Library Guides: Higher Education: Finding Books and Dissertations

Finding Books

Catalog (Penn State University Libraries catalog)
List of books (and other items) owned by Penn State.

This is the online catalog of materials owned by Penn State Libraries. All formats (books, journals, audiovisuals, maps, recordings, etc.) are included. Circulation status for individual items is also provided. Coverage: Presently contains about 7 million records. Updates: Continuous up-to-the-minute as new records are added.

Google Book Search
Google's search engine for books. Includes some partial and full text.

WorldCat (OCLC FirstSearch)
Helpful for finding books that aren't owned by Penn State, WorldCat lists holdings of more than 10,000 college and research libraries.

OCLC WorldCat database is the OCLC online union catalog. It contains over 43 million records describing library holdings around the world.
Dissertations & Theses
Student papers, which often contain cutting-edge research and deep bibliographies.

With more than 2 million entries, PQD&T is the single, central, authoritative resource for information about doctoral dissertations and master's theses. Includes dissertations from England and Ireland

Dissertations and Theses How-To Guide
Links to additional sources of dissertations, especially outside the United States.
Interlibrary Loan (ILLIAD)
A service you can use to request books, articles, and other materials that Penn State doesn't own.