Vassar Library Search is the best tool for finding books within our collections, as well as journals, database titles, government documents, and other materials useful to your research.

1. Start with a keyword search, subject subject, or search by title, author or subject.
2. Use the filters on the left side to filter by, 
   1. Availability: select Available Online or Physical Collections
   2. Resource Type: select Books or Book Chapters

You will also find peer-reviewed articles, magazine and newspaper articles (and much more) in Library Search, making it a great place to start your research. 

Sample Search:

"Collective memory" AND (memorial OR monument OR "public history") AND politic*

Subject headings - controlled vocabulary that describe a topic and subtopic in a standardized, consistent way; located at the bottom of the catalog record. 

• for exp. Politics; Cultural identity; Race identity; Arts - Political aspects;  

Library of Congress (LC) subject heading classifications are most commonly used, however article databases, such a JSTOR, may use their own subject headings. 

Books Beyond Vassar

Option 1: 

If you are not seeing a specific title, or relevant resources within Library Search, toggle the Expand My Results option to the right to add items beyond Vassar to your results. You will have to place an ILL for items not immediately available. See below for more resources for books beyond Vassar.

Option 2: 

WorldCat: the "world's catalog"; a excellent resource for locating books.

Search within Vassar's WorldCat. This will retrieve Vassar held books plus books from academic and public libraries across the globe. Note, the default sort option prioritizes Vassar; you may change this to best match to see how that changes the first few pages of result