Search the online Library Catalog for books in Blackwell Library. You can search by Title, Author, Subject or Keyword, or you can do a browse search. The books you can check out say "Stacks" before the call number and are located on the second floor of the library. If you feel like browsing, here is a website that explains Library of Congress Classification, which is how books are organized in our library.

These are call number ranges you might want to browse:

HE6000-7500 Postal service. Stamps.
HE7601-8700.9 Telecommunication industry. Telegraph
HE8660-8688 Wireless telegraph. Radiotelegraphy
HE8689-8700.95 Radio and television broadcasting
HE8701-9680.7 Telephone industry
HE9713-9715 Cellular telephone services industry. Wireless telephone industry
HE9719-9721 Artificial satellite telecommunications
HF5717-5734.7 Business communication
HF5801-6182 Advertising
HM786-806 Organizational sociology
HM1106-1171 Interpersonal relations
HQ1-2044 – Marriage, Family, Sexuality
P87-96 Communication. Mass media
P94.7 Interpersonal communication
P95-95.6 Oral communication. Speech
P99.5-99.6 Nonverbal communication
PN1990-1992.92 Broadcasting
PN1991-1991.9 Radio broadcasts
PN1992-1992.92 Television broadcasts
PN1992.93-19 92.95 Nonbroadcast video recordings
PN1993-1999 Motion pictures
PN4699-5650 Journalism. The periodical press
Z551-656 Copyright
Z657-659 Freedom of the press. Censorship

Subject Searching

Why would you want to do a subject search? Well, let's say you were interested in finding all the books in the library about cats. You might find books about cats under "Cats," "Kittens," Felines," or a variety of other keywords. When you search by subject, then all of the synonyms are accounted for, so "Cats" as a subject would include all the books about "Kittens" and "Felines" as well. Subjects can also serve to narrow your search. A keyword search of "cats" would retrieve all the books that just have a few pages about cats, whereas a search of the subject "Cats" would retrieve books where the main focus were those cute, furry creatures! This website from MIT might do a better job of explaining it than I did!

Here are some subjects related to Theatre you might want to try in your searches. This list might also be helpful if you are stumped with a broad topic and need to focus it a bit. Copy the term or phrase into a search box in the Library Catalog and select "subject" in the left-hand box.

Come on, get creative! You can combine subjects or subjects and keywords. Remember, joining terms with "OR" will get you "MORE" results and joining terms with "AND" will narrow your results. Savvy researchers try lots of different combinations of terms and discover what yields the best results. Happy searching!

Books from Other USMAI Libraries

If you are a student, faculty, or staff member of Salisbury University, you have access to the library collections of all of the University of Maryland affiliated universities through our shared library catalog. To borrow a book from another campus, follow these steps:

Select "Choose Campus" from the menu at the top
Choose a campus or USMAI for all the campuses
Perform the search
When you find a book you want that is not at SU, click on the location link
Click the request button if the item is available
Log in with the information from your Gull Card and complete the request
The book will be available for you to pick up in Blackwell in 3-5 business days

Books from Interlibrary Loan/Worldcat

Interlibrary Loan is a great tool that allows you to borrow a book from libraries outside the USMAI system. Before you submit a request, make sure that we don't own the book here at SU or at one of the other USMAI institutions. If not, you can submit a request through ILL Express.

You can also search Worldcat, which is a huge catalog of materials from libraries all over the world. If the book you want is in a library, chances are pretty good you will find it in Worldcat!
If you find the book you want and you know it is not available at SU or any USMAI campus, then you can click the Find It button and then request the book through Interlibrary Loan. The advantage of doing it this way is that you don't have to fill in all the information about the book!

Click here to go to the Interlibrary Loan webpage

Subject Guide Home | Library Home

The librarian liaison to Communications is Krista Knapp,
kmknapp@salisbury.edu | 410-677-0118