This is a fantastic source for historical research with full-text online access to over 1,000,000 books, and citations to over 20,000,000 other sources. This is a project of the Internet Archives and is funded in part by a grant from the California State Library. Click on the following link to access a world of open source materials.
Below are just a few options to find books at the University Library. If you are using your home computer or laptop, access to databases which Washburn University purchases will require your Washburn email and password.
This collection of many hard-to-find primary sources consists of works about the Americas published not only in the United States but from across the globe. Based on Joseph Sabin's Bibliotheca Americana, it contains more than 29,000 titles with information about North, Central and South America, the Arctic and Antarctica and the West Indies. Coverage: 1500 - 1926.
Comprehensive catalog of books and other materials in libraries worldwide. Displays library holdings for libraries in the U.S. and worldwide. Includes a direct link for interlibrary loan via Tipasa. Coverage: Approximately 3400 BCE - present.
Secondary sources are documents based upon or derived from primary sources. There are many examples of secondary sources, including books which summarize previous research, or interpret or analyze primary sources. Books are an essential element in the research process.
An excellent place to begin to look for books is our online catalog. Most books have threads which lead to other sources. These threads are called bibliographies and notes (footnotes, chapter notes, or endnotes). Following these threads is so vital in the research process. Finding the books which an author has cited can be a difficult process, but it does not have to be. Here are some tips to find those book threads.
Hardly any library has every book which a researcher might want. After an online catalog search fails to find a book, there are other local, state, and national options which can be found with the other libraries link. You might not even care who owns a book, so in most cases doing an Interlibrary Loan from another library is the best option. Library staff will decide where to get the book through tools such as the bibliographic database WorldCat to determine which library owns what you need.
Remember, library staff are here to help you. Don't hesitate to ask us any questions.