Welcome!
This guide provides information on using the library for research in African American Studies at the University of Alabama. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, visit the Gorgas Library Information Desk, or use Ask a Librarian to request assistance.
Getting Started
New to UA Libraries? This video tutorial gives an overview of the Libraries' main search tools: Scout, the A-Z databases list, e-journals, and the library catalog.
- ScoutThe main search tool for UA Libraries, Scout allows you to search the catalog, most of the libraries' databases, and the digital repository Acumen. Scout is a great place to start a broad search on a topic, but more targeted searching may be more successful in the catalog or subject-specific databases.
- A-Z Databases ListIf you want to access to a specific database, you'll find it here. You can filter the list alphabetically, or browse databases by subject area or type of materials.
- E-JournalsE-Journals allows you to search our journal and e-book collection by title, or browse by subject.
- Libraries CatalogSearch the traditional catalog to find print, ebook, music, sound recordings, video, video, and more in the Libraries' collections. The catalog is useful tool to help find specific items in the collection, rather than broad searching.
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowWorldCat is the world's largest network of library content and services. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to providing access to their resources on the Web, where most people start their search for information. You can search for popular books, music CDs and videos—all of the physical items you're used to getting from libraries. WorldCat can be used to verify citations, locate an item in another library, or to provide accurate citation information for inter-library loan requests. (Does not include citations to individual articles, stories in periodicals, or book chapters).
- Getting the Most Out of WorldCatSometimes you are doing research for a project and you need to see what has been published on the topic. Let’s say you are thinking about doing research on gender roles in Shakespeare’s comedies and you want to see if any scholarship has been published on the topic. You can use WorldCat to identify LC subject headings relevant to your project, as well as locate and identify rare books that might exist on the subject.
If you need materials that aren't available in the UA catalog, you can request them from another library via interlibrary loan. You can receive copies of physical books or scans of articles and book chapters. The video tutorial below provides instructions for setting up your account and requesting materials. A transcript is available at the link.
How can we help?
Prefer a different contact method?
Try one of these options instead: