Start from the Libraries Home Page.
It is possible to do a quick and dirty, one box keyword search of the contents of the MSU Libraries' web site, starting at 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 items.
In Books and Media, click on the down area 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. Putting quotation marks around your search (i.e. "Bible. Genesis", "Bible. John", Bible. Psalms") may help find works on particular books of the Bible. Scroll down past the first five results. After you receive your results, notice that you can filter your results in various ways, by using the facets along the left side of the page. To search by L.C. subject heading, it may be better to use the Browse Alphabetically by Subject lower down in the list than Catalog: Subject, because those results will show the surrounding subject headings and the number of hits retrieved (on the right side). There is more information about subject heading searching and lists of frequently used Bible related headings farther down on this page of the guide.
Advanced Search allows for combination of more than one search aspect, such as author and title, or subject heading and keyword.
Following a productive keyword search, click on one or more of the subject headings near the bottom of the record to find more books on that subject.
Library of Congress' Subject headings come from a set of fat red books in the Reference collection, at Z 695, of the Main Library. Subject headings are standardized words and phrases assigned to each book when it is cataloged; they describe a book or electronic resource's contents intellectually, whether those words actually appear in the title or not.
Search for information about different books of the Bible by using subject heading phrases composed like this: Bible--[name of book of the Bible]-- [standardized sub-heading for type of material desired]. Here are some examples:
Bible Genesis--concordances
Bible Isaiah--criticism, interpretation, etc.
Bible Matthew--commentaries
Bible Acts--history
Bible Acts--criticism, textual
Bible Acts and Epistles--commentaries
Commonly Used Subject Headings about the Bible
Abraham--biblical patriarch
Apocalyptic literature
Beatitudes
Bible
Bible. English. [name of version of the Bible], for instance, Bible English New International Version
Bible. English. Authorized, to find copies of the King James Version
Bible. [language] for Bibles in other languages, for instance Bible. Latin. Vulgate or Bible. Spanish
Bible—antiquities
Bible--bibliography
Bible—Black interpretations
Bible—concordances
Bible—criticism, interpretation, etc.—[country name]
Bible—criticism, interpretation, etc.—history [time periods]
Bible--criticism, narrative
Bible—criticism, textual
Bible--dictionaries
Bible—feminist criticism
Bible--historiography
Bible—history of Biblical events
Bible—in motion pictures
Bible and evolution
Bible and science
Bible as literature
Bible films
Creation--biblical teaching
Dead Sea Scrolls
Isaiah (biblical prophet)
Jesus Christ
John, the apostle, saint
Luke, saint
Moses (biblical leader)
Paul, the Apostle, Saint
Ten Commandments
Wisdom literature