Other Catalogs
Google Books - Discover thousands of book titles here and see if we own them (note: Google Books does not let you read entire books)
Texshare - Check out a book from almost anywhere in Texas with one of these cards.
Worldcat Searches thousands of libraries - built-in interlibrary loan request button allows you to get material we don't own.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
A digital collective of books and journals from numerous academic and research libraries around the world.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
Log in to ILLiad to make an Interlibrary Loan request
Interlibrary Loan is a Library lending service available to current TxState students and employees. ILL borrows items from other libraries that the Alkek Library does not own.
This service is free to Texas State students, faculty, and staff.
Typical turnaround for a book is 2 weeks. Turnaround time for articles
varies depending on format (hard copy or electronic) but averages 2 to
3 days.
Library Catalog
Use the Library Catalog to search for print resources, multimedia resources, and ebooks. The Library Catalog also provides location and availability details. The library catalog is a type of database, so you can use the same search strategies you would use in a database, including "phrase searching," Boolean operators, and truncation.
Searching
Search by ~~> Keyword
- This search looks for matches in all fields of the catalog record (title, author, description, table of contents, subject headings, etc.)
- Use Boolean operators to combine keywords and improve your search
- This is the broadest type of search, so it is often a good way to start out—you should get a good idea of how much material is available on a subject.
Broad searches like the "alcohol abuse" search below can be focused by inserting AND followed by an idea that will limit the search, like: "alcohol abuse" AND college
Search by ~~> Title
- This search should be used if you know a specific book title
- Don't include leading words like "the" or "a"
- The Things They Carried should be typed as things they carried
Search by ~~> Author
- This search will find works by an author, editor, actor, or director
- Search by "Lastname, Firstname", i.e., angelou, maya
- If you want books about a person but not written by them, search for their name by Subject
Search by ~~>Subject
- Subject headings search the catalog by Library of Congress subject headings
- This type of search works well if you are browsing for a particular subject that you know or a broad term
- If your search results are too limited, try using the same subject heading terms in a keyword search.
The Browse feature displaying in the top right of the Library Catalog, allows for
- searching by Call Number
- searching or browsing by Course Reserve.
