Subject vs Keyword

subject words = fewer hits & better 

keywords = more hits & sometimes worse

A keyword means find the word anywhere--title, author, notes, description, publisher, etc.

Primary Sources in Print

Lots of historical primary sources are published in or as books.

Strategies for locating such published primary sources:

  1. Browse footnotes and bibliographies of secondary source books, encyclopedias, and articles for the titles of published primary sources.
  2. Search the Library Catalog. Use the advanced search with subject terms such as:
    • sources
    • diaries
    • personal narratives
    • interviews
    • letters
  3. Search for a topic in the Library Catalog then limit by publication year using the "Limit Your Search" option to the left of the search results:

Beware: The date of publication of a book is not always an indication of whether something is a primary source.  A modern, critical edition of a published primary source will have a recent date of publication. Use Ask a Librarian if you need advice.

Library Home & Catalog

The library homepage search box searches all library systems--the catalogs, articles, and library websites.

Our library catalog (built by the Library with Open Source software) incorporates the best features of WorldCat Local (Libraries Worldwide). You can find the link to the library catalog under the main search box on the library homepage. 

Our library catalog contains all of the holdings of all Cornell University libraries including records for books, ebooks, DVD's/videos, sound recordings, magazines/newspapers/journals, online journals/newspapers, computer files, government documents, manuscripts and archives, maps, musical scores, and more.

 

The advanced search allows for more precision. The drop down menu to the right of the search box allows you to search by Author, Title, Keyword, or Subject, or combinations:


Refine a search with the facets on the left.   

To search the holdings of libraries beyond Cornell click on Results at “libraries worldwide” (Worldcat Local) on the left of the results page.

 

Requesting Books from Elsewhere

For BOOKS already checked out, or that we don't have:

Connect to Borrow Direct, search for the book and if it's available from another Ivy League university, we will have it shipped to Cornell. The borrowing period is one month. Books arrive in 3-4 business days. (This service is for BOOKS only).

For items (books, articles, microfilm) we don't have:

If Cornell Library does not have an item you need, use our  Interlibrary Loan Services to connect to ILLiad (InterLibrary Loan Internet Accessible Database) to request that we borrow materials from other libraries. The loan period is usually for one month. Items can arrive in as little as a few days to a couple of weeks.

For items at another campus library or the Library Annex:

Use the "Request" button inside the Library Catalog and choose Library to Library Delivery.