Political Science Research Guide

QuickSearch is the search option available from the Libraries homepage. It searches both the Libraries catalog and most (but not all) of the databases. You need to use QuickSearch to look for ebooks and/or print books. If you are searching by topic, there are two ways to search. See the two boxes below.

If you are looking for a specific book, the simplest way is to type the title, or the first five or six words of the title, in "double quotes". If Rutgers has the book, it will appear at the top or very near the top of your search results. If Rutgers doesn't have the book, see Interlibrary Loan options below.

If you have any questions or run into any problems, my contact info is below the Related Guides tab.

The basic search option from the Libraries homepage searches authors, titles, subjects, and abstracts and fulltext, if available, across most of the Libraries resources: books, scholarly articles, news items, videos etc.

How to build your basic search:
Use "double quotes" to search as a phrase
Use * to search for forms of a word: africa* searches africa, african, africans, etc.
Use AND, OR  (in caps) to combine terms:
- AND focuses a search: "civil war*" AND africa* is more specific, retrieves fewer items than "civil war*"
- OR broadens a search: africa* OR congo* retrieves more items than africa* alone
Use parentheses to combine AND, OR: "civil war*" AND (africa* OR congo*)

Once you've completed your search, you'll see on the left a number of ways that you can refine, filter your search result. One of them is Resource Type. Click that and select Books. This will limit to both ebooks and print books.

QuickSearch may often deliver a rather overwhelming search result. Check out the other filters to gain more control over your search. Subject and Creation Date, for example, can be very useful.

From QuickSearch on the Libraries homepage, click Advanced Search on the right. Then, under Resource Type on the right, select Books.

As opposed to the default, the basic search, Advanced Search lets you search with more flexibility and precision by searching for words and/or phrases in specific "fields" (author, title, subject, etc.) in the records of the Libraries' books. For example, if you wanted to find books by Jefferson on international affairs, you could search:
- On the first line: Author ... is (exact) ... jefferson, thomas
- On the second line: Subject ... contains ... "foreign relations"

Books you find in QuickSearch can be delivered to the library of your choosing. Click the title in your search results to go to the full record, sign in (if you haven't already), then click Request Item.

If the Rutgers book you want to borrow is checked out, the record in QuickSearch will say Not Available. Click the title to go to the full record, then click the EZBorrow tab. EZ-Borrow is a fast and easy way to borrow the book from a nearby university library. It usually takes three to five working days.

If you search for a book in QuickSearch and RU Libraries doesn't own it, the easiest way to request an interlibrary loan is to search in WorldCat. See Other Library Catalogs below.

The catalogs listed below provide access to library resources beyond Rutgers University.

WorldCat
A worldwide catalog, many, many millions of records of books, journals, videos, etc. from libraries in over 170 countries. If you find a title that RU Libraries hold, there will be an RUL logo as part of the record. Click the title to go to the full record, then click Get@R. If we don't have it, and you want it, click Request Interlibrary Loan. 

Center for Research Libraries (CRL)
CRL is a special library that holds rare materials not often collected even by major research libraries. Rutgers Libraries is a member, and Rutgers staff, students and faculty are eligible for long-term loans from their collections.

HathiTrust Digital Library
Bigger and better than Google Books. More titles, better search options. As of January 1, 2022, titles published before 1927 are usually available in full text. Click Log In in the upper right so that you can take full advantage of Rutgers membership, including creating and sharing personal collections.