Use books, including textbooks and ebooks, to learn about unfamiliar concepts before diving into primary research articles. Want a briefer explanation of a word or concept? Try a dictionary or encyclopedia.
Omni, available via the library home page, is the new search tool shared by 18 Ontario university libraries. With a single search you can find a variety of resources held at York University Libraries and the other Omni partner libraries.
To find books or e-books follow these steps:
Step 1: Apply the Relevant Search Scope
Omni can be used to search for books or e-books in three different domains, equivalent to search scopes:
In general we advise that you choose the first option. If you cannot find what you need this way, choosing the second option will find more books and e-books, which may be available using inter-library loan options linked from system records.
Step 2: Conduct your search
Results are automatically sorted by relevance including:
If you sort by the newest date, you lose the relevance ranking.
Step 3: Avail of the Search Filters and limit to Books & E-Books under Resource Type
These search filters appear once results load along the left-side of the screen
Use our Omni Guide to learn more about effective search strategies in Omni. Key terms to know are Search Scope, Facet, Boolean, Truncation, Wildcards, and Limits.
Need a book that's not in our catalogue? Use RACER (our interlibrary loan system) to borrow the book from another university library.
Not all eBooks appear in the catalogue. Search the following eBook packages to find additional eBooks.