NYU Libraries' web site
For a complete listing and more detail about all library resources and services, see the Libraries' website.
For more guides like this on specific subjects, e.g., cinema studies, psychology, citation styles, etc., see NYU Libraries Research Guides.
Library News
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Welcome to NYU Libraries!
This guide is designed to familiarize new students with the resources and services at NYU's Elmer Holmes Bobst Library.
When you are new, the Library can feel overwhelming, but help is available -- in person at our Reference Center on the 1st floor, via email, chat or texting our "Ask a Librarian" service, or by making an individual appointment with a librarian. Don't be shy; we're here to help you succeed and no question is too basic to ask.
Bobst has close to 4 million books, 90,000 journal titles, millions of full text articles, thousands of e-Books, primary sources in our special collections and archives, thousands of CDs, DVDs, music scores, playscripts, government documents, statistical reports, and much more. For example, you can:
- Search over a thousand research databases where you can access full-text articles and images not available on the free Web
- Access huge numbers of resources that have not yet been digitized in our open stacks (books, bound journals, etc.)
- Consult librarians about your research questions in-person or online, on the spot at the reference desk, or by appointment.
- Use online tools to help store and organize your research results and create bibliographies automatically.
New Graduate Students: see Graduate Student Services.
New Faculty: see Library Services for Faculty.
Library research vs. Web searching: What's the difference?
| LIBRARY RESEARCH |
INTERNET SEARCHING |
|
| Search Tool: |
Online Catalogs (NYU's catalog is called BobCat) and Article Databases (like JSTOR, Lexis-Nexis, PsycINFO) |
Search and meta-search engines like Google, Bing, etc. |
| What You'll Find: |
Mostly books, periodical articles, and other published materials |
Mostly Web sites |
| What It Costs: |
Database subscriptions are costly, but NYU Libraries subscribes on behalf of the NYU community, so you don't have to pay for the articles you find. |
Information on Web sites is generally free (but if you do find books and periodical articles, you usually have to pay for them). |
| Quality Control: |
Books and journals are subject to various degrees of editorial review (pre-publication process of checking information for accuracy and credibility). |
The Web is unfiltered. It's hard to separate the accurate information from the inaccurate. |
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