SJSU Research Guides: History: Books & Print Sources

Subject Guide

Nyle Monday

Email Me

Contact:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library

One Washington Square

San Jose, CA 95192-0028

(408) 808-2041

Subjects: Geography, Global Studies, Government Information, History, Justice Studies, Military Science

How to Find Books

Locating and Obtaining Books at King Library and Beyond

Library of Congress Classification
Use this to learn where to browse your subject in the stacks.
CSU Collections
SJSU students, faculty, and staff have access to over 29 million books across the entire CSU, right from within OneSearch. You can request books from any of the other 22 California State University libraries and have them delivered to the SJSU Library within 2-5 days.
Interlibrary Services
Interlibrary Loan is a service in which SJSU borrows books (that it does not own) from another library for you. It is an option if the book you want is not available at SJSU or through Link+.
more...less...
Request books from libraries all over the world. Requests can be made by filling out an ILLiad online request form. This service is free to all Card holders -- late fees still apply -- and may take 7 to 10 days for the request to be filled.
California Libraries Catalog (Includes WorldCat)
The California Libraries Catalog provides the ability to look up books and other materials in California libraries cataloged in the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC).
more...less...
The California Libraries Catalog also provides access to WorldCat, the union catalog of all OCLC libraries worldwide. To search WorldCat, from the California Libraries Catalog search screen, click on the drop-down box showing CaliforniaCatalog and select WorldCat.
List of Local CA and CSU Libraries
more...less...
Check out what other local libraries have to offer. Select a library's website to find a phone number to call for assistance or check its Online Catalog yourself.

Note: Be sure to call a library before you visit it. Library staff there can tell you whether the item is actually in and can hold it for you temporarily until you can pick it up. If you need an item immediately, this may be your best option.
Melvyl
Online catalog for all nine University of California campuses and their affiliated libraries, a particularly rich resource for locating historical materials. It lists books, journal titles, and media.
Library of Congress Catalog
A good place for a comprehensive search for materials on any topic, especially those relevant to U. S. history.

FREE E-TEXTBOOKS FOR YOUR CLASSES

Some e-book editions for textbooks used in current classes are available FREE to students through the Library. These may be checked out just as print versions are, and used in lieu of purchasing print copies. The following are available this semester:

HIST	132	Roth	Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?
HIST	139	Wilson	Teaching History with Museums: Strategies for K-12 Social Studies
HIST	170	Propas	U.S. Diplomacy Since 1900
HIST	170	Vasquez	U.S. Diplomacy Since 1900
HIST	174	Chopra	The Jamestown Project
HIST	189B	Gendzel	California: America's High-Stakes Experiment
HIST	210B	Hill	Angels in the Machinery: Gender in American Party Politics from the Civil War to the Progressive Era
HIST	241	Pickering	Revolution on My Mind: Writing a Diary Under Stalin

Book Reviews (Online)

America: History and Life with Fulltext This link opens in a new window
Reference tool for U.S. and Canadian history and culture. With full-text coverage of hundreds of journals and books, and selective indexing for journals from 1863 to present. Limited to 6 simultaneous users
Choice Reviews This link opens in a new window
Short, critical evaluations of new current scholarly books and electronic media of interest to people in higher education and library science. New reviews are arranged by academic discipline and broad interdisciplinary topic.

H-NET
more...less...
This is is an excellent source for recent book reviews.

Historical Abstracts with Fulltext This link opens in a new window
Limited to 6 simultaneous users This database supports upper-division and graduate research on World History, Military History, Women's History, History of Education and many other related topics. It also provides indexing of historical articles from more than 3,100 journals in over 40 languages dating back to 1955. In addition, this database provides access to the full text of more than 380 journals and 140 books.

History: Reviews in History
more...less...
Sponsored by the Institute of Historical Research this is also a very good source of current scholarly reviews.

Humanities Full Text This link opens in a new window
Encompasses all key fields of the humanities, covering topics including art, classical studies, dance, film, journalism, philosophy, religion and much, much more. Content includes feature articles, interviews, obituaries and original works of fiction, drama, poetry and much more
JSTOR Journals and Books This link opens in a new window
The journals archive consists of older (at least 2-5 years) issues of core scholarly journals across a wide range of subjects including the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The eBook collections are DRM-free and allow for unlimited concurrent use and unlimited chapter downloads and printing. Note: The following collections are complimentary through Dec 31, 2023 to current SJSU students and employees: 19th Century Pamphlets, Business IV, Ecology & Botany II, Hebrew, Ireland, Jewish Studies, Lives of Literature, Security Studies, Sustainability.

New York Times Books on the Web
more...less...
Provides reviews of current titles and a searchable archive of book reviews, author interviews, and news articles since 1980. Registration is free, but required to use the site.

Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Full-text scholarly articles in literature and criticism, history, visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, social science, mathematics.

The Washington Post Book Review Section
more...less...
Complete first chapters of recently published fiction and non-fiction books, along with the review published in the Post. Registration is free, but required to use the content on the site.

e-Books

Carrie: English Language Online Books
Hosted by the University of Kansas, this site provides electronic access to books of particular interest to historians.

ACLS Humanities E-book This link opens in a new window
A collection of scholarly humanities titles offered in collaboration with 30+ learned societies, 100+ contributing publishers, and librarians at the University of Michigan’s Scholarly Publishing Office.

Internet Classics Archive
Sponsored by MIT, contains full text of classical works, often available in the original Latin or Greek as well as the translation.
netLibrary
You can create a bookshelf, bookmark pages and search text with this interactive electronic book resource. Or, use the Reference Center to look up background information on your topic.
Project Gutenberg
With thousands of important and famous texts available this is a rich site for electronic books. Search by subject, title or author.
The On-Line Books Page
Hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Library, indexes thousands of books available freely on the internet, as well as providing pointers to directories and archives of online books.

Book Stores

Addall Used Books
Searches many online bookseller search engines.
Advanced Book Exchange (AbeBooks)
Find used, rare and out-of-print books here.
Alibris
Look here for out of print and rare books.
Amazon
Use Amazon.com to order books you wish to purchase, and read reviews.
Barnes & Noble
Find reviews of books and order online. Also, find out of print material.
Bookfinder
Use this site to find out of print materials and find out if there are new editions available.
Powells
An independent bookstore where you can purchase and read reviews.

Tutorials

Finding Your Book on the Shelf
This tutorial provides a quick introduction to call numbers.
Finding Your Book on the Shelf
Learn how to use a call number to find the book you want on the shelves.