History 111: Finding Books

WCLSearchBox

Searching Tips:

1. Use keywords instead of sentences/questions.
2. Add the phrase "university press" to your search. For example, Salem Witch Trials and univesity press.
3. Deselect any "Juvenile" title from your results.
4. Didn't find any books on your topic? Remove "university press" from your search. There may be titles that your teacher finds acceptable--check with him!
5. Still didn't find anything? Reset your search setting to "libraries worldwide" and search for books on your subject all over the world. If you find a title, simply request it using the Interlibrary Loan Request form.

Requesting a book from the MSJC Library. If you find a book in the catalog that is at the MSJC campus you can request that it be sent over to Menifee. You will need to have a MSJC library account. If you don't have an account, click here to see how to get your account set up. Follow these steps when you need a book from the MSJC library.

1. Click on the title of the book to get to the detailed record. 
2. Click on the blue "Place Hold" button on the right-hand side of the page and enter your 7 digit student id# and your library password.
3. You will receive an e-mail (your msjc e-mail account) in 2-3 days letting you know that you the book is available for pick up at the Menifee library.
4. You can see these steps illustrated in this short video.

Ebsco E-books. This a collection of some 140,000 full-text, online titles that are available to you as a student at MSJC.

If you don't find what you need in MSJC's collection you can search the catalogs of other libraries and then request that those titles (up to five) be sent to you here at MVC. There is a $2.00 per item charge for this service, that you can pay when you pick up the book/s. Make sure you give yourself enough time because it can take up to two weeks for the books to get here.

1. Search Melvyl, searches all the UC catalogs at once!
2. Try WorldCat. WorldCat is the world's largest online catalog. You will literally be searching thousands of library catalogs at once. Great resource if you are researching an obscure topic.
3. Request the books you found by entering the author, title, etc. in MVC's Online Interlibrary Request Form.
4. Sit back and relax, we will e-mail you when your books arrive. Please note, there is a $2.00 processing fee per book that you will need to pay when you pick up the book at the library