LION: FYS 100 -- How To See: Searching for Sources

Books

To find books and AV materials at Albright, check our CataLION (Online Public Access Catalog).

cataLION search tips:

The cataLION online catalog searches like Google. It tries to match as many of your terms as possible with the best matches appearing on the first pages.
The database will do automatic truncation, both left and right, so truncation symbols are not needed. E.g., typing in rain will find both rainfall and brain.
The database is searchable by title, author, subject or keyword options. When searching by keyword mode only input the keywords and ignore the prepositions, articles, etc to make the search more efficient.
To do a more comprehensive search, use the CataLION advanced search

Alert--Accessing the Print Collection

Access to the library's print collection is limited. However, if you need an item, you can either place a hold in the online catalog or email the Library Reference Desk at libraryref@albright.edu with the book information including the call number and the last possible date when you can use it. We will collect these requests and whenever we get access to the library, we will bring the to the Computing and Math building. We will notify you when the item(s) are available for checkout.

Relevant Databases

The library subscribes to more than 70 databases.For the entire list, click here. Some of the most relevant for this course are below:

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary database of more than 8,500 fulltext periodicals with pdf content going back as far as 1887. Includes indexing and abstracting for more than 12,500 periodicals.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Collection of fulltext online reference materials. Content includes dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, and subject-specific titles from art to accountancy, science to Shakespeare, and law to literature. Coverage varies by title.
Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window
ONCE LOGGED INTO GALE, IF ASKED FOR A PASSWORD AT THE SIGN IN BOX, TYPE albright.--
GVRL is a collection of electronic reference materials in a variety of subjects.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is a shared digital library that includes the fulltext of more than 2,000 academic journals, dating back to the first volume published. Coverage varies depending on the journal title.
Due to "moving wall" agreements with the publishers, JSTOR does not include current issues of journals; the most recently published issue of any current journal will not appear in JSTOR until 1-5 years after the publishing date.
Literary Reference Center Plus
This rich full-text database provides a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and time frames. It gives students, professors and researchers a foundation of literary reference works to meet their research needs.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.

Click the Google Scholar “hamburger menu” icon in the top left of the screen.

Click Settings, then Library Links.

In the search box, enter Albright College.

Check the box for Albright College and click Save. When you do a Google Scholar search, the search results will include links to items subscribed to by the library.