(1) Go to OneSearch. OneSearch searches through many kinds of documents, including books, magazines, academic journals, newspapers, videos, and more.
(2) You can search by title, author’s name, or keywords (for more on creating effective keywords, please see the video on the right).
(3). You can choose the kind of thing you want under “resource type”.
For example, for books, click on “books” under “resource type” . Note that choosing "books" will include both physical books you hold and electronic books, or ebooks.
If you only want physical books, the "items currently on shelf" filter will eliminate most electronic books. Please note that we may have more ebooks than physical books on the subject, so unless you really need a physical book for some reason, you may not want to limit your options!
Click here to learn more about navigating through ebooks.
The call number of a physical book will look like this:
See below for more on using call numbers to find your book.
If you want to look for articles next, clear the "book" filter.
What kind of article?
If you're not sure which kind of articles would help you most at this stage in your research, see "understanding where to search" or "what kind of sources should I use?"
Libraries arrange books by call number. The call number is connected to the subject of the book. (The difference between call number and ISBN numbers is that ISBN used by booksellers and has to do with where a book was published, the publishing company, and the title of the book, but has no connection to the book's content.)
PRO TIP: Because books are arranged by subject, it's a great habit to BROWSE the shelves, as books on similar subjects will be close to each other.
In OneSearch, the call number will look like this:
On the book itself, the call number will look like this:
The books in the stacks (downstairs in the large reading room) are arranged from A to Z as follows:
1. Looking for your book's call number, always start at the TOP of the label and work your way down line by line.
Let's say this is your call number:
So for example,
GV
200
A98
will always come before
GV
200
Z12
no matter what you see below those three lines.
This page will show you how to search for books, articles, and videos at Hostos Library.
For more on what kinds of books we have, or how to use e-books, please see "what about using books for research?"
For more on buying textbooks, please see:
For more info about our audio-visual and video collections, please see our AV guide.
This page will show you how to SEARCH for many kinds of materials in OneSearch, including videos.
For much more detailed info about our audio-visual and video collections, see our AV guide.