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Finding Books & eBooks

General Purpose Guide

Finding eBooks

Database Searching: eBooks

A digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources with a humanities focus.

A database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.

Outside Milton
  • Boston Public Library e-card​
    • Access to all online resources at BPL, including Overdrive and Hoopla.
    • Register (takes about 1 minute and can be used immediately).
*If you are traveling outside of the U.S. you must register before you leave. Registrations outside of the country are not accepted.

*Requires a Massachusetts public library card

Searching with Keywords

Keywords: significant people, places, events, dates within your topic
  • Often, you will get a lot of results → to get more relevant results, don't just conduct one search. Try using these ideas:

Example search: Irish immigration in America

1. Use synonyms or similar meanings:     immigration or immigrants or migration
2. Try different spellings and/or punctuation:    Irish Americans or Irish-Americans
3. Combine in different ways:    Irish American immigration or American Irish immigrants or Ireland emigration America