LibGuides: Library Search: About Library Search

The Library Search services will help you discover books, journals, articles, audio visual material and more on your chosen topic. This is a good place to start when you are beginning to research a topic as you can draw on content from a variety of different sources.

Library Search

Search across the print and online collections for books, chapters, articles, journals and lots more.

Penryn Library Search

Search the print and streaming media collections that you have access to at Penryn campus.

Library Search - Why use anything else?

Library Search enables you to find high quality resources from a wide range of sources in a single search.

It is great as a starting point.
It covers all topics
If you are looking for a specific book or journal title, you can quickly find out if you have access
If you are looking for a range of content on a particular topic you can find a large amount of full text material, drawn from across the databases available via the Library
In the vast majority of cases, the content you find will be immediately accessible in full text online

BUT - be aware that ...

It doesn’t cover every database, some specialist content needs to be searched separately.
It does not have all the advanced search options like the specialist databases. Some databases have in built thesauri and search histories for example, which can assist with complex search strategies
It does not provide personalisation/alert features. Some databases allow you to save and rerun searches or set up alert services for current awareness.

Complementary search tools

Think of the Library Search and A-Z Databases Lists as complementary services and choose whichever suits your research need at the time.