Find what you need in the UI Libraries
Whether you are a student at the University of Iowa, a professor, or a visitor you will need to know how to find materials, whether it's a book, an article, or a rare item in Special Collections.
You can locate the item you want in our online catalog, InfoHawk+, which is a great first place to look. InfoHawk+ searches across all our print and electronic collections, including ebooks, articles found within our databases, special collections, newspapers, and more. For more specific research topics and assignments, you might consider using one of our 1,200 databases to search for scholarly articles, as well as news and trade publication articles. If you cannot locate what you need, please ask a librarian through our free online chat service.
Finding Books, Articles, and More
What can InfoHawk+ help me find?
InfoHawk+ searches our physical materials (books, DVDs, etc.). It's the tool you need to use to find a book on the shelf, or an e-book online. Books are only part of what it can find.
It will also search a wide range of electronic resources, including Iowa Research Online, selected major databases in a diverse set of academic disciplines, and items unique to the UI Libraries like those in our Iowa Digital Collections.
InfoHawk+ Tutorials
Your friendly University of Iowa Librarians created these tutorials to help you learn how to use InfoHawk+ like a pro. If you have any questions, please ask a librarian.
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InfoHawk+: BooksBasic techniques to perform a search and use filters to focus your results effectively.
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InfoHawk+: ArticlesUsing InfoHawk+ to find articles.
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My Library Account
Customize your InfoHawk+ account. Save searches, create lists, and more.
Locating books in the Libraries
When you locate a book in InfoHawk+, you'll need to take note of a few things in order to find it in the Library.
Notice:
- this is a BOOK in print/paper form (as opposed to an "ebook" which would be located online)
- it is Available (which means it should be sitting on the shelf as opposed to already checked out by someone else)
- It is located in the Main Library (as opposed to any of our other campus libraries)
- it is in the "Stacks" which is another way to say it is on a bookshelf
- there is a call number that tells you the location in the library
How to locate a book by it's call number
When you are looking for a print book in our libraries, always start with the beginning of the call number. Books are arranged alphabetically starting with this. For example, all PR call numbers are together, after PP and before PS, and all P’s come after all combinations of N and before all combinations of Q, like this:
P, PA, PB . . . PP, PR, PS . . . Q, QA, QB
When books have identical letter combinations, look to the number line next. Books are ordered using whole numbers on this part. For example:
PR1 PR206 PR1056 PR6037 PR6209
When the beginning combinations of letters and numbers are identical, next look at the part after the decimal point. Books are first ordered alphabetically and then arranged by decimal number (not whole number.) The following call numbers are in correct order:
PR6037.A47 PR6037.A8 PR6037.A86 PR6037.E222
If there are more letters and numbers that follow, repeat the pattern of looking at the letters alphabetically, and the numbers as a decimal number.
Common Databases
