To begin your studies in Criminology, you will need to find books on your subject in print and/or electronic form. You can search the catalogue directly, looking up books that are on your reading list. Or you may browse the catalogue for books on various subjects. Browsing the bookshelves can also be useful to find print books once you've discovered the shelf number (call number) that one book that interests you is at. Books about similar subjects are shelved near each other generally.
Browsing - many students browse the shelves for print books when first looking for information on a topic. Textbooks are arranged in order of 'call number' which is found on the spine of the book (e.g. 364 - Criminology or 150 - Psychology). These numbers have been allocated according to the subject matter of the book. This means that books on a similar topic will usually be found together on the shelves. But you won't find everything you want this way. Searching the catalogue will find the rest.
Searching - the quickest way to find out if the library holds the book you need is to search the TU Dublin Library Catalogue. This will tell you where the textbook is located, the shelf number (call number) and if it's available to borrow or when it is due to be returned. The catalogue will also show if a book is available in Print or eBook format.
The Catalogue lists all of the print books (and other material) that the library holds. It will give location details and list how many copies of books etc. are available.
To find a specific book, search for the Title or Author to find a list. Use the drop-down arrows in the catalogue as shown here.
To browse the catalogue, try a Keyword or Subject Search around your topic. Books containing information on a subject will be listed with other books containing similar information. But they may not be at the exact same call number. So be sure to note the entire number where you can find the material on the shelves. If you need any help using the catalogue or finding a particular book please ask a member of staff.
Below are instructions on how to search for books on the catalogue using keyword searches:
When you do a general search on the catalogue your results will include ebooks as well as print. Here is an example of a Criminology text that is in both formats:
The top item shows there are print books available at call # 364 NEW. The 2nd item shows a little green globe instead. Note also the icons on the far left. They represent books and e-books, hence the little red "e".
When you click on the titles in the list, you will be brought to the catalogue record for each book. If it is an e-book, you will find a link to the full-text of the book. If you click that link, you will "open" the e-book. If you are on campus, you will be brought directly to the fulltext ebook. If you click on the link while off campus, you will be asked for your Student email address and email password to view the ebook. Once you have accessed the ebook you can simply read directly from the screen, save pages or print some off.
*Note - If you are off campus you will need to login to access any online Library resources such as ejournals, databases, and ebooks. Visit the Guide to Off-Campus Access to Library Resources to find out more information on how to login and access online Library resources.
Please be aware of Copyright Law - you are only allowed to download/print a certain percentage of any book.
All of our ebooks have multi-user licenses which means that they can be accessed by up to 3 users simultaneously. Don't forget to logout when you are finished looking at an ebook as this will free it up for the next person.
To browse the e-books available, you can search the subject "E-book collection" to get a list.
You can also browse by going to the "E-Books" page on the Library website and clicking one of our supplier links. Most useful are the Proquest and EBSCO lists:
To search for e-books related to art and design use the advanced search (https://library.tudublin.ie/search/X) in the library catalogue. Enter the terms e book collection in one block as a subject field search. In the other fields add relevant search terms such as Law, Crim*, Delinquen*, Victim* and so on. The resulting list of books should be electronic books related to the keyword(s) used to search.
Below is a gallery of just a few of the ebooks relevant to Criminology. Click an image to link to the ebook record on the catalogue.