Environment & Sustainability

Reference Books

Reference Books are the best places to find concise summaries and background information on a topic. Reference books cannot be checked out of the library. Some of them are available as databases or ebooks. 

Circulating Books

Circulating books (books you can check out) may also provide summaries and background information, but usually go into greater depth about a topic.

Using Books for Research

Using books for research does not always mean that you need to read the entire book.

• Use the table of contents and the index to find where in a book information about your topic is located.

• The introduction to a book may be a good place to find background information on the topic the book is about.
• You should read enough of a book or chapter to understand what an author is saying and quote her correctly.
• Sometimes chapters in books are complete works written by different authors, making them ideal for research.

Every item owned by an STLCC library is listed in the College's Library Catalog.  Each listing is called a record.  A powerful way to search for books on a particular topic is to perform a keyword search, which looks for records containing the words you use in your search.

 Example keyword search: pesticides

• This search will find all records in the STLCC catalog which somewhere contain the word pesticides.  
• Records normally include a book's title and author, as well as descriptions of its subject matter.  In addition, a record may include a book's chapter headings or a summary of its contents. 
• Therefore this search will retrieve all records with pesticides in any of these areas.

 Narrowing your search with and.  Example keyword search: agriculture and sustainability

• This search will find all records in the STLCC catalog which somewhere contain both the word agriculture and the word sustainability.
• By using and between keywords, you've specified that all of your keywords must be present in the record for it to appear in your results.  
• One major reason to use and is that it lets you narrow broad searches (agriculture) to more specific topics (sustainability as it relates to agriculture).

Using truncation.  Example keyword search: agriculture and sustain*

• Using an asterisk at the end of a keyword is called truncation, and lets you search for word variations.
• This example search will find all records in the STLCC catalog which somewhere contain both the word agriculture and any words beginning with sustain such as sustain,  sustaining, or sustainability.
• Truncation saves you time by letting you search for multiple word variations via a single search.

Library of Congress (LC) subject headings are special, standardized words and phrases which describe the primary subject(s) on which a book focuses.  Searching by subject heading rather than by keyword often allows you to look for books on a particular topic more efficiently. 

Since LC subject headings are included in a book's catalog record, looking at the records you get from a keyword search can help you identify appropriate subject headings. Ask A Librarian for help with LC subject searching.

Below are just a few examples of environmental and sustainability subject headings you will find in the STLCC Catalog. 

Environmental Disasters

Global Warming

Pesticides--Environmental Aspects

Sustainable Agriculture

Click on a title to find out which STLCC Libraries own the item.