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.
Books can be useful at the early stages of your research. They often provide broad overviews of a subject, and can help you to understand how a topic has beeen examined by scholars.
You won't necessarily need to read every book from cover to cover.
Browsing the titles, table of contents, introductions and conclusions of books on your topic can help you to think about how you might narrow down your topic, and formulate a research question.
Good book reviews do more than evaluate the content of a particular title. They also situate books in the wider field by providing an overview of how the author builds on previous scholarship. If you are feeling overwhelmed, a good book review can help you find your bearings as it maps out the scholarly conversation in a particular field.