The Campus Library uses the Library of Congress Classification System.
This means the Call Numbers listed in the catalog are assigned according to topic and books on the same topic will be together on the shelves. When you find your book, look around to see if other books nearby might also be of interest.
You can check out books at the circulation desk on the first floor. You will need your Husky card or government-issued ID.
More information about borrowing books is available on the library website.
Sometimes it may be hard to tell the difference, but the key elements that would eliminate a book from being scholarly are—
1. if the author lacks scholarly authority,
2. if advancing knowledge of the discipline is not the goal of the book,
3. or if the author does not cite sources in a bibliography, notes, or reference section.
|
Scholarly Book |
Popular Nonfiction Book |
Publisher
|
|
|
Author's Authority
|
|
|
Cited Sources |
|
|
Language |
|
|
Purpose |
|
|
Adapted from Linda Fredericksen
Once you've found books in the catalog, you can use the chart at the top of this column to evaluate them. Here is an example demonstrating how to apply the chart above to a book.
Save yourself some time by evaluating the publisher and author before you find, download, or request the book.
Publisher- Check the library's catalog entry to see if the book was published by a university press or scholarly publisher.
Author's authority- Enter the author's name in a search engine and look for information to determine their qualifications. Do they hold an advanced degree? Are they writing within their field of expertise?
You will need to open the book up and check the contents to evaluate the remaining points.
Cited Sources- Flip to the back of the book and check for a list of cited sources. Some books list the sources after each chapter while other will have all the sources together after the last chapter. You may also find this in the Item Detail tab of the catalog entry.
Language- Read the first few lines of the book, then turn to a page in the middle and scan a few sentences. Now evaluate the writing. Is it intended for those who are studying this topic or is it intended for everyone?
Purpose- Determine the purpose of a book by scanning the introductory section and/or the concluding section.
CONCLUSION- This is a scholarly book.