The library's Primo database, accessible through our homepage, can be used to find out what print and online books are available to W&L researchers.  Here are some suggestions.

If You are Searching for Books on a Topic

If you are using the basic "Simple Search" (or "Search Everything"), a drop-down menu will be activated which allows you to select "Books Only."
If you are using "Advanced Search," you can select "Books Only."

You can combine words or forms of words that appear in descriptions of books.  Some examples:

• simple search for books on mass media in the Middle East:  "middle east" AND "mass media"
• more complex search (synonyms) for books on mass media in the Middle East, maybe focusing on Egypt:   ("middle east" OR egypt) AND ("mass media" OR internet OR "social media")

If You Know a Book's Author or Title

Select Browse Search ( you may have to choose "Advanced Search" to see this) and then use the drop-down menu to:

• Browse by Author -- enter author's last name, plus some or all of the first name.  For example:  books by Esposito John
• Browse by Title -- enter the beginning of a book's title.  For example:  titles beginning  Arab spring

You can discover books (and other materials) not available in W&L libraries by using the WorldCat database, which contains the holdings of hundreds of library catalogs -- books, DVD's, digital materials, etc.

W&L researchers have access to two forms of the WorldCat database:

• This free version
• A more sophisticated form.

W&L researchers can request most items found in WorldCat via Interlibrary Loan.

Doctoral dissertations are not published books, but can be considered book-length scholarly studies.
W&L subscribes to a database which offers the complete texts of over 1 million dissertations and theses.