•    LB -- Read the first line in alphabetical order: A, B, BF, C, L, LA, LB, M, ML...
•    2395 -- Read the second line as a whole number: 1, 45, 100, 101, 2000, 2430...
•    .C65 -- The third line is a combination of a letter and numbers.
      Read the letter alphabetically. Read the number as a decimal, e.g.: .C65 = .65
•    1991 -- The last line is the year the book was published.
      Read in chronological order: 1985, 1991, 1992...

Have You Searched:

• PolyCAT ?
• Link+ for books?
• PolySearch or Citation Linker for articles?

Unable to locate materials with the above services?

Logon to Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Services and fill out the request form. Materials will be delivered to the library to the library or emailed directly to you.

PolyCAT is Kennedy Library's online catalog of books, journal titles (not individual articles), DVDs and other resources.

Hint: When you find a “good” book on your topic, click on the book record’s “Subject” link to find other books on your topic quickly.

Link+ brings together the catalogs of over 30 libraries in California and Nevada. The main advantage of this database is the ability to place an order and have items delivered to Cal Poly.

Did you know? Link+ can be can accessed from PolyCat or directly.  When you find that a PolyCat search doesn't retrieve too many results, or a book you want is checked out, look for the "Find in Link+" link at the top of the screen to perform the same search in Link+ automatically.

MELVYL is the catalog for the University of California system. We only have access to the library catalogs of the various campuses. Any book titles you find on MELVYL need to checked in PolyCAT before initiating an Interlibrary Loan Request.

WorldCat is a database of books, articles, multimedia and other formats, available in libraries all over the world.  Run a search, then enter your location information in the lower part of the screen to have WorldCat display whether nearby libraries own the book (including Cal Poly!).  If it isn't at Cal Poly, request the book via Interlibrary Loan.

Google Books search and preview millions of books from libraries and publishers worldwide.

Hint: To search for free, full-text books, go to “Advanced Book Search” and click “Full View Only.”

Need 5 sources for your paper at 3am? Google Book Research Tips to the Rescue.

Can't remember where you found that quote? Did someone grab the last copy of the book you needed from the library? Google Book Search can help!

With midterm deadlines coming up we wanted to share tips on how Google Book Search can help with your research.

Wikibooks is a Wikimedia community for creating a free library of educational textbooks that anyone can edit. Wikibooks began on July 10, 2003; since then Wikibooks has grown to include over 34,986 pages in a multitude of textbooks

Science & Math

Q:   General Science
QA: Mathematics & Computer     Science (QA75.5-76.95)
QB: Astronomy
QC: Physics
QD: Chemistry
QE: Geology
QH: Biology
QK: Botany
QL: Zoology
QM to QP: Human Biology
R:  Medicine