Here you can read about good sources for searching literature in language, literature and history.
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
Books
In Blekinge Institute of Technology’s Library catalogue you can see what books are available at BTH’s libraries in Karlskrona, Ronneby and Karlshamn. Sometimes you might need other material than what our Library offers. Then the Library can purchase new books or order them from other libraries by interlibrary loan. To make further searches for books you can use LIBRIS.
In LIBRIS you can search among 5 million titles in Swedish libraries. Libris is a national Swedish library database where you will find books that are held at Swedish university- and university college libraries. Here you will mainly find references for books, but also some articles. It is a good place to search for Swedish research, because all Swedish dissertations are registered here. You will also find a lot of international material.
Also remember that your public library could have interesting titles. You will find the library catalogue from the municipality’s homepage.
E-books
Ebrary is a database that contains about 20.000 books in full text. It spans many different subject fields, and it contains interesting titles in language, linguistics and literature. You can read the books on the screen or print interesting parts.
Older fiction titles can be found in full text archives which are free to access on the Internet. The most well-known archive is Project Gutenberg and a Swedish counterpart is Project Runeberg.
Articles
Although you might find some journal articles in LIBRIS, ArtikelSök is the foremost source for finding Swedish articles. In this database about 550 Swedish journals and more than 30 newspapers are indexed. It covers the years from 1979 onwards. Here you will both find scientific articles from research journals and shorter articles from newspapers. Articles from some of the journals that the library subscribes to can be found here, for example ‘Ord och Bild’ and ‘Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap’. In ArtikelSök you can set some limits before you start searching, you can for instance choose to search only among reviews. Some of the newspaper articles found here have links to full text. If you find an article that is published in a journal that is not held at our Library you can ask for it at Karlskrona public library which subscribes to a large number of journals. If they do not have the article either, we can order a copy for you.
To find older texts about Swedish authors you can use ’Samlaren’. This is a journal in literary history published since 1880 which contains an annual bibliography of Swedish research in literary history. Library Gräsvik holds ‘Samlaren’ from 1880 onwards, but there are some gaps. Volumes from 1989 and older are stored, ask staff for help if you want to use them. Volumes from 1990 and onwards are placed on the open shelves in the library and you will find them together with other books on Swedish literary history on shelf Gc.
If you want to search journal articles in full text you should use the database ELIN @Blekinge. Here you will find articles in a variety of subjects, but there are also many articles in subjects that may be of interest for you. Most articles are in English and you must also use English search terms.
The reference database MLA
If you want to make a thorough search to find out what has been published internationally about your subject you should use a subject specific reference database. Read more about different types of databases in the section Database guide. If the subject you are searching for relates to other subjects it can also be worthwhile to search special databases for those subjects.
In MLA you will find referenses for books, dissertations, book chapters and journal articles, which make up more than half of the contents. These texts can not be accessed directly in MLA, but by clicking the reference’s SFX-button you can check if the book or article can be accessed in the BTH library or by interlibrary loan.
Dictionaries and encyclopaedias
In encyclopaedias like Nationalencyklopedin and Encyclopaedia Britannica you can find definitions of terms and good and rather extensive overview articles. For definitions and shorter explanations of terms dictionaries are useful. Both general and subject specific like Routledge dictionary of language and linguistics, The concise Oxford dictionary of linguistics, The concise Oxford dictionary of literary terms and The Oxford companion to American literature.
HISTORY
Books
If you search the Library catalogue you can see what books are held at BTH’s Library. Sometimes you might need other material than what our Library offers. Then the Library can purchase new books or order them from other libraries by interlibrary loan. To make further searches for books you can use LIBRIS.
LIBRIS
is a national Swedish library database where you will find books that are held at Swedish university- and university college libraries. Apart from books you can also find articles from Swedish journals and book chapters. If you want find out if any research has been conducted on a certain subject you can search LIBRIS, here all Swedish dissertations are registered.s are held at BTH’s Library. Sometimes you might need other material than what our Library offers. Then the Library can purchase new books or order them from other libraries by interlibrary loan. To make further searches for books you can use
Also remember that your public library could have much history literature. You will find the library catalogue from the municipality’s homepage.
Electronic books
can be searched in ebrary. Here you will find the complete contents of the books on the computer screen. Titles are in English and they mainly focus on American or international conditions.
Articles
You can search for articles in ArtikelSök, which is a database of Swedish newspaper- and journal articles from 1979 onwards. You will find references to articles from some of the journals that the library subscribes to here, e.g. Historisk tidskrift, Scandia and Scandinavian Journal of History. Some of the newspaper articles you find will have links to the full text of the article. If you find an article that is published in a journal that is not held at our Library you can ask for it at Karlskrona public library which subscribes to a large number of journals. If they do not have the article either, we can order a copy for you.
ELIN @Blekinge
If you are searching for articles about other than Swedish conditions the full text databases may be interesting. By using the search tool ELIN you search several full text databases simultaneously. In these databases you will find complete articles which you can read on your computer screen or print. The articles are in English, and you also use English search terms.
Local material
If you are writing an essay with a subject that has a local connection you may find the public library’s Blekinge collection useful. This collection partly corresponds to Databas Blekinge. Here you will find books, articles and other texts with a connection to the county.
There are usually equivalents to the Blekinge Collection in other countries.
Encyclopaedias
In Nationalencyklopedin (Ne.se) you can look up terms for an overview or a definition. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online is a British equivalent.
Jenny Löfkvist & Anette Pettersson
2005-06-22
