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Home > Research Help > Engineering > structures class > books


Big Sur Bridge

Tips for finding books and videos in the MSE Library on structures, structural engineers, and architects

Finding books in the catalog | Locating books in the Library


JHU Libraries Catalog

Use the JHU Libraries Catalog to find books, videos and journal titles owned by the JHU Libraries.  Below are tips for finding material in the library for your assignment. 

IF you know the name of the structure, engineer, or architect...

...instead of doing a Basic Keyword Search when you have a known structure, engineer, or architect, try an Alphabetical Search using the Subjects--Library of Congress search from the drop down box. 

When you click on the link to your topic, the materials in that list will be ABOUT your subject, not just have the term you're looking for somewhere in the searchable fields.  This type of search will also provide different topics to search if there are SEE or SEE ALSO links.  

Subject searches can be done on people or structures (i.e. Maillart, Robert or Gateway Arch).  

Less well know structures can be more difficult to find.  If you don't find anything doing an Alphabetical Subject Search then try keyword searching.

It's also important to think of other terms to search for when looking for less well known structures.  For example, if you're looking for books on the Baltimore World Trade Center you might try a subject search for Baltimore (MD) -- buildings.  This concept can also be applied to other cities.


Finding videos on structures in the MSE Library.

The Library has a number of videos on structures. However, they can be difficult to find in the catalog. Unless I know the exact title of the video, I almost always use the Advanced Keyword search to find videos in the catalog. 

Enter your search term or terms in the boxes and then limit the Material Type to Videos, DVDs, Films. 

Try searching very broad - try a Subject search on bridge or engineering with the Material Type limit to videos. 

All videos are checked out through Audio Visual Desk on A-Level

List of some engineering and architecture videos in the MSEL.  


I have the call number now how do I find the it in the library?

Think of the library like it's a grocery store. In a grocery store, you find bananas in the produce section, hamburger in the meat section, flour in the baking section, etc.  The Library of Congress (LC) call number system tries to do the same thing with books in a library - keep all the same type of things together. How to read a LC call number.  

In the Eisenhower Library, all the engineering books are going to be on C-Level.  All of the Architecture books will be on D-Level.  See the complete list of Call Numbers by floor. 

Like in the grocery store, even within the produce section there are subdivisions.  For example, all the apples are generally close together.  "Collections" with in the library tell you where on a floor the material can be found. 

You will find the collection name in the catalog holdings section of the book or journal record.  View an example.

For this class, common collections located within the Eisenhower Library that you'll need to find are:
       Eisenhower Stacks
       Eisenhower Science Reference
       Curr. Periodicals Sci&Eng. C-Level
       Architecture Books

Other collections that you may need to know how to use are:
      
Libraries Service Center (LSC)
       George Peabody Library


Need Help?
Librarian for Civil Engineering
Stephen Stich
410-516-8357



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