searching the library catalogue phone

Searching The Courtauld Libraries

Finding Books, Articles, and Images at The Courtauld Libraries

Find books, e-books, magazines, full-text articles, exhibition catalogues, databases and more in LibrarySearch. Librarians will help you in your search strategies Book a Librarian.

 

Books are collected together according to their subject. A = Architecture. B = Sculpture and Installation Art. C = Drawing, Watercolours. D = Paintings. E = Prints, Engravings, Photography. H = History. K = Applied and Decorative Arts, History of Dress. Z = General Art.
Books are collected together in five rooms in the library and a corridor. They are collected according to a shelfmark that starts with a letter, and continues with numbers (alpha-numeric shelfmarks). These shelfmark letters represent a subject. A = Architecture B = Sculpture and Installation Art C = Drawing, Watercolours D = Paintings E = Prints, Engravings, Photography H = History K = Applied and Decorative Arts, History of Dress Z = General Art

Getting Started with LibrarySearch

With LibrarySearch you can search conveniently across all of our physical materials and the majority of our online materials – a vast collection in its entirety.

There are different ways that you can use LibrarySearch to find what you need, but the simplest is to start with some search terms, and then refine your results using the available filters.

LibrarySearch will offer you a filter in the search box to separate results by format. Chose between online copies, or physical books.
LibrarySearch will offer you a filter in the search box to separate results by format. Chose between online copies, or physical books.
keyword search for art and diaspora without filters
This screenshot of LibrarySearch is the result of using the search terms art and diaspora. Without filters, this keyword search yields over 13,000 results.

Keyword Search

Keyword terms generates results across every format type – books, ebooks, indexed articles, and indexed images.
Filter your results with the menu on the left-hand side of the page, or by using the drop-down option in the search box.

Refine your search results

There are various refinements you can try, but some of the most useful ones are for the ‘resource type’ – which allows you, for instance, to select only books, articles, etc.

If you find a book that you like the look of, you can click on the record to get a bit more information. If it’s a physical book it will provide the shelfmark (location) within the library. Under ‘details’, you can also click on any of the subject terms in turquoise; this will take you to other books that have been given the same subject terms. This is a very useful way to find other materials on the same topic.

Finding a book

And if you find an online article in your search results, you can click on it to get further details. The full record will show which service/publisher/database the article is coming from. Sometimes there may be more than one service for any article. You can just click on the link, provide your Courtauld IT credentials when prompted, and access the resource.

Finding and linking to an online article

Need more help?

For help with any of this, just ask one of our friendly staff at the information desk if you are onsite, or email library@courtauld.ac.uk if you are offsite. At any time you can also book a 1-2-1 appointment with one of our Librarians for tailored help on searching for materials for your topic. For more information on how we can help you, see our Skills and Support page.

Search our online catalogue

Start searching

Citations