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Finding Books

Finding Books

In today's information environment, books are available in both print formats and electronic formats.


Electronic formats include CD-ROMs, .PDF files, and other types of formats available from web sites, in addition to a variety of hand-held devices and readers. Print-on-demand services also supply e-books. Google has begun work on a project to digitize books held in major academic libraries. Today, books in electronic format are generally referred to as "electronic books," or simply "e-books."


Volatility currently characterizes the e-book industry, although it is experiencing some growth. However, early predictions that "reading e-books would soon be as simple and routine as using a PC to read email" have not ocurred as of this writing; equally elusive have been the annual market predictions for e-books, some as high as $7.8 billion. The e-book industry has enjoyed a recent growth rate of 20%-40%, with US sales approaching $15 million annually, but this figure is no where near the billions of dollars in sales posted annually by the print book industry. Although a market does exist for e-books, the industry currently is in an early stage of development. Slow growth is predicted, barring the appearance of a "magic bullet." Significant current obstacles include a lack of standards, uncertainty about digital rights, pricing, content that still favors the interests of technology-oriented users, and less-than-adequate e-book devices. (For information about the e-book market, see the following articles: Donald T. Hawkins, July/August 2002, "Electronic Books: Reports of Their Death Have Been Exaggerated," Online Vol. 26(4), pp. 42+; James Gall, March 2005, "Dispelling Five Myths About E-Books," Information Technology and Libraries Vol. 24(1), p. 25+; Nancy Herther, 2005, "The E-Book Industry Today: A Bunmpy Road Becomes An Evolutionary Path to Market Maturity," The Electronic Library Vol. 23(1), p. 45+.).


MSOE provides access to a number of e-book services. Although e-books are convenient and easy to search, keep in mind that the vast majority of published books are not available as e-books. Over one million books are published worldwide on an annual basis. Most of these books are not available in electronic format. Comprehensive searching of books for the MSE Capstone Project therefore requires checking for both print books and e-books.


To begin the process of looking for books, try the following resources which will help you to locate potentially relevant print and electronic books.

Print Books

The Library Catalog

  • The library catalog is actually a relational database management system (RDBMS).
  • It is freely available via the web. Go to the library homepage and click on Catalog. The web-based interface to the libray catalog is called Horizon Information Portal.
  • The catalog will tell you which print books we have in our library. The catalog will also tell you the titles of journals and magazines owned by the library. The catalog does not include the text of actual articles. E-books available at MSOE are also listed in the library catalog. E-book records feature links to the e-book or to the service that provides access to the book.
  • When you search the catalog via the Web, there are several search options available. Try doing a General Keyword search first.
    • When you do a general keyword search, you also search the table of contents of books.
    • For all keyword searches in the catalog, be sure to use an asterisk. Study the results of a general keyword search. Select relevant records and then search on the subject headings that have been assigned to documents (see the discussion on controlled vocabulary in this tutorial).
  • The Horizon Information Portal (the web-based suite of programs that provide access to the library catalog) offers a number of powerful features, including the following:
    • The Basic Search enables you to employ 8 types of searches (General Keyword; Title Alphabetical; Title Keyword; Subject Alphabetical; Subject Keyword; Author Alphabetical; and Author Keyword).
    • The Advanced Search enables you to employ 12 types of searches and the ability to limit and sort results. To limit a search is to restrict it to a subset of the library collection (for example, all journals, or all e-books).
    • The Power Search enables you to employ 17 types of searches, the ability to limit and sort results, and the ability to combine searches with Boolean operators.
    • A Search History is retained and can be deployed.
    • Search results can be emailed.
    • Customized result lists can be created.
    • User account information is available to users who input the barcode numbers on the back of their MSOE ID cards. Users must be entered into the MSOE Library system in order to see their account information; a user must contact the library in order to register. Account information available to users includes books currently checked out, fine information, and holds.
  • MSE faculty and students may check books out of the MSOE Library. MSE students may check out books for 40 days, plus two renewals. To check out books, it is necessary for a student to visit the library and to present his or her MSOE Identification Card at the Circulation Desk. The student is then registered in the library's database. The library's database system is not integrated with MSOE's registration system which means that students are not automatically registered to check out books when they register for classes.

  • For those MSE students who wish to check out books, but who are remotely located and unable to visit the library, arrangements for checking out material can be made by contacting the Director of the Library.

    Search Tip

    Use the Catalog to see which books, journals, and MSE Capstone Projects are available in the MSOE Library. Consult it for all available MSE projects.


    To search for capstone work in a specific subject area, carry out a general keyword search in the catalog that combines a subject term with the phrase MSE project. For example:

    actuator and mse project


The WISCAT Database

  • WISCAT is a huge database that lists the books and the titles of magazines and journals owned by Wisconsin libraries. Other materials (e.g., media, etc.) are also listed. E-book records also appear in WISCAT, but usually only the libraries which entered the records have access to the e-books (unless the book is available for free on the Web).
  • WISCAT is freely available via the Web.
  • WISCAT indicates which Wisconsin library owns a book or journal or other item.
  • A alphabetic browse search in WISCAT means that you can search alphabetically by title, author, or subject.
  • A word search is a more advanced search where you can search by keyword.
  • A number search option enables you to search by ISBN, ISSN, and other standard document numbers.
  • WISCAT offers a number of powerful search features. For example, you can search by standard numbers (e.g., ISBN) and other types of criteria (e.g., location). Consult the WISCAT Help for complete details about search options and features.

    Search Tip

    Use WISCAT to see which books, journals, videos and other materials are available in Wisconsin libraries. Search the catalogs directly of selected Wisconsin libraries at the Other Libraries page.


The Books In Print Database

  • This database lists all in-print and soon-to-be-published books from 40,000 publishers. This resource is a protected database. It can be used remotely via the MSOE Proxy Server.
  • You may also search for out-of-print books in this database.
  • Search options include a Quick Search that enables searching by keyword, author, title or isbn.
  • A very good Advanced Search is available that permits exact searching by a number of database fields (including subject, author, price, etc.) and limiting and sorting options.
  • A Boolean Search option is available for users who have familiarized themselves with database field designations and Boolean syntax.
  • Other features include a separate author biography database and a publisher database.

    Search Tip

    Use Books in Print to see lists of currently published books in all fields. Or use this database if you can't find a book in the MSOE Library on the subject that interests you.


WorldCat.org

  • WorldCat is the single largest bibliographic database in the world. It contains over 62,000,000 records from libraries throughout the world.
  • WorldCat features records for the following items: books, websites and Internet resources, computer programs, films and slides, journals and magazines, chapters of books, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, newspapers, sound recordings and videotapes.
  • This database is remotely accessible. Access requires a user authorization number and a password. Call the MSOE Library for this information. The password is changed on a quarterly basis.
  • Always use an advanced search. An advance search enables you to limit by dates, format, and language. Over 400 languages are represented in this database. Given this fact and the large number of records in the database, it is usually best to limit by language and format.
  • Try , a new expanded version of the WorldCat database. WorldCat.org is currently in beta testing. It features more than one billion records of items from more than 18,000 libraries worldwide. Simple title, subject, and name searching is currently available.

    Search Tip

    This is the world's largest bibliographic database -- be sure to limit your search to the desired language.


Other Book Resources

  • Amazon.com
  • Library of Congress
    • Don't neglect the Library of Congress when performing a comprehensive search. "The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution, and it serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with more than 120 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 18 million books, 2.5 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.5 million maps, and 54 million manuscripts" (see Dr. James, H. Billington, "About the Library: Welcome from the Office of the Librarian," [Internet, WWW], ADDRESS: http://www.loc.gov/about/ [Accessed: 10 December 2002]).
    • The Library of Congress collects an immense amount of material. "The growth of the collections is relentless. Materials come to the Library through an acquisitions program that extends throughout the world and includes over fifteen thousand agreements with foreign governments and research institutions for the exchange of research materials; gifts; purchases; transfers from other U.S. government agencies; and copyright deposits. Each day about thirty-one thousand items arrive at the Library; approximately seven thousand of these items will become part of the permanent collections" (see Library of Congress, 9 September 2002, "Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress. Collections," [Internet, WWW], ADDRESS: http://www.loc.gov/loc/legacy/colls.html [Accessed: 10 December 2002]).
    • "The Library's mission is to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations" (see Dr. James, H. Billington, "About the Library: Welcome from the Office of the Librarian," [Internet, WWW], ADDRESS: http://www.loc.gov/about/ [Accessed: 10 December 2002]). As such, the Library of Congress accepts Interlibrary Loan requests.
  • CISTI Catalogue
    • This is the catalog for the collection of material held by the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information. Over 45,000 serial title records and more than 600,000 records for books, reports, and conference proceedings are searchable. The MSOE Library obtains materials from CISTI via Interlibrary Loan.


ELECTRONIC BOOKS AVAILABLE FROM THE MSOE LIBRARY

NetLibrary eBook Database 

  • NetLibrary eBook Database provides access to more than 9,500 electronic books. The full-text of books as published is featured.
  • Books in this database cover all subject areas. Books are generally scholarly or academic in nature.
  • Access to this database is made possible in part by the Wisconsin Academic Library eBook Consortium.
  • This database is remotely accessible through the MSOE Proxy Server.
  • In the Basic search option, you may perform keyword, title, and author searches; you may also search the full-text of books. In the Advanced search option, in addition to keyword, title, and author searching, you may search by subject and ISBN. Subject terms must be Library of Congress Subject Headings. Menu-driven Boolean searching, and limiting options (by year, by publisher, etc.) are also available.
  • For example, a simple keyword search on gears retrieves the following book:
    • Gear Noise and Vibration by James Smith (New York: Dekker, 1999).

Search Tip

NetLibrary is an outstanding electronic book service. The coverage of this database suggests that it is worth searching for MSE-related projects. Try keyword searching, and be sure to search the full-text of books. For truly effective searching, however, you may also need to search using Library of Congress Subject Headings (see the discussion on "Subject Indexing" and "Controlled Vocabulary" in the Preparing To Research section of this tutorial).


Books24x7 Electronic Books

  • Books24x7 Electronic Books provides access to two important e-book databases: Books24x7 ITPro is a database of electronic books devoted to all aspects of computing and information technology. Books24x7 BusinessPro is a database of electronic books devoted to all aspects of business and management. Both databases feature the full content of books as published.
  • E-books available in Books24x7 ITPro cover the following subject areas: business and culture; certification; databases; desktop and office applications; enterprise computing; graphic design; hardware; IBM Redbooks; networks and protocols; operating systems; programming; and web development.
  • E-books available in Books24x7 BusinessPro cover the following subject areas: business skills; corporate case studies and interviews; employee training and development; finance and accounting; human resources; international business; management and leadership; marketing and sales; project management; quality and manufacturing management; team skills; technology in business, and more.
  • This resource is remotely accessible through the MSOE Proxy Server.
  • Keyword search options are available, together with advanced search options. You may perform a keyword search on title words, author's name, publisher, or ISBN. You may also perform a keyword search on words or phrases that occur in the text of books.

Safari Tech Books Online

  • Safari Tech Books Online is a database of electronic books devoted to information technology books. This database features the full content of books as published.
  • This electronic book database is the exclusive online e-book resource for books published by O'Reilly & Associates.
  • More than 800 information technology books are searchable in this database. However, only the full text of subscription books is available. Currently, the MSOE Library subscribes to 119 books through this service. You must be logged in to the service to read the subscription books.
  • E-books available in this database cover the following subject areas: Business Reference; Certification; Cisco; Creative Media; Databases; Desktop Productivity; e-Business; Enterprise Computing; Java; Linux/Unix; Macintosh; Networking; Perl; Photoshop; Programming; Software Engineering; Web Administration; Web Authoring and Design; Web Development; Windows; Windows Administration; Windows Programming; and XML.
  • Available remotely through the MSOE Proxy Server

knovel Engineering & Scientific References Online

  • knovel Engineering & Scientific Online References is a database of electronic books devoted to engineering and and other scientific subject areas. The only engineering e-book initiative currently on the market, this database features the full content of books as published.
  • E-books available in this database are standard texts and reference books published by leading publishers. Over 400 books are available via this database. New books are regularly added to this resource.
  • E-books available in this database cover the following subject areas: Adhesives, Sealants, Coatings, and Inks, Aerospace and Radar Technology, Biochemistry, Biology, and Biotechnology, Ceramics and Ceramic Engineering, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Construction Materials and Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Food Science, General Engineering References, Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering, Plastics and Rubbers, Safety, Health, and Hygiene, Semiconductors and Electronics, and Surface Engineering.
  • Available remotely through the MSOE Proxy Server
  • knovel, which features some very powerful add-on features, is most useful as a technical engineering database.

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