the author's name and press search

  • This time the search has come down to 25 titles - all of these will be by the Author we are looking for

  • If you like you can narrow the results further by using the choices at the side (if using a PC or laptop), or by using Group & Refine this search  if you are on a mobile or tablet. You can narrow by date, location, language, format etc.

  • Select the title or titles you want to view from the list - this will show you whether it is available in print, eBook, at your local campus library or whether you need to request it from another UHI location

  • See the I found the books in Library Search - now what? tab to see what to do next.
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