Digital Literacy and Reference Librarian
Louis J. Blume Library
One Camino Santa Maria, San Antonio, TX 78228-8608
Book Databases
Books and eBooks show up in Discover and the Library Catalog.
In Discover, after you search for your topic, limit your search to "Monographs" to see books available from the Blume Library. The Library Catalog may be easier to use if you only want to see books available in print int the library.
You can use WorldCat and/or Google Books to find additional book sources. If the Blume Library does not own the book you need, you can request it by interlibrary loan (ILL).
- Discover This link opens in a new window
Blume Library's primary search tool. This robust feature helps scholars find scholarly journals and articles, books, eBooks, music, videos, government information, and more. Input the keywords of your research to generate a results list full of articles and items covering the topic. Use boolean phrases (AND, OR, NOT) and other limiters to focus a search or modify a results list. This tool searches most of the Blume Library holdings including the Library Catalog of physical items and eResources.
Learn more about this powerful resource: DISCOVER
Reach out to a Blume Librarian for research assistance: RESEARCH ASSISTANCE - Google Books This link opens in a new windowGoogle Books is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its digital database.
Most books are not available in full text. "Get the Book" links to WorldCat to see the libraries that own the book. Request books that our libraries don't own using Interlibrary Loans using forms found here: https://lib.stmarytx.edu/ILL.
Three Versions of Worldcat
- WorldCat Discovery This link opens in a new windowPublic WorldCat search interface. Information on the holdings of the world's libraries.
- WorldCat FirstSearch This link opens in a new windowSubscription interface. Choose this version if you want to use advanced searching techniques, including sorting by number of libraries who own an item. WorldCat provides information on the holdings of the world's libraries. The public version, designed for most users, is available online at worldcat.org and on the databases list.
- WorldCat Public This link opens in a new windowPublic interface. Search the Blume Library's collection and many other libraries worldwide.
Search Tips - Finding Primary Sources in Books
Discover, the Library Catalog, and many other research databases use subject terms to help identify the primary topics of a book, article, or other source. Subject searching will help you reduce the number of irrelevant sources in your results, particularly if you have a high number of results with your keyword search.
Works on U.S. foreign policy often have the subject term: United States Foreign Relations. You can add other keywords to this search or add specific subjects like the name of a country, war (Vietnam War, World War, Cold War), a century (18th century, 19th century, 20th century), etc.
To find primary sources on you topic, try searching you topic (ex: Cold War, Vietnam, September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001) in combination with one of the following words:
| Search Term | When To Use It |
| sources | generic term, often produces the most results |
| archive | use with organizations, individuals and families |
| archival resources | use with topics and geographic areas (counties, cities, etc.) |
| correspondence | use with individuals, familes, classes of people, ethnic groups |
| diaries | use with individuals and families |
| manuscripts | use with individuals |
| notebooks, sketchbooks, etc. | use with individuals |
| personal narratives | use with names of events |
| personnel records | use with organizations and military units |
| records and correspondence |
use with organizations and groups |
| speeches, addresses, etc |
use with individuals or groups |
Example Search
A search in Discover, the Library Catalog, or WorldCat on the terms "Vietnam and sources" retrieves some books that includes primary source material from the Vietnam War era.
- Discover This link opens in a new windowBlume Library's primary search tool. This robust feature helps scholars find scholarly journals and articles, books, eBooks, music, videos, government information, and more. Input the keywords of your research to generate a results list full of articles and items covering the topic. Use boolean phrases (AND, OR, NOT) and other limiters to focus a search or modify a results list. This tool searches most of the Blume Library holdings including the Library Catalog of physical items and eResources.
Learn more about this powerful resource: DISCOVER
Reach out to a Blume Librarian for research assistance: RESEARCH ASSISTANCE
Two Versions of Worldcat
- WorldCat Discovery This link opens in a new windowPublic WorldCat search interface. Information on the holdings of the world's libraries.
- WorldCat FirstSearch This link opens in a new windowSubscription interface. Choose this version if you want to use advanced searching techniques, including sorting by number of libraries who own an item. WorldCat provides information on the holdings of the world's libraries. The public version, designed for most users, is available online at worldcat.org and on the databases list.