Books held by the University of Iowa Libraries

You can use the Smart Search book at the left to find books, videos, journal titles, digitized objects, government resources and other materials held by the University Libraries.

Smart Search is relatively new and some people enjoying searching the "InfoHawk Catalog" as an alternative. If you are struggling with Smart Search, you might want to try this option.

Books held by other libraries?

WorldCat is an on-line catalog that describes the holdings of most libraries in the United States, and many from other countries. If you are struggling to find what you need at Iowa, or your home institution, you might try WorldCat. Your local library can often borrow materials on your behalf.

Google Book has been an ambitious project to digitize books from many of the major libraries in the US and Europe. Full-text searching is available for many titles. Google Book will provide full-text of materials published before 1923, and either snippet or partial view of later material. It can be a valuable tool for the researcher. It also connects with WorldCat when you click the "Find in a library" link. Enter your zip code to get local library holdings.

Class Activity

During class session you will find 1-2 books on a topic of your interest.  Brett will provide a sample search for initial practice (he likes United Nations titles on post-conflict assessments).  It will be important to figure out which Library holds your title and whether its available on the shelf.