UVM Libraries Research Guides: English & American Literature: Books

Locate Books in Howe Library

These call number ranges hold a variety of books on American and English literature, and the study of literature. For a more detailed breakdown of the Library of Congress (LC) "P" classification, go to the LC Classification Outline for Language and Literature.

PN 1-6790 : Literature-general (including Drama); Criticism	PR : British literature	PS : American [U.S. & Canada] literature
Z 2010-2014 : English literature - bibliography	Z 1225 : American literature - bibliography

Books that may be checked out of the Library are on the 3rd floor (Call #s PA-PS and Z 1225-2014). Reference Books (main/1st floor): ROWS 9-11 (PA-PS) : Languages and Literatures / ROW 13-14 ( Z 1225-2014) : Literature (English and American) bibliography
Browse the Stacks: Find a useful book in the stacks? Browse in that area to discover other books that might be useful.

Find Books by Subject and Keywords

CATQuest This link opens in a new window
This resource provides access to a wide variety of research materials from the UVM Libraries. Use it to locate books, articles, government publications, films, music, images, archival materials, and more.

*Subject Headings Standardized words or phrases assigned to a subject (e.g., etiquette not manners). Library subject headings are similar to tags. We attach these special terms to library catalog records in order to describe the intellectual content of an item more precisely. Subject terms are categories of information; click on one and you'll retrieve a list of similarly tagged items. Allows books on a similar subject to be grouped together in the book stacks.

Use Library of Congress Subject Headings* in CatQuest to locate books on your topic.

Some examples of Library of Congress subject headings on literary topics:

individual author [e.g. walker alice]	american literature history and criticism
english literature history and criticism	american literature indian authors history and criticism
english literature women authors history and criticism	american literature women authors history and criticism
feminism and literature	feminist criticism
poets english	poets american
english poetry 20th century history and criticism	american poetry 20th century history and criticism
short stories english history and criticism	short stories american history and criticism
novelists english	novelists american
english fiction history and criticism	american fiction history and criticism
english prose literature	american prose literature
postcolonialism in literature	caribbean literature
modernism literature	postmodernism literature
creative writing	english language rhetoric
literature and society england [also, great britain] history	literature and society united states history
politics and literature [look for subheadings...great britain, united states, england, etc.]	travelers' writings also travel writing

NOTE: Subject headings relating to poetry are found on the Poetry page. Subject headings relating to science fiction and gothic (including dystopian and utopian) literature are found on the Sci Fi, Fantasy, Horror, and Gothic page in this guide.

Books Beyond Howe Library

Enrich your research by searching for books beyond the UVM Libraries.

Hathi Trust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
This resource provides access to millions of digitized titles that are in the public domain. Use it to locate historic or primary source materials from around the world. Use is open to everyone but UVM affiliates can log in to download texts for offline use.
WorldCat This link opens in a new window
This resource is a searchable database of library collections across the United States, Canada and many other countries. Well over a billion records describe books, multimedia, serials, maps, and other information resources. Materials identified through WorldCat can be ordered through UVM's Interlibrary Loan Service.

In addition to the databases above, consider:
Book Reviews: Article databases frequently index book reviews. If you find a review (or citation for a review) for a book that looks useful or interesting, check the library catalog to see if the library owns it. If the library doesn't own the book, borrow it through Interlibrary Loan.
Bibliographies: Scholarly journal articles, scholarly encyclopedia essays, and academic-oriented books will provide bibliographies or lists for further reading. If you find a book that looks useful or interesting, check the library catalog to see if the library owns it. If the library doesn't own the book, borrow it through Interlibrary Loan. These are indeed the "low hanging fruit" during the research process!