Locating Books and Call Numbers
Most books that deal with historical topics are shelved in the Central Library. The catalog shows the book call number and location.
A book that is CHECKD-OUT may be recalled, once you login with your VUnet ID, by clicking on the Request link in the "Get It" section, near the middle of the catalog record. You will be notified when the recalled item is available for your use.
Need help making sense of the Call # you found in Library Catalog? or where to find the book in the library?
Finding Sources
- Library Search This link opens in a new window
Check out the Library Search which finds print and electronic items, including journal and newspaper articles, book chapters, books, reviews, legal documents, and much more. Note: Due to licensing restrictions, some content is only available to current students, faculty, and staff.
Keyword vs. Subject Searching
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Step 1: Start your search process by brainstorming a list of keywords that describe the main concepts of your topic or question. |
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Step 2: Use these keywords for your initial searches. Step 3: Use the Subject Heading links in the Library Catalog record to refine your search. |
- History of Science, Technology, and Medicine This link opens in a new window
Journal articles, conference proceedings, books, dissertations, serials, maps and other related materials covering topics on the role of scientific discovery in society and culture, and the historiography of scientific disciplines from prehistory to the present.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowLarge and important archive for academic journals, books, and primary sources in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Many journals do not have current issues.
- ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Search all ProQuest databases simultaneously. Includes arts, humanities, social sciences, news, and science and technology.
- Periodicals Archive Online This link opens in a new windowHumanities and social sciences periodicals. Includes Foundation Collection. Sister database to Periodicals Index Online.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Citation database from journals and international conference proceedings. Cross-search of the Web of Science Core Collection, BIOSIS Previews, and the SciELO Citation Index (Latin America, Spain, Portugal, the Caribbean and South Africa).
Google Scholar provides access to "peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations."
What Google Scholar does not contain, in most cases, is the fulltext of the articles -- but it does work with the library's Findit@VU service to help you get to the fulltext when available. If you are on campus, Findit@VU will automatically appear -- but if you are off campus it won't. Not clicking on Findit@VU may lead to you receiving a message indicating that you must purchase the article to view it.
Bookmark this link as your access point to Google Scholar to ensure that the Findit@VU links appears in your searches or follow the instructions for setting your preferences in the video below. Don't get caught paying for articles when you don't have to!
- Access World News Research Collection This link opens in a new windowResearch diverse perspectives, topics and trends that align with curricular areas such as Political Science, English, Sociology, Humanities, Business, International Studies and more. Features reliable, credible information from a wide variety of international, national and local news sources.
- ProQuest News and Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Direct link to the newspaper section of ProQuest. Includes Alt-Press Watch, Ethnic NewsWatch, GenderWatch, Latin American Newsstand, Canadian Newsstand Complete, ProQuest Newsstand, ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Times of London, and The Tennessean.
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowNewspapers, books, manuscripts, maps, and photographs. Simultaneously search: 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers, 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, Sunday Times (London), Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), Making of the Modern World, Times Literary Supplement, and Times Digital Archive, Financial Times (London).
- Magazine Archives (EBSCOHost) This link opens in a new windowCollection of popular magazine archives.
- News, Policy, & Politics Magazine Archive This link opens in a new windowArchive of 15 major magazines (including Newsweek), spanning areas including history of politics, current events, international relations, and public policy.
- Wiley Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Unique or rare historical primary sources, digitized from leading societies, libraries, and archives around the world, and made accessible in ways that tie directly to research outcomes and educational goals. Contains tools for searching, browsing, analyzing and visualizing primary source content.
- HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
Digitized collections of some of the nation’s great research libraries, established in this repository to archive and share their digital content.
- History Vault This link opens in a new windowDigitized letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, diaries, and other primary source materials.
• American Indians and the American West
• American Politics and Society
• Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle
• International Relations and Military Conflicts
• Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War
• Women's Studies
• Workers and Labor Unions - Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowNewspapers, books, manuscripts, maps, and photographs. Simultaneously search: 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers, 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, Sunday Times (London), Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), Making of the Modern World, Times Literary Supplement, and Times Digital Archive, Financial Times (London).
- Academic Video Online This link opens in a new windowDocumentaries, interviews, performances, news programs and newsreels, field recordings, commercials, raw footage, and thousands of award-winning films.
- Docuseek2 This link opens in a new windowStreaming access to documentary and social issue films from a variety of distributors, including Bullfrog, Collective Eye, and Icarus Films.
- Access World News Research Collection This link opens in a new windowResearch diverse perspectives, topics and trends that align with curricular areas such as Political Science, English, Sociology, Humanities, Business, International Studies and more. Features reliable, credible information from a wide variety of international, national and local news sources.
- Vanderbilt Television News ArchiveStreaming access to over 50 years of broadcasting news programming. The archive is located in Suite 200 of the John Seigenthaler First Amendment Center at 1207 18th Ave S, Nashville, TN. Staff are available by appointment Monday through Friday from 9am to 4:00pm.
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowOn-demand streaming video service for documentaries, training films, and theatrical releases. Films under a current license agreement are available for immediate viewing. Other films may require a request through the Kanopy site. Viewing films in a group forum is permitted as long as the viewing is by Vanderbilt authorized viewers only (current faculty, staff, or students) and it is not for commercial benefit (i.e. no admission costs are charged and no profit is made from the screening).
