Research Guides: ART 351: History of Graphic Design: Book Sources

Finding books on the shelf

If you want to browse for books on the 4th floor of the library, check out this list of where you can find the subject of your choice.

When you find a book in the catalog that you want to get your hands on, note:

the location of the book-- which floor is it on?
the call number
whether or not it's available

Once you have that information in hand, find the book on the shelf.

If you haven't found a book in an academic library before, take a look at this guide to the Library of Congress Classification System (what we use to organize our books) before venturing upstairs. Be patient with yourself-- it's a little bit tricky to use this system at first if you're not used to it.

Still not finding the book? Ask one of the reference librarians.

Good luck!

List of books on the history of graphic design and typography.
These are some of the books available through the library. Some are online, some are in print and on the 4th floor and some are in the Reference area on 3rd floor.
If you'd like to "browse the shelf" virtually, click on a book (not one that's online) and you'll see a row of books at the bottom of the page. This is exactly like browsing the shelves.

HathiTrust
HathiTrust is a digital archive of millions of items in the public domain, going back to the 1500s. It includes records of government, military, art, literature and everyday life. A very interesting place to explore.
You might, for example, look to see whether William Morris authored any materials. It turns out that he gave several lectures that are reproduced in print: Art and Socialism, Art and the Beauty of the Earth, and Hopes and Fears for Art. The first lecture in Hopes and Fears is The Lesser Arts, which refers to what has been called the "decorative arts." These lectures are an important window into the heart of his work as an artist.

Not finding books?

Expand your search to include all of the libraries in SMSU's system.

Under the book search box, you'll see that you can change the libraries you search from "Southwest Minnesota State University" to "All MnPALS Libraries." Change it and run your search again.

When you find a book that you want, you don't even have to run up to 4th to find it-- just click on the "Request Item" link and follow the prompts. You can log in with your StarID and password. Once your request is submitted, you can expect to get an email notifying you that you can pick it up within the next 3-7 business days.

For more information, check out the ILL website.

Still not finding books?

Next, try searching MnLink. This catalog searches every library in Minnesota, including the University of Minnesota. Try this search after you try "Search all MNPals libraries" in OneSearch, and before you search WorldCat.