Basic Guide to Library and Online Research

Finding books, government documents and other library holdings using GIL

1. Go to the GALILEO homepage at http://www.galileo.usg.edu (or Netscape homepage within the library)
2. Select gil@gsw
3. Select basic search
4. Select command search (You can also search for “known” items if you know the author or title of a book.)
5. Do a “phrase search” by typing words that are always used together such as “Gulf War.”  In GIL, you must put the phrase between quotation marks.
6. When your search requires combining two or more ideas, put the boolean operator “and” between the terms. If you need either one term/idea or another, use the boolean operator “or.” “and” narrows your search; “or” broadens it.

Examples: You might end up with a search resembling:

“gulf war” and censorship and (media or press or television)

alice and walker and criticism

7. GIL records give you locations such as “MAIN COL” which are books that circulate. They are shelved on the 2nd floor of the library. “GOVT DOCS” are publications from the federal government that are shelved on the 1st floor of the library. You must have the call number from the GIL record in order to find the book or government publication. The Library User Guide available at the Circulation Desk includes more information including a map of the library. 

Finding articles from periodicals and newspapers using GALILEO databases

1. Start with Academic Search Premier.

1. Enter terms such as

(teenagers or adolescents) and binge and drinking

“world trade center” and attack

faulkner and rose and emily

2. Click on the link for full text to access the article online.
3. Click on the article title, then “display locations” to find out if we own journals that are not full text.

2. If you don’t find what you want, try Research Library. 

1. Enter your search terms
2. Click on the article title, then “display locations” to find out if we own the journal you need. 
3. Search GIL or the Serials List (in print) to see if we have journal articles that are not full text.  You can also search GOLD, an online list of Georgia library serials holdings.

3. Choose a database category tab from the GALILEO main page to identify subject-oriented indexes.  For example, for education articles, click on Social Sciences, then Education, then ERIC.

4. For newspaper articles, type LexisNexis in the Find a Database box.

1. Choose Guided News Search.
2. Choose a news category and a news source.
3. Enter your search terms.
4. Click on the title of the article for the full text.