Why use books?

  • Obtain in-depth information on a topic
  • Access original research
  • Understand the different viewpoints on an issue
  • Discover the history behind an event

To help you decide whether the book is relevant to your research, look through the table of contents and quickly scan the pages.

  • Is the author an expert in his field? What are his or her credentials?
  • Is the publisher a university press or a general publishing company?
  • Does the author include footnotes or list of references to cite their sources?

When using books, keep in mind:

  • Books can take a longer time to be published than articles
  • Books can be lengthy, so feel comfortable using only the parts that interest you
  • Note that a book may be a collection of chapters or articles written by different authors

 How to find a book in digital format

  • Ebook Central allows you to search the full text of over 60,000 electronic books. You can create your own bookshelf, take notes and highlight text.
  • Canada Commons contains publications from various levels of government in Canada.

How to find a book in print format

Use the Library Catalogue to find and locate all the materials in the library collection. 

For more help on searching by subject, take a look at the subject headings page.

Tip: Learn how to read call numbers to locate your book on the shelves. Note that the books in the library are grouped by subject, so make sure you look around your book!