Engineering Librarian
Books and Handbooks
In engineering, original research is usually published in articles rather than books. However, books can still be important resources for engineers. The library has a large number of engineering books, some in print format but increasingly online.
Book Series and Article Collections
Some books are parts of series, with new volumes in a series published on a regular (or semi-regular) basis. Some book series are very similar to academic journals, and each volume is a collection of original research papers (some stand-alone books are also collections of papers). In other book series, each volume give an in-depth look at a particular subject.
Textbooks
Textbooks are written for use in classes, but can often be the best introduction to a topic. This is especially true of textbooks aimed at graduate level classes. A good textbook will give an overview of the current knowledge of a topic, and include references for deeper study.
Handbooks
Handbooks are a special kind of book aimed at working professionals. A handbook summarizes best practices in a field, providing tables of data, checklists of procedures, definitions, formulas, and other information a professional needs for their job.
Popular Books
These books are "popular" in the sense of not being academic or technical. They can include histories of engineering, memoirs and biographies of engineers, and other accounts of engineering as a profession.
Finding Books and Handbooks
If you are looking for a specific book, search for it by title and author in JumboSearch to see if the library has it, either in print or online. If the library doesn't have the book, you can still request it through interlibrary loan, or request that the library purchase it. See the section in this guide on Accessing Articles, Books, etc., from Citation for more details,
JumboSearch can also be used to find books on a topic. See the section on Finding Articles and Conference Proceedings on a Topic for tips on creating searches. The results in JumoSearch will include more than just books, such as articles, journals, and databases. Use the "Resource Type" refinement on the left of the results to limit to books.
You can also find links to books and handbooks in a field, as well as suggestions on other databases to check out, in the subject specific research guides linked below.