Research Guides: *English: Books & Dissertations

Finding Books

Library of Congress Classifications

FSU Libraries uses the Library of Congress Classification system to organize items in the collection. The following Library of Congress (LC) classification ranges are associated with English subject areas. The majority of the 'P's are on the fourth and fifth floors. Use the floor map function in the library catalog to locate books and to find additional materials such as microfilm or media.

P Linguistics
PN Literature history and collections (General)
PQ Romance literature
PR English literature
PS American literature
PT Teutonic literature's
PZ Fiction and juvenile literature's
Z Bibliography

Browse the Library of Congress Catalog to search for Titles, Authors/Creators, Subjects, Call Numbers, Standard Numbers.

Tips on how to use books more effectively in your research:

Academic works are not novels, look for the author's main points and conclusions by reading the table of contents, introduction, and conclusion first.
Tips for Efficient Reading: Professor Karin Wulf's advice for reading scholarly books efficiently.
How to Read for Grad School: Professor Miriam Sweeney tips to help you conquer your reading.

Finding Books at Other Libraries

Books in libraries other than FSU may be requested through UBORROW or Interlibrary Loan. FSU students,faculty, and staff may personally check out books from any state university or community college library in Florida by using their FSU card.

UBorrow
Borrow books from any of the 11 state universities in Florida. It's faster than ILL and renewals can be requested. Start by searching the FSU catalog, then click on the blue UBorrow icon at the top of your search results. Select the book you want and click on the blue UBorrow link again to request it.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
Request books and journal articles from libraries around the world. Use ILL to request materials not available at FSU.
WorldCat
Catalog of library collections across the U.S. and around the world. Useful for verifying bibliographic information and for identifying libraries that have a particular item.
Leon County Public Library
The LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library System enriches the community by inspiring a love of reading, providing a dynamic resource for intellectual, creative and recreational pursuits, and enabling residents to live a life of learning.
Center for Research Libraries
The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is an international consortium of university, college, and independent research libraries. Founded in 1949, CRL supports original research and inspired teaching in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences by preserving and making available to scholars a wealth of rare and uncommon primary source materials from all world regions.
Florida Department of State Libraries Research Catalog
The Division manages the State Library and Archives, supports public libraries, directs records management services, and is the designated information resource provider for the state of Florida.

eBooks

HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
Note, you must use the instructions below to access Hathi Trust:

Go to the HathiTrust homepage.
Click on the yellow 'Log In' button.
Select FSU from the drop-down menu and click 'Continue.'
Enter your FSU ID and password and click 'Continue.'

FSU users have full-text access and downloading capabilities for those items in the public domain, including:

US federal government documents
Works published before 1923
Works still protected by copyright, but made available to HathiTrust with the permission of the copyright holder

See also: Research Guide: HathiTrust Digital Library

Abbreviation: hathi
Vendor: HathiTrust
Coverage: 1564–Current
Subjects: *General / Multi-Subject
Type: E-Book Collections, E-Journal Collections

Directory of Open Access Books
The Directory of Open Access Books is open to all publishers who publish academic, peer reviewed books in Open Access.

Early English Books Online (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Contains over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475–1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641–1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640–1661).
Tutorials:
ProQuest EEBO LibGuide

Abbreviation: eebo
Vendor: ProQuest
Coverage: 1475–1661
Subjects: History, Literature
Type: E-Book Collections, Historical / Primary Sources
eBook Collection (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
EBSCO's collection of over 30,000 recently published titles consisting of a broad range of reference, scholarly, popular and professional books. Compatible with all mobile devices, no separate app is required.
Tutorials:
Training Tutorials for EBSCO eBooks

Apps:
EBSCOhost Mobile Applications (website)
Android (PowerPoint)
iPhone (PowerPoint)
Downloading EBSCO eBooks to Your Mobile Device (03:38)

Abbreviation: netlibrary
Vendor: EBSCO
Subjects: *General / Multi-Subject
Type: E-Book Collections
eBooks (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Gale eBooks includes access to encyclopedias, specialized reference sources, and general titles of all disciplines. Designed to enable users to easily cross-search all the content to pinpoint relevant material. Detailed subject indexing allows users to search content based on subject, title, document type, and more.
Abbreviation: gvrl
Vendor: Gale
Subjects: *General / Multi-Subject
Type: E-Book Collections, Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Eighteenth Century Collections Online is based on The English Short Title Catalogue, a machine-readable union list of the holdings of the British Library, as well as those from more than 1,500 university, private and public libraries worldwide. This includes over 150,000 English-language titles and editions published between 1701–1800. This online collection is divided into seven subject areas: history and geography; social science and fine arts; medicine, science and technology; literature and language; religion and philosophy; law; and reference. Part II expands the collection with an emphasis on literature, social science, and religion.

FSU has access to parts one and two.
Abbreviation: 18thcen
Vendor: Gale
Coverage: 1701–1800
Subjects: History, Literature
Type: E-Book Collections, Historical / Primary Sources
Taylor & Francis eBooks This link opens in a new window
This single destination platform from Taylor & Francis offers library users improved search and filtering, chapterization, APA format citations, and other features. The collection contains 90,000 titles in specialist subjects.
Tutorials:
T&F eBooks help

Abbreviation: tfeb
Vendor: Taylor and Francis Group
Subjects: *General / Multi-Subject
Type: E-Book Collections

Dissertations & Theses

Center for Research Libraries Catalog This link opens in a new window
An international not for profit consortium of colleges, universities and libraries that makes available scholarly research resources to users everywhere. CRL is governed by the major research libraries of North America and is funded by fees, grants and contributions. Check with the interlibrary loan department to obtain materials in this database. For Dissertations, search in the 'Dissertations' tab in the top menu.
Available Topics:
African Studies
Korea
Agriculture
Labor
Anthropology
Latin American Studies
Art and Architecture
Law
Austria
Legal Databases: Comparative Analysis
Black Studies
Literature
Canada
Medieval Studies
Censuses
Middle Eastern Studies
China
Music
Dissertations
News
Drama and Theater
Official Gazettes
Eastern Europe
Religion and Philosophy
France
Russia and the Former Soviet Republics
Germany
Science and Technology
Government Publications and Information--Non-U.S.
Socialism and Communism
Government Publications and Information--U.S.
South Asian Studies
Government Records and Archives--U.S.
Southeast Asian Studies
Great Britain
United States - History
Human Rights
Water Resources
Japan
World War II and Aftermath

Abbreviation: crlc
Vendor: Center for Research Libraries
Type: Indexes / Catalogs
Dissertations & Theses (Global) (PQDT, ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Also see: Theses and Dissertations at The Florida State University

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses covers every doctoral dissertation completed in the U.S. at accredited institutions for the last 150 years. Includes some master's theses and foreign language dissertations. Titles published since 1997 are available in PDF digital form full-text.
You have access to:
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text: Business
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text: Health & Medicine
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text: History
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text: Literature & Language
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text: Science & Technology
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text: Social Sciences
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text: The Arts

Abbreviation: dissertations
Vendor: ProQuest
Coverage: 1637–Current
Subjects: *General / Multi-Subject
Type: Dissertations / Theses

FSU Research Repository
FSU Libraries' Academic Publishing Team works with members of the FSU community to curate, archive, and provide access to a diverse range of materials related to the missions of scholarship, research, and education at FSU. The repository showcases the work of individuals, departments, institutes, colleges, and other communities of researchers on campus.