Start Here To Search for Books
When you know the title of the item you are seeking, the first step is to search by title in an online catalog.
- BGSU Libraries CatalogIndexes books, magazines and journals, videos, music, and electronic resources that are owned by BGSU.
- OhioLINK Central CatalogIf BGSU doesn't own documents on your topic, try the OhioLINK Central Catalog. It contains the holdings of the libraries at more than 80 colleges and universities throughout Ohio, many of which have government documents collections.
- WorldCatWorldCat is a database of the holdings of many libraries throughout North American and some other countries. If you identify a publication you want to borrow, you can use your Interlibrary Loan (ILL) account to request it.
Dissertations & Theses
Use these sites to identify relevant dissertations and theses:
- Dissertations & Theses (ProQuest) 1861-present with some earlier coverageProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, spanning from 1743 to the present day and offering full text for graduate works added since 1997, along with selected full text for works written prior to 1997.
- OhioLINK Electronic Theses & Dissertations CenterA searchable database of full text theses and dissertations from OhioLINK institutions.
- Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD)A search engine for theses and dissertations from many institutions. Not all theses and dissertations are available full text online.
- NDLTDs List of Other Search Engines for Theses and DissertationsThis page lists additional sites that offer access to theses and dissertations.
- Directory of History DissertationsThe American Historical Association provides access to this database that includes entries for more than 55,000 dissertations.
HathiTrust Digital Library
The HathiTrust Digital Library provides access to a database of digitized books and other materials. You can search the catalog, search full text, or browse the public collections. Note that not all books are available full text.
To find only those books that are available full text, you can search the catalog on the main search page and click on the box next to "Full View Only."
To do a more complex search, click on the Advanced Catalog Search link. You can also select "Full View Only" on this page.
Internet Archive
Internet Archive is a database of books, magazines, audio and video files, maps, etc. It's a good place to find books that are old enough to be no longer under copyright.
To search for a book, type in a search term in the search box on the home page and select "Texts" from the drop down search box.
If you want to do a more complex search, click on the Advanced Search link to the right of the search box on the home page. This allows you to customize your search in many ways.
Google Books
Google Books is a searchable database of books and magazine articles, but not all of the books are full text.
At the Basic Search page, you can simply type in keywords to do a search. You can also browse by subjects, listed on the left side of the page. Each book in the results list will include the designation:
- Full View -- You can view the entire text of the book
- Limited Preview -- You can view some pages of the book
- Snippet View -- You can see the publication information, plus a few sentences from the book
- No Preview Available -- You can see only the publication information about the book
To search for only full text books:
- Go to the Advanced Book Search
- Fill in the elements of your search
- From the Search: line, choose Full View Only
- Click on the Google Search button