You will find most of the print history books on the fourth floor of The Sir Michael Cobham Library. We also have thousands of history e-books, which you can access both on- and off-campus.
mySearch is an interface which allows you to search across a range of library resources simultaneously, including books, journal articles and databases.
To find a print book, make a note of the shelfmark (numbers and letters), e.g. 941.07 COL. Take these details to the library shelves and use the shelfmark to locate the book in the sequence. The shelfmark label is at the bottom of a book's spine. E-books can be accessed by clicking on the full-text link in the book record.
The Advanced search screen allows you to run a more targeted search. Help with searching is available from mySearch help
The main classification numbers that relate to History are:
| Topic | Shelf classification |
| Biography, Genealogy Insignia | 920-929 |
| British History | 941 |
| Broadcasting History | 384 |
| Cinema History | 791 |
| English and Welsh History | 942 |
| European History | 940 |
| Media History | 302.23 |
| Museums | 069 |
| Northern American History | 970 |
| Philosophy and Theory of History | 901 |
| Political Ideologies | 320.5 |
| Transport History | 385-388 |
Library e-books
Library e-books are ordinarily viewed through a web browser. This means they can be viewed on any device and don't have to be downloaded (See below). There are many advantages to using e-books including:
Full-text searching - Search within the text of all the e-books held in a particular collection for a subject or keyword. This is an efficient way to find relevant information on a particular topic.
Bookmark, Highlight and Annotate - All notes can be saved so that next time you sign into an e-book all of your notes will be there.
Please note that some e-books only let a few people access them at any one time. If you find that you cannot access an e-book because others are already using it, try again later.
Downloading
All e-books will allow you to download a fair usage amount (often around 5%) as an unrestricted pdf file.
In some cases you will be able to download the entire e-book for a limited period. Click on the images to get instructions for doing this.