ALCUIN is Furman's library catalog, and the place to begin your search for books on your topic. The two most effective ways to search for books on a particular topic in ALCUIN are subject searches and keyword searches.

Subject searches are tricky. They use a controlled vocabulary that may make it difficult for you to find exactly what you are looking for. If you don't find your topic in the subject search, you can either try to think of some synonyms to search under, or you can try a keyword search.

Keyword searching is very flexible. You can use multiple keywords or phrases, linked with Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) as well as nesting and truncation.

Once you have located the records for the books you want, be sure to note the LOCATION as well as the CALL NUMBER and the STATUS. All of these are important and will save you time looking in the wrong place or looking in the right place for a book which is checked out or lost. We use the Library of Congress Classification System to organize the books in the library. Click here for a breakdown of it.

If you don't find what you need in books, you may want to try searching for journal articles on your topic.