ALL ABOUT: Finding Your Materials

Database note: Some of the links on this page direct to Harvard's database explorer. Find access via another institution using the tips in A note about our database links.

Use these tips to find known items Links to an external site.. They will help you get from a citation or reference to the source itself.

Start with these 8 strategies

Iris Jastram’s blog post Tracking down known (or known-ish) documents — some strategies Links to an external site. is an excellent primer - consult the full post for details and links. In summary, the strategies are:.

  • What kind of thing is it?

    Find out as soon as you can what kind of document (or other material) you're looking for.

  • Citations lie

    Assume that key parts of the information you have about the document are wrong. Explore the below section, confirm or correct a troublesome citation, for more tips.

  • Search multiple ways

    Use creative, “fuzzy” searching and browsing, and unique identifiers when you can. 

  • Cultivate multiple "go to" tools

    No single search tool works every time, and each tool has its strengths and weaknesses. 

  • Start with the obvious

    Start out with the hope that you’ll find the thing in the most obvious place, but don’t get discouraged if it’s not there. (Or in the second place, or the third… this is an iterative process.)

  • Get help

    Tracking down a document is a team sport — ask your teammates and your librarian for help and ideas.

  • Be flexible

    If you can’t find the thing, or can’t find it in your language, consider alternatives that can serve a similar purpose.

  • Be even more flexible

    Remember to think about whether the item is actually the best one for your needs. It doesn’t always make sense to keep searching.

Additional tips from Emily Bell

Confirm or correct a troublesome citation

via WorldCat

WorldCat is a catalog of library catalogs. It allows you to see which other libraries hold an item as well as how they describe it. 

When you search WorldCat, you will see multiple versions of the item in your results, each with slightly different information. Explore the variations to get extra details and learn more about the thing you’re looking for.

via an author bibliography

An author bibliography is a list of all of the works published by that person. If you can’t find a bibliography for your author, search instead for a topical bibliography that gathers works from the same region, time period, profession, subject, or genre. E.g. 17th century French women poets.

  • In most library catalogs, you can do an advanced search for subject: [name] AND subject: bibliography.
  • Consult a definitive index like Web of Science.
  • Check the author’s Wikipedia page for a link or citation to a bibliography

via full-text databases

Full-text databases can be the fastest way to see how other scholars have cited the same item. Because full-text includes bibliographies and works-cited sections as well as the prose text, you will find other authors’ comments about the thing you’re looking for as well as a variety of citations of it. This is a great way to fill in missing details and alert you to possible inaccuracies. 

Large full-text digital libraries (always try at least two):.

  • DASH (for Harvard authors) is an open access repository of Harvard affiliates' published works (2012-).
  • Many library subscription databases search full text, like JSTOR

Look for unique identifiers you can use as search terms

Unique identifiers, such as ISBNs, ISSNs, and DOIs, can help you easily locate materials. Find the definitions of these identifiers in ALL ABOUT: Library Database Terms.

One way to find these numbers is to search Google for [Book title] ISBN Links to an external site. or [Journal Title] ISSN Links to an external site.. Publisher websites are a good source for accurate numbers. Wikipedia can be a good source for identifying when there are multiple numbers.

Other unique details can help limit the search or corroborate findings, such as:

  • author names
  • unusual title words
  • indications of editions or formats

It doesn't always make sense to keep searching

Some things simply aren’t available. In some cases you may need to track down an author and request a personal copy from them. Sometimes required travel and personal expenses are beyond your means. In the end, you may have to weigh an item’s value to your research against things as mundane as time and cost.

Remember, though: librarians are here to help. Ask for additional search ideas, or for advice on finding a different source that could serve the same purpose for your research. 

Start with the librarians at your institution.

Harvard affiliates: you can reach your librarians at http://ask.library.harvard.edu.