To find books, go to the "Find Resources" box on the library website, and click on "Books". Beneath the search box you will see that each format "Print," "E-book," and "Audiobook" has a checked box. The default is to search in all these formats. Click on the box next to the format you do not wish to search and remove the check mark. If you would like to search for e-books only make sure that the box next to "E-book is the only one checked. For example, if you are looking for the works of an author enter their name; “George Barna.” If you are interested in a particular title enter it without the first definite or indefinite article; “Second Coming of the Church” for “The Second Coming of the Church.”
For a subject or topic enter the key terms, again avoiding the use of a definite or indefinite article at the beginning of the terms; “universal church” instead of “the universal church.” Once you click on “Search” the database will search our e-book collection for records with the search term(s) you entered.
For commentaries on Bible books search “Bible” and the name of the Bible book -- e.g., “Bible Mark Commentaries.” For those that have more than one book, use the distinguishing part of the book’s title followed by the ordinal number. For example; in searching for commentaries on the first epistle to the Thessalonians use;" Thessalonians, 1st" or "Thessalonians, 2nd."
Finding Scholarly Journal Articles and Dissertations
The library has a variety of databases; some are general in nature while others are very specialized.
Many of our databases support Boolean searches using AND, OR and NOT.
AND will narrow a search by requiring the terms combined with AND to be in the same record. Example; Holy Spirit and Divinity and Luke. This search will find records that discuss the Holy Spirit’s divinity in the writings of Luke.
OR will broaden a search by retrieving records with any of the terms that are ORed. Example; Christ or Messiah. This search will find records with either term. OR should be used with terms that are synonymous or closely related.
NOT narrows a search by eliminating records. Example; NOT “book reviews” will eliminate all book review records.
These databases can be accessed from the “Databases” link found under the “Collections” dropdown at the top of the library’s home page.
Databases that may be especially useful for DMIN research include:
Many of the library’s databases include a thesaurus that will provide subject terms that make for more accurate search results. The link to the thesaurus is usually found towards the top of the database’s homepage.
