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Research Guides

FCS 119: Introduction to Fashion and the Apparel Industry : Books

About Books

Why for finding broad, more comprehensive information on your topic
Where books can be found by searching our catalog and our e-books page. They can be print and electronic. Print books are located on the fourth (A-G), third (H-S), and second (S-Z) floors in the library; online books are accessed through our library catalog.
How begin with a broad search in the library catalog. Use key terms, boolean operators, and limiters to narrow your search

Apparel, Textiles, and Design: Subject Structure

Books are located on the  2nd (T-Z), 3rd (H-S), and 4th (A-G) floors organized by the Library of Congress Classification system. Search for books using the library catalog.

Subject areas to browse

Subject Call #
Costume. Dress. Fashion GT500-2370
Entrepreneurship HB615-715
Textile Industries. Textile Fibers HD9850-9939
Clothing/Apparel HD9940-9969
Promotions, Merchandising, Marketing HF5410-5417.5
Retail Trade HF5429
Textile Arts NK8800-8999
Clothing manufacture. Dressmaking. Tailoring. TT410-695

 

Search the Library Catalog

Tips for Searching the Library Catalog:

  • Choose the search scope by selecting either UI + Summit + Articles (all materials); UI + Summit (items owned by UI and member libraries); or UI Library Only (items owned only by the UI Library).   
  • Limiting your search: Start with a basic search and once you find a book that seems to be about your topic, you can use the format and/or other options located on the left to further narrow your search.
  • On the Advanced Search page, the year, language, and location (to name a few options) of items can be limited.
  • Subject headings can be a great way to narrow in on your topic.

Search Tips: Books

Keyword Searching:  To successfully search for information on your topic, it is best to determine the main concepts and then find keywords for those concepts. The keywords can become your search words.  In general, you should search library databases with 2-3 keywords, rather than your whole topic question or a sentence. To get the most relevant results try boolean searching.  

Constructing Searches:  Make sure to experiment with different keywords and use boolean searching to narrow and expand your results.

Example Search Phrases:

  • "fashion design" and (apparel or clothing)
  • textile and design
  • (clothing or dress) and wom?n
  • pattern or tailor*

Searches can also be narrowed by adding a time period, location, and/or additional keywords.  

Limiting Search Results:  Once the initial search returns a list of resources, use the search limiters on the left margin to narrow your search results by: location, subject heading (thesaurus term), or type of publication (try "Book").