If you've found this research guide, it's likely that you've already visited the Library Website, but even if you have, this page and the tabs listed above provide more detailed information about what you can find on our website and how to navigate it effectively. As the image below highlights, there are three features of interest on the website: 1. The Main Search (Discovery Service), 2. Library Quick Links, and 3. Research Help Now. Scroll down to learn more details about each of these three parts of the site.
The Library Main Search, also known as the Discovery Services allows students to search the library's entire collection of books and databases in one convenient place. This is where we recommend beginning your search the majority of the time; it's always easier to start broad and narrow down than start too narrow and be missing sources that might be helpful to you. The Main Search tab above explains how to navigate this search to find what you're looking for.
The Library Quick Links help direct students to the resources most likely to be helpful to them. This might be how you accessed the research guides, there are a few other useful links here as well:
Research Help Now! is the library's 24/7 chat reference service. Students can use this chat service to get fast help from a real librarian any day, any time. Research Help Now! Is also linked on most pages of the Research Guides.
The Library Main Search, also known as the Discovery Service, allows you to search the library's entire collection in one place.
The advantages of searching in the library system over Google or another search advantage are that all the results you find have been specifically selected to be helpful to students, that layer of filtering means the information you find is more likely to be reliable, and the library system has features like citation tools built directly into the database, making it easier to build your references or works cited page.
The video below [4 minutes] offers an overview of how to navigate the library's main search, some of the search filters you will find there, and how to identify and access sources from the search.
Unlike the Main Search, which contains all the sources in the library collection, the Library Catalog houses the library's books, ebooks, and other materials housed in the library like movies, CDs, and audiobooks. The following video [3 minutes] explains how to search in the library catalog and use the information listed there to locate materials in the library.
For more tutorials on specific databases, please visit the Morris Library YouTube Channel.