Use the Books & Media link on the library homepage to find books and other materials owned by the library. Enter simple terms or concepts, rather than long phrases and questions; for example, “improvisation” or “twelve-tone” instead of "How is the clarinet used in jazz music?".
For more specific searches, combine multiple concepts (i.e., author and title) to narrow your results.
Depending on the number of results you get, you may wish to use the Narrow Search options to the left, to limit to specific formats, locations, or subject areas.
Keep in mind that the Library also offers a growing collection of eBooks and streaming video titles that may also be of use to your research.
See below for more detail on searching the Online Catalog.
Have you gone upstairs looking for music books or scores, only to find that our collection jumps from L to P?
Because of the specialized nature of our Art (N) and Music (M) collections, these resources have been separated from the rest of our books, and are available along the front of the building, on the second floor.
Music Classification
The Library of Congress system classifies music using the M call number range.
Within these sections, music is usually organized by genre/instrumentation, THEN by composer.
It takes a little getting used to, but ask if you're not sure where to find something.
To find books and media that our library owns, use the Books & Media tab on our homepage, or search for everything with the Search All option.
Start with one or two keywords, adding quotation marks ("") around concepts with more than one word: for example, "middle school" or "autism spectrum disorder"... quotes are not needed for single words, such as education or science.
Narrow your results using the limits on the right side of the results page. You may see a lot of non-book items, so be sure to limit the Resource Type category to Books, if that's what you're looking for.
When you've found a book (or ebook!) that looks interesting, click the title to learn more about it, or (if it's Available), write down the location and call number and head to the shelves to get it!
If you see 'Available Online', the book or media is available online!
eBooks are waiting for you!
Did you know that more than 35% of Cheng Library's entire book collection is available electronically any time of day or night?
Ebook resources do not include textbooks. For more information about electronic textbook options, visit our Textbook Option$ guide.
eBook Benefits
Finding eBooks?
Search for Books & Media, then: