UC Library Search, accessible from the search box on the library's homepage, helps you locate books, film, music, maps, and various other materials at the UC San Diego Library and beyond. It also contains a limited number of online journals and newspaper articles. You may search by keyword, title, and author, and filter your search to what is available online. You can also place an interlibrary loan request through UC Library Search for materials at other UC campuses or libraries worldwide using your Single Sign-On credentials.
UC Library Search does not include all the content to which the Library subscribes. To extend your search, try a database. The database you use depends on the topic or subject you have chosen and the type of information you need to access. You may choose among broad subject areas (e.g., biology, art, political science, etc.), as well as interdisciplinary databases or ones that search across multiple disciplines.
►Bonus search tip: Having trouble finding books using the online catalog? Search the contents of books using Google Books, then do a title search in UC Library Search.
►Super bonus tip: Use Google Scholar's "intitle:" limit to search your search term within reference books like encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, etc.
Search tip: Use UC Library Search to find books (including ebooks) available at the UC San Diego Library another UC campus or to request a book from libraries around the world. You can also use Circuit to find books in other San Diego libraries.
Search tip: Remember, though, that you're only searching basic cataloging information about the book (not the book contents itself) so keep your search general.
Begin with a keyword search, for example
women AND politic*
(women OR feminis* OR gender) and politic*
(Note that the * is a truncation symbol, e.g. feminis* returns results for feminism, feminist, feminists, etc.)
When you find a record for a book that looks useful, take a look at the subject headings. In UC Library Search, these subject headings are clickable links that run a new search. Searching by these subject headings may help find resources that don't turn up with an initial keyword search. They might also give you ideas of other search terms to use in your keyword search. Example subject headings:
