To find books & ebooks related to HCOM, you will use the Library's OneSearch catalog. At the library's homepage, OneSearch is in the middle of the screen. Choose the "Advanced Search" to the right; then choose "Books & Media (CSUF)" at the top.
There are many ways you can search for books. If you already know a particular title or author, you can use the pull-down menu, at the left, to limit to title or author. But if you just want to explore what's available, use these 2 ways to search:
Keywords: just type any word or words you want and it will display books (and their floor/shelf location) that match those words in the title or description. For example:
- effective speaking
- corporate communication
- body language
Subject: after you do a keyword search and see books listed, find a book that is a close match to what you want. At that book's display screen, you'll see some subject terms (or tags). Once you know those terms, you can re-do your search as a SUBJECT search. Then all the other books, also on that same subject, will be displayed. Here are some examples of subject terms:
- Public Speaking
- Interpersonal Communication
- Intercultural Communication
Video demos: For video demos/tutorials how to use OneSearch, click here:
RETRIEVING PRINT BOOKS
When you find a book on OneSearch, it will tell you the location. Books are located on either the 3rd floor north side, or the 4th-5th floors south side. These floors are self-service--you find and retrieve books yourself; there is no library staff on those floors. Books are arranged on the shelves by book numbers. These book numbers are a two-letter+number code or "call number". The two-letters stand for subjects. For example the P 87-99 shelves are books on Human Communication. The PN 4111-4121 shelves are books on Public Speaking. The PN 4181 shelves are books on Debate. The BF 637 shelves are books on Interpersonal Communication. For a video demo/tutorial on call numbers, click here:
RETRIEVING E-BOOKS
The library's OneSearch catalog retrieves both print books and e-books. When you see an e-book in your search, simply click it, and it will take you to a log-in page. Your log-in is your same CSUF log-in (username & password). You can access e-books 24 hours a day. Some e-books allow you to download the entire book for offline reading later; other e-books do not allow this, and you can only read them while connected online (the difference is because different publishers have different rules).