It is possible to do a quick and dirty, one box keyword search starting at the left side of the Libraries' home page. The results will be sorted into several categories to follow up on: articles from journals, books/media from our online catalog, databases, library research guides like this one, other. To do a more traditional search, read on.
Below the general search box, click on Books and Media to search for physical, paper/cloth bound books, paper/cloth bound journals, physical media, such as DVDs or microforms, or individually cataloged electronic books.
In Books and Media, click on the down arrow on the right side of the form where it says "Catalog." Choose the type of search you want to do. In the box to the right put in your search terms. Enter author's name either last name, first name or first name last name. Omit initial articles in book titles; include them as they occur within the book title itself. To search by L.C. subject heading, it may be better to use the Browse Alphabetically Browse by Subject lower down in the list than Catalog: Subject, because those results will show the surrounding subject headings and number of hits retrieved. After you receive your results, notice that you can filter them in various ways, by using the facets along the left side of the page.
Advanced search allows for combination of more than one search aspect, such as author and title, subject heading and keyword (Any Field), or several rows of keywords. Keywords are words you hope to find in book titles. You can also confine your results to particular parts of our Libraries' collections, using the Location area on lower right of screen.
Below the general search box, click on E Books and Journals to search for journals in electronic form or individual electronic books that will have been received by the Library in a package. You may need to check both Books and Media and E Books and Journals to find your electronic book.
When you find a particularly good book by using a keyword search, notice, in its catalog entry what the subject headings are for it; try clicking on some of those to see if we have more books on that subject.
Catalogers assign several subject headings to each item they catalog based on examining it; these are standardized words and phrases from the Library of Congress' List of Subject Headings, a set of fat, red books in Reference 1 East at Z 696.... Below is a list of useful subject headings for using Books and Media to find books on the Crusades. Use Browse Alphabetically Browse by Subject search.
Chivalry
Crusade bulls
Crusader art
Crusades
Crusades—Bibliography
Crusades—Dictionaries
Crusades—Early Works to 1800
Crusades—Encyclopedias
Crusades—Fiction
Crusades—Finance
Crusades—Handbooks, Manuals, etc.
Crusades—Historiography
Crusades—History—Sources
Crusades—Influence
Crusades—Participation
Crusades—Personal Narratives
Crusades—Poetry
Crusades—Songs and Music
Crusades—Sources
Crusades—First, 1096-1099
Crusades—Second, 1147-1149
Crusades—Third, 1189-1192
Crusades—Fourth, 1202-1204
Crusades—Fifth, 1218-1221
Crusades—Sixth, 1228-1229
Crusades—Seventh, 1248-1250
Crusades—Eighth, 1270
Crusades—Later, 13th, 14th, 15th centuries
Crusades—13th-15th centuries
Crusades in art
Crusades in Literature
Crusades in Motion Pictures
Jerusalem—History—Latin Kingdom, 1099-1244
Latin Empire, 1204-1261
Latin Orient
Military history, medieval
Saladan, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, 1137-1193
Templars