Books are an important resource in your research gathering. Books can provide in-depth coverage of a topic. However, because it takes a longer time to publish a book, sometimes more than a year, they are not a resource to consider for current research.
catalogUSMAI
catalogUSMAI, the library catalog for the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI), is the database you will use to locate materials including books (print and e-books), journals (print and online), newspapers (print and online), government publications (print and online), dissertations and theses, maps, videos, and sound recordings, which are located in the 16 libraries in the USMAI system.
You can search by keyword (words anywhere), author, title, or subject:
For more in-depth information on using catalogUSMAI, see Find Print Books, Media and More: Using the Library Catalog, which also includes an audio-visual presentation.
Location: Maryland
If you are a currently
registered UMUC student and located in Maryland, you can request that
circulating USMAI materials be sent to a USMAI library for you to pick up. You
can also have materials sent to UMUC education centers in Waldorf, Shady Grove,
and Dorsey Station, MD. For more information, see Using the
Library Catalog.
Location: Continental U.S., Outside of
Maryland
If you are a currently
registered UMUC student located in the continental U.S., but not in Maryland,
you can request that circulating USMAI materials be sent to your home address.
For more information, see Using the
Library Catalog.
Location: Outside of Continental U.S.
Book delivery is not
currently available to students located outside of the continental U.S. If you
need material from a book, however, you can use DocumentExpress to request that
part of its contents (a maximum of 20% due to copyright restrictions) be copied
and delivered to you electronically. Before you make your request, you can have
an electronic copy of the table of contents or index of the book sent to you to
confirm the pages that you need. For more information, please see Get it Delivered:
Outside the Continental United States.
E-books (electronic books) are books available online. The UMUC library provides e-books through several sources, including a library database called NetLibrary .