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Jessie Ball duPont Library

Women's and Gender Studies Research Guide

A guide to basic information resources in Women's and Gender Studies.

Finding Books in the Library

Browsing books in the library can be a great way to find helpful information on your topic. If you find a book that fits your topic, note its call number and look at books around it. You can do that online using the Classic Catalog, but it's probably best to just come to the library!

In the Library of Congress Classification Scheme, the HQ section is labeled "Family, Marriage, Women, Sexuality." In the Sewanee library, HQ is on the main floor. Obviously, this doesn't cover all the topics you may talk about in women's and gender studies. Women's and gender studies books are in many different sections in the library. Search TigerSearch for your keywords and under "All Filters" limit "Location" to "Main Collection" to find out where your books might be! (Watch the video below to find out more about searching for books.)

How to read Library of Congress Call Numbers

Using TigerSearch

Screenshot of the top of a TigerSearch results page

TigerSearch searches our library’s holdings along with the contents of most of our databases. Some databases are not accessible to TigerSearch, so if you want to search those databases, you need to go to them directly. (See a list of databases not included in TigerSearch here.)

The filters give you lots of ways to target your results, by language, by geographic area, by type of material. Buttons also allow you to limit your search to peer reviewed articles or items that have full text available online.

Search on the library homepage

Books in the duPont Library

Need a book we don't have?

WorldCat Search Box

Search for an item in libraries near you:
WorldCat.org >>

Google Books Search

Google Book Search

When to Use What

Use TigerSearch to:

  • Use TigerSearch to identify and locate books, video, audio and other material in our library.
  • Figure out your search terms. For example, Folk Music and Appalachia. 
  • When you find your book, look around at the books around it. You may end up finding other great resources.

Use WorldCat to:

  • Identify materials held by other libraries around the world.
  • If Sewanee doesn't own it, then you can request it through interlibrary loan. See the box below. 

Use Google Books to:

  • Search the full-text of some books. 
  • Find other sources that will be useful to your search.