ENGL 102
Writing and Research
Home Page >>Research Resources >> Books

Books are among the strongest sources that you can use in research, but unless your local public or university library has it in their collection, they can be difficult to use. Finding books on a subject is easy. Be prepared to have to use Inter-Library Loan or to have to possibly purchase some of the books you find in your research.

CCC Card Catalog - the first place to start is at the library for the school. This is the link to CCC's library card catalog. This card catalog is actually a shared catalog with other NE Nebraska libraries, but once you are in the system, you can specify searching only CCC Grand Island's collection.

The Z-39 Gateway gives you access to hundreds of University library catalogs, so that you can search and find out which library might have a particular book on a particular subject. You can search the University of Nebraska Lincoln, The Library of Congress, or hundreds of other large research libraries. Once you have found it, make an Inter-Library Loan request. Be aware that the library may not loan the book if it is rare or in use, or the local librarian may be able to find it at a different library instead. However, having found it in one collection is a wonderful starting point.

National Academy Press - This is an interesting experiment. The National Academy Press, which publishes many specific academic and professional texts for groups like the National Academy of Science, is experimenting with not only selling their texts online, but also making the contents available for free. Try your subject; you might be surprised.

Amazon - granted, Amazon is going to try to sell you the books, but it's still a good reference for what books are available. The user and professional reviews can also help you decide if a book is worth getting through Inter-Library Loan.

Barnes & Noble - The Barnes & Noble site doesn't seem to offer as much information as the Amazon site, but it can give you slightly different views on whether a book is useful or not.