Use these catalogs to identify books and e-books, videos, music scores and sound recordings, magazine and journal titles,* newspaper titles,* some government documents, and more...
Compass
Compass is the new integrated catalog for Bowdoin, Colby, and Bates. It replaces both CBBcat and OneSearch. Tips:
MaineCat
Database of the holdings of academic and public libraries in Maine.
WorldCat
Extremely large catalog of holdings of libraries, primarily in the U.S. Before requesting materials via Interlibrary Loan, determine whether the items are available via Compass. If not, use "Request through ILL".
A catalog search usually begins with a keyword or subject search. History subject headings often start with a geographic heading, subdivided by subject and time. There are also subject headings for specific names of all kinds. Examples:
United States History, Civil War, 1861 to 1865 A keyword search scans the words in the title, corporate author, and the contents notes. Keyword searching is especially effective if you are looking for a name, using either very new or very old terminology, or searching for a slightly obscure topic which may have only a chapter written about it. If you find a relevent book through keyword searching, check the subject headings in the catalog record to find other words or phrases for subject searching. Browsing the shelves, once you have located the classification numbers for your topic, can also be an effective strategy for finding research material. |
Navy recruiting poster,1917 National Archives and Records Administration |
HathiTrust Best Bet
Over 3.7 billion full-text searchable pages from almost 6 million book titles and almost 300,000 serial titles. Hint: To limit your search to materials that you will be able to read full-text, check "Full view only" below the search box. Login to HathiTrust to take full advantage of Bowdoin Library's membership benefits, allowing you to download full PDFs of public domain works. See Help or A User’s Guide to HathiTrust for more information.
Internet Archive
"Includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages." See Search for more information.
Digital Public Library of America
"An all-digital library that aggregates metadata — or information describing an item — and thumbnails for millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States." Note: Not all (any?) materials are full-text searchable.
Google Books
Books from all disciplines, many available full-text and full-text searchable. See Help for more information.
Library of Congress E-books
This guide points to some databases of e-books.
When a book is not available in Compass at Bowdoin, Colby, or Bates, search MaineCat to determine whether that network has the book you want. If so, click on "request this item." Do not wait until the last minute to request materials!
If not, the next option is traditional Interlibrary Loan. Interlibrary Loan is also the first stop for all journal articles not available at Bowdoin. Through Interlibrary Loan, you have access to books and journal articles from libraries across the U.S. and around the world.
You can discover some of the available materials (not including journal articles) through WorldCat. Before requesting materials via Interlibrary Loan, determine whether the items are available via Compass. If not, use "Request through ILL".
To use Interlibrary Loan, you must first register with the system and set up a user name and password. Then fill out a form with information identifying your book or article. (You do not need to know which library has the item you want; the Interlibrary Loan department finds a holding library on your behalf.) Articles are usually sent electronically, while books travel to Bowdoin in hard copy. You will be notified when the materials arrive. Do not wait until the last minute to request materials via Interlibrary Loan!
Bowdoin Digital Delivery and Interlibrary Loan summarizes the options.