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Political Science: Books

Guide to resources in Political Science

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Books

Books are  best for conducting in-depth research, identifying experts, and understanding the scholarly conversation of your chosen topic. The University Libraries encourages you to ask for help when you cannot find a book. We can help you borrow materials from other libraries.

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OneSearch: Search for Books

What is OneSearch? A Brief Q&A

What is OneSearch?

OneSearch is our new library catalog. It is replacing Chinook Plus and is called a "Webscale Discovery Tool"

Ok, so what is a WebScale Discovery Layer?

It is a subscription service that we purchased from ProQuest. It provides a single search box and Google-like interface. Content is harvested from databases, repositories, the library catalog, and other subscriptions. In other words, it searches the full-text of a large number of articles, eBooks, newspapers, and other resources to match your search with the resources that the University owns or subscribes.

How is this different from Chinook?

A catalog like Chinook did a pretty good job of connecting users to books inside the library. It did not do a good job of connecting users to journal articles, newspaper articles, reports, and other odds and ends that the library spends a lot of money on.

What is your favorite thing about OneSearch?

Just like Google, I can copy and paste all the information about a journal article directly into the search box. OneSearch is really great for 'known-item' searches. It also does a better job of linking to the full-text of the document.

Check Out Books

BuffonecardYour BuffOne Card or photo ID will serve as your library card. 

Current CU students, staff and faculty: most items up to 6 months

View all information about loan periods  

Not finding your book

You may use our Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery services to request materials. Place your request using our ILLiad software.

Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery services are available to registered faculty, staff, and students and other authorized users at the Boulder Campus.

Borrowing Update

Due to our library catalog system migration in summer 2024, borrowing through Prospector and MOBIUS has been paused. We are working closely with our partners to resume these services. Until that time, you may be eligible to continue to request through Prospector if you are affiliated with other participating libraries, which include many Colorado public libraries.


 Is the book you want checked-out? Or is it a book that CU Libraries does not own?

Both ILL and Prospector/ Mobius are used to fill requests for physical materials that CU Boulder doesn’t have. While Prospector/ Mobius only locates materials within select libraries in Colorado, Wyoming, and Missouri, ILL locates and fills requests for materials held worldwide.

Prospector

Look for the Prospector button in OneSearch.

In a few business days, you may pick up the book from the circulation desk which you  designate. If what you want isn’t available in Prospector, you may be able to find it in Prospector’s partner catalog MOBIUS, a consoritum of Missouri libraries.

 Still have questions? More on Prospector and Mobius.