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HIST 135R: Senior Seminar in Russian/Soviet Modern History (Edgar, Spring 2025): Finding Books & Book Chapters

UC Library Search

UC Library Search is the discovery tool that lists all the materials that are held in the entire UC library system, including books, journals, maps, videos, and thousands of articles. Think of it as a powerful catalog.

- Use UC Library Search to find books and all other items that the Library owns. It will indicate where they are in print or online, where they are located, and whether they are available.

- Sign in with your UCSB NetID to get full functionality, including the option to use Interlibrary Loan. If we do not own a particular item, once you've signed in you will see a link to Interlibrary Loan in a gray bar across the middle of the page.

- UC Library Search includes articles. However, I recommend using the Library's article databases to ensure that you are finding the most in-depth, comprehensive list of results.

- UC Library Search results are so broad that you may retrieve unrelated items. Use the tools in the left margin to apply limiters.

-UC Library Search is an excellent tool for finding items that the Library owns, where they are located, and whether they are available.

How to Find Books and Journals on the Library Shelves

Books on the shelves are arranged by their Library of Congress (LC) call number,  their unique tag that describes the broad subject heading they have been assigned. No two books have exactly the same call number. Below are some examples:

HC336.25 .G637 1983

DK285.5 .U87 1991

PZ7.7.D6495 Be 2021

LC call numbers begin with letters of the alphabet. These describe the broad subject heading that the book has been assigned.

The letters and numbers that follow serve to narrow down the subject. If you click the H link in the below list of subject headings, you'll see that HD 9114 is the broad category of Agricultural industries.

 

HD 9114

.C89

C87

2001

 

 

HD 9114

.C89

C79

1998

HD 9114

.C89

I38

1998

 

HD 9114

.C89

M613

c.2

HD 9114

.C89

M62

2001

1. Read line 1 alphabetically

2. Read line 2 in straight numerical order

3. Line 3 is tricky: it is a DECIMAL number, so M613 comes before M62

4. All subsequent numbers are also treated as decimals, even if there is no decimal point

5. The final c.2 means that  we have 2 copies of the same book, and this is Copy 2.

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