HIST 1155: The History of the Family in Western Society (Toews)

The Library Catalogue is Langara's more 'traditional' search tool. You will find books, e-books, and journals through a Catalogue search.

You can search the Library Catalogue by title, author, keyword and more (make your selection using the drop-down list on the left; the default is keyword).

A call number is like an address for a house. It helps you locate an item in the library.

Call numbers use a combination of letters and numbers. Read the call number line by line, left to right and top to bottom. The final set of numbers is the year the book was published. 

Most of the books in Langara Library are located on the second floor (call numbers starting with letters A-F) and third floor (call numbers starting with letters G-Z). 

Call numbers are designed to bring books on similar topics together on the shelf. If you find one book on your topic, look around - you may find more!

Generally speaking, there are two types of books: popular books and scholarly (or, academic) books. Popular books are written for the general public. Scholarly books, on the other hand, are where academics publish their research findings. 

To determine if a book is popular or scholarly, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Who is the author? Look for a biographical note in the book, or Google the author's name. If they are an academic/employed by a university, the book is more likely to be scholarly in nature.
    
2. Who is the publisher? Look at the copyright page. If the book is published by a university press or academic publisher, it is likely scholarly in nature. You may need to Google the publisher to learn about their focus (look for an About page on the company website). 
    
3. What type of language does the book use? Scholarly books are written by researchers for researchers; for this reason, the language may be specialized. Popular books tend to use language that everyone, including non-specialists, can understand. 
    
4. Does the book have citations/references? Citations and a bibliography suggest that the information is well researched and reliable.