Why use books? Isn't everything online?
No!
There are some great reasons to use books and also reasons not to use them.
1. Books can give detailed information about the topic. Because they are longer than an article, they have more time to prove their main claim or thesis and give more in-depth information.
2. Some books are edited collections, which can give you a lot of different points of view about a single topic.
3. Some books represent seminal knowledge. In other words, we know certain things and accept them as fact because someone wrote a book (or many books) about it.
So when shouldn't you use books? Books take a long time to write and can age quickly, so if you need the most current, up-to-date information, books aren't usually the best place.
There are many places to find books using the library. The main way is through our catalog, which we call GIL-Find. Use the box below (or visit gilfind.augusta.edu) to search for books using GIL-Find.
Looking for books we don't have? You can use WorldCat to search all libraries around the world! This will give you an idea what books are written about your topic.
One thing libraries are really good at is organizing books. One way we organize books is through the Library of Congress Classification System. When you see a book on the shelf, it has a specific number, called a call number, which is given to help you know where it should be. The first few letters of the call number correspond to the specific subject and topic of the book. This means that books near each other are about a similar subject! See below for some common call number ranges relating to Africa.
In the above image, the letters (K, KF, and KFD) highlighted in red are the subject part of the call number. The more letters, the more specific.
For example, All Ks deal with Law, so the first is a general law book. KF is United States Law, so the second deals with United States Law. KFD is specifically Law in Delaware and the District of Columbia.
Useful Library of Congress call number ranges to know for the study of Africa:
| LOC Call Number Range | Subject |
| BL 2390-3490 | Religion in Africa |
| BS 325 | The Bible in African languages |
| DT 1-3400 | History of Africa |
| G 2445-2739 | Geography of Africa |
| JQ 1870-3981 | National Politics in Africa |
| JS 7525-7819 | Local Politics in Africa |
| JV 8790-9024 | Colonies and Colonization in/of Africa |
| KQ - KT | Law in Africa (differentiated by country, present and historical) |
| LG 401-681 | Education in Africa |
| PL 8000-8844 | Literature of Africa |
| Z 3501-3975 | Bibliographies of Africa |
Please note that there may be books about Africa outside these call number ranges. For example, a book about the folk medicine traditions of Africa may be in the GR 880s, which is the call number for folk medicine. A study of African marriage customs may be in the HQ 500s, which has material about marriage from a social science perspective.
Librarians also give every book subject headings. This is a specific theme or topic the work is about. Subject headings are a controlled vocabulary, meaning that the Library of Congress determines what words will be used, and every library uses those in its records. So, if you use a subject heading to search, you are guaranteed to find material about that topic, even if it isn't in the title or description. It is a more precise way to search than using a keyword.
Subject headings can be broad or specific. For example, AFRICA is a broad subject heading, but AFRICA---SUB-SAHARAN and AFRICA---WEST are more regionally specific. Even more specific is AFRICA---ENGLISH-SPEAKING WEST---LITERATURE, which is a subject heading that exists in the Library of Congress.
You can use this website to search for specific subject headings: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects.html. Then, you can edit your search in GIL-Find to search only subject headings for your terms by changing the search to "in the subject," as shown in the image below.
It is also important to remember that many subject headings are broken down not by location but by people groups. For example, you may find information about Zulu or Fulani women using the subject term ZULU or FULANI.
Search for books that have been digitized by Google. If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given permission, you'll be able to see a preview of the book, and in some cases the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy.
Catalogs are the online databases where you search for books. Our catalog at AU is called "GIL-Find," but there are others that can be searched to find books. See below for other options.
NOTE: Books in HathiTrust available through our membership will appear in a GIL-Find search. Other titles that are not included in our membership can be found by searching on the HathiTrust website.
Find print and ebooks, other types of sources including DVDs, online videos, eJournals, print journals, and more found in the libraries (not journal articles)
Tip! When it launches into the full GIL-Find catalog, use the "Full Access Online" limiter on the side to retrieve materials available electronically.
We can't collect every book ever written, but we have services to help connect you with books we don't have here. One is called GIL-Express, which allows you to request books to be sent from other University System of Georgia libraries to you here at AU at no cost.
Another service is called Interlibrary Loan, which allows you to request books and articles from anywhere in the world. Watch the two videos below to find out more.