RESEARCH SKILLS
FINDING BOOKS
During the course of your research, you will need to find books on your topic. In the
tutorial below, you will learn how to find both print and electronic books (e-books) in
the library. You can search for books by author, title, keyword or subject. To access
go to http://www.unisa.ac.za/library, click on Find a book.
Printed books
Finding books using the Unisa Library’s catalogue
Title
To select your search option, use the drop down menu and select Title
Type the exact title of the book in the search box, eg. Living in hope and
history: notes on our century
Click on Submit
The search result(s) will appear
Click on the required title to view the full details of the book: location, shelf
number, status (availability), date of publication, edition, etc.
Use the shelf number to find the book on the shelf
Location indicates in which branch of the library or in which collection the item
is housed
If the book is unavailable, click on Request and follow the instructions
To view more results click on the Next button
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Author
To select your search option, use the drop down menu and select Author
Type the surname before the first name in the search box, eg. for the author
Stephen Clingman, type in Clingman Stephen
Click on Submit
A list of publications by the selected author will appear
Click on the required title to view the full details of the book: location, shelf
number, status (availability), date of publication, edition, etc.
Use the shelf number to find the book on the shelf
Location indicates in which branch of the library or in which collection the item
is housed
If the book is unavailable, click on Request and follow the instructions
To view more results click on the Next button
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Keyword
Keywords use free language or exact phrases and thus can be searched for
anywhere in the record. It is best to use keyword searches when you do not
know the standard subject heading. Please remember that keywords can
retrieve a large number of results. Examples of keywords can be ‘global
warming’ or ‘diversity management’ etc.
To select your search option, use the drop down menu and select Keyword
Type your keyword(s) in the search box, eg. diversity management
Click on Submit
The search result(s) in the form of book titles will appear
Click on the required title to view the full details of the book: location, shelf
number, status (availability), date of publication, edition, etc.
Use the shelf number to find the book on the shelf
Location indicates in which branch of the library or in which collection the
item is housed
If the book is unavailable, click on Request and follow the instructions
To view more results click on Next
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RESEARCH SKILLS
Subject
Searching for information by subject headings may assist you to find material
that focuses on a particular topic. Subject headings are predetermined terms
which are found in the Library of Congress Subject Headings lists. If you do not
know the correct Library of Congress Subject Heading, rather perform a
keyword or title search to find at least one relevant title on your topic. Use the
full display of that record to find the subject heading(s) used.
To select your search option, use the drop down menu and select Subject
Type your topic in the search box, eg. Strategy
Click on Submit
A list of subject headings will appear
Click on the required subject heading
The search result(s) in the format of book titles will appear
Click on the required title to view the full details of the book: location, shelf
number, status (availability), date of publication, edition, etc.
Use the shelf number to find the book on the shelf
Location indicates in which branch of the library or in which collection the
item is housed
If the book is unavailable, click on Request and follow the instructions
To view more results click on the Next button
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RESEARCH SKILLS
Finding books using the South African Union Catalogue (SACat)
SACat reflects the collections of libraries in Southern Africa and contains
bibliographic information for books as well as journals, audio-visual items and other
material. Books that are only available in other South African libraries may be
borrowed on inter-library loan.
Go to http://www.unisa.ac.za/library , click on e-Resources, A-Z list of
electronic resources, S, SACat
Click on Advanced Search under Search Options in the top left-hand side of
the screen
Select one of the options in the drop-down menu next to the search for field,
eg. keyword
Type the keywords from your topic, eg. inclusive education
Click on Search at the bottom of the screen
You can also limit your search by language, year and material type
Click on Search at the bottom of the screen
How to page and view your results
Your results will display as lists in sets of 10 items on each page
Click on the next set number at the top or bottom of the screen to view the
next set of results
Click on the highlighted title to view a record in detail
To return to your results list, click on Results at the top or bottom of the screen
UNISA LIBRARY University of South Africa © 2011
RESEARCH SKILLS
Finding books using the Unisa Institutional Repository (UIR)
The UIR is a searchable full-text database containing Unisa’s research output and it
includes chapters in books. To access it, go to http://www.unisa.ac.za/library , click
on Institutional Repository.
E-Books (Electronic books)
Finding e-books using the Unisa Library’s catalogue
Title
To select your search option, use the drop down menu and select Title
Type the exact title in the search box, eg. Tradition and theology
Using the drop-down menu, change View entire collection to E-books
Click on Submit
The search results will appear
Click on the required title to view the full details of the e-book: location, shelf
number, status (availability), date of publication, edition, etc.
Click on the link in the Connect to box to view the electronic version of the ebook
At this stage, all off-campus users will be prompted for their sign-on
information before being allowed access to the full-text content of the e-book
Once you have opened the e-book, you can browse its table of contents or
perform in-text searching, depending on its format.
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Author
To select your search option, use the drop down menu and select Author
Type the surname before the first name in the search box, eg. for the author
Barry Smith type in Smith Barry
Using the drop-down menu, change View entire collection to E-Books
Click on Submit
A list of publications by the selected author will appear
Click on the required title to view the full details of the e-book: location, shelf
number, status (availability), date of publication, edition, etc.
Click on the link in the Connect to box to view the electronic version of the ebook
At this stage, all off-campus users will be prompted for their sign-on information
before being allowed access to the full-text content of the e-book
Once you have opened the e-book, you can browse its table of contents or
perform in-text searching, depending on its format.
UNISA LIBRARY University of South Africa © 2011
RESEARCH SKILLS
Keyword
To select your search option, use the drop down menu and select Keyword
Type your keyword in the search box, eg. Leadership
Using the drop-down menu, change View entire collection to E-books
Click on Submit
The search result(s) will appear with the most relevant titles displayed first
Click on the required title to view the full details of the e-book: location, shelf
number, status (availability), date of publication, edition, etc.
Click on the link in the Connect to box to view the electronic version of the ebook
At this stage, all off-campus users will be prompted for their sign-on information
before being allowed access to the full-text content of the e-book
Once you have opened the e-book, you can browse its table of contents or
perform in-text searching, depending on its format
UNISA LIBRARY University of South Africa © 2011
RESEARCH SKILLS
Subject
To select your search option, use the drop down menu and select Subject
Type your subject heading in the search box, eg. project management
Using the drop-down menu, change View entire collection to E-books
Click on Submit
The search result(s) will appear
Click on a subject heading to view the individual titles of the e-books
Click on a title to view the full details of the e-book
Click on the link provided in the Connect to box to view the electronic version of
the e-book
At this stage, off-campus users will be prompted for their sign-on information
before being allowed access to the full-text content of the e-book
Once you have opened the e-book, you can browse its table of contents or
perform in-text searching, depending on its format
UNISA LIBRARY University of South Africa © 2011
RESEARCH SKILLS
Finding e-books using the library’s online databases
You should use the library’s e-book database collections to find e-books on your
topic. Each database has its own specific format so it is recommended that you use
the online help screens or instruction pages for each database. Remember that the
library may not necessarily have access to all the titles held by the database, but
this will be indicated.
Go to http://www.unisa.ac.za/library , click on e-Resources and e-Books
Select the relevant e-book collection by clicking on the database title, eg.
Cambridge Books Online to open a search screen
Enter the topic in the search box
Limit to full-text should the database allow this
Click on Search to display the list of results
If a list of e-book titles is displayed, click on a title to view the Table of Contents
and select the relevant chapter to view
If a list of e-book chapters is displayed, open or download the chapter to view
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RESEARCH SKILLS
Copying, Downloading, Printing and Saving
Due to copyright restrictions, only limited printing, downloading and/or saving is
allowed on many of the databases. An entire e-book may only be downloaded when
the copyright has expired or has been cleared, eg. Google books.
The following usually applies:
Copying – text can be highlighted and copied
Printing – either page by page or the whole chapter if in pdf format
Downloading – available if in pdf format
e-mailing – cannot e-mail individual books but some databases allow lists of
titles to be e-mailed
Please note that each e-book has copying and printing restrictions. Once these are
reached, no further text may be copied or printed.
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RESEARCH SKILLS
Finding e-books using Google Books
Google Books is a service from Google which allows you to search for books, but
not necessarily to access them as e-books. Google Books depends on the book’s
copyright status. If a book is under copyright, you can only browse the preview
areas that the authors and publishers make available. You will rarely have access to
the entire full-text and, unfortunately, you cannot limit your searches to full-text only.
The purpose of Google Books is to assist you to discover new titles and then to
advise you as to where they can be purchased (using the Buy this book link) or from
which library they may be borrowed (using the find this book in a library link). In
other words, it is similar to a library catalogue.
Please note that e-books that are under copyright cannot be downloaded, copied or
printed – they may only be read electronically. If a book’s copyright restrictions have
expired, you can page through the whole book, download it and read it offline.
It is important to remember that not all of these books are available in the Unisa
Library.
Go to http://www.unisa.ac.za/library, click on e-Resources and e-Books
Select Google Books to open a search screen
Click on the Advanced Book search. This will give you more search options
and result in more accurate hits
Enter your topic
Mark the limiters, eg. language, date, etc.
A list of book titles will appear
Select your relevant title
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