History Links
Library Resources The library catalogue. Two tips: first, Opac doesn’t like apostrophes, colons, inverted commas, commas or full stops, so remove these from your search terms before clicking ‘go’; and second, click the ‘Yes’ button beside the ‘Words Adjacent’ command if you know the exact title of the book to expedite your search. Sign in if you’re working off-campus. Otherwise, you won’t be able to access many E-resources. The repository of web databases to which the library subscribes. The link to use if you already know the journal you need. Historical Abstracts - Coming soon! The best single database for finding articles on history since 1450. Especially recommended is the function allowing you to search by period. Royal Historical Society Bibliography A great database for those studying British and Irish history. British Library Catalogue An online collaboration between Blackwell and the Institute of Historical Research. It offers up-to-date review articles about the latest historical scholarship in a given field. The library’s largest collection of ebooks, including some real gems. Most are available to download for 24 hours at a time. Full-text articles from major newspapers published in Britain, America and further afield since the 1980s
Helen Young Sharon Reid
Search Engines Google Books is best used if you have highly specific search terms. Google Scholar eliminates some of the poppier stuff and adds journal articles, but any librarian will tell you that you’re better off using the databases listed on Metalib.
Amazon’s ‘Look Inside’ function has its uses, as do the links for ‘Citations’ and ‘Books on Related Topics’. A wider selection of titles offering these tools can be found on Amazon.com than on Amazon.co.uk. This commercial firm offers a very large if somewhat random collection of digitised scholarly books and articles. There are no restrictions on copying material onto the clipboard, except that you can only look at one page at a time. Their free 72 hour trial is recommended before purchasing a subscription ($9.95 per month for one collection and $19.95 per month or $99.95 per year for the entire collection). Publishers Most academic presses allow you to download a sample chapter of recently published books. This is a better bet than browsing a limited number of individual pages on Google Books or Amazon, especially as the PDFs are often of the introduction and as such the most interesting bit of the book. Here are details of some major of the major history publishers. A more complete list of links to academic presses is provided by Exeter University. Many books allow you to read the introduction as a PDF. Click on ‘Introduction’ towards the bottom of the page. Only tables of contents available online Click on ‘Excerpt’ in the left-hand column for PDFs of the first ten pages of many books. Only tables of contents available online The History Press (aka Sutton) Only blurbs available online Only tables of contents available online Some books have PDFs of Sample Material – listed under Resources in left-hand column Palgrave (aka Macmillan) Many books allow you to read the introduction as a PDF. Click on ‘Download sample chapter’ Pearson (aka Longman) A few books allow you to read the first chapter as a PDF. Look for text inviting you to ‘View a sample chapter below!’ A list of sample chapters classified by subject is available here. Routledge (aka Taylor & Francis) No downloads, but you can browse many books in their own Amazon-style reader. Wiley (aka Blackwell) Some books allow you to read a sample chapter as a PDF. Click on ‘Read Excerpt: Chapter’ or ‘Read Excerpt 1’ in the right-hand column. Some books allow you to read a sample chapter as a PDF. Click on the ‘Excerpts’ button to the right of the cover illustration.
Blackwell's Bookshop in the Union Building orders textbooks for classes and has a large stock of other titles. They can be contacted by phone (01509 219788) or e-mail (loughborough@blackwell.co.uk). The best search engine for new books. Generally the cheapest option for second-hand books. Postage costs £2.75 per book from within UK but £6.94 from the US, so make sure that it states ‘Dispatched from United Kingdom’ in delivery details. An enormous second-hand books site based in the US that charges just £2.79 to deliver books to Britain. For second-hand books, if you want alternatives to Amazon and Alibris. Select Great Britain as shipping destination and UK£ as currency. |