Ready to start your search? See guidance on how to search effectively, connect to online and physical resources, or request materials we don’t currently own.
Meet BU Libraries Search, Our Discovery Tool
BU Libraries Search is our main discovery tool, making it a great place to start your research. BU Libraries Search connects you with thousands of books, eBooks, scholarly journals, databases, newspapers, music, audio recordings, and more. It also shows what’s available at all Library locations across campus.
Materials included with some articles like student worksheets, practicum kits, or teaching modules are not usually available. For help getting access to these materials, please work with your subject librarian.
Looking for something not listed here? BU Libraries Search has a lot of content, but it is not everything. You should always explore when to move beyond the library collections for your research. For guidance with the research process, see our Getting Started with Research here.
Collections
Due to licensing and copyright reasons, the following databases are not available in BU Libraries Search. To search these resources directly, please access them through our Databases A-Z list:
ATLA Religion Database
HeinOnline
MLA International Bibliography
Find a specific item (Known Item Searching)
Typing in the title or main keywords are the fastest way to search the BU Libraries collection. Using a combination of title and author is usually enough to find what you’re looking for. If not, try the following search tips to narrow or broaden your search.
For articles, you can copy the entire citation from the text or a reading list and BU Libraries Search will try and match it to our collections. If not, the results will still contain relevant works that can help narrow or broaden your research scope.
Known Item searching is useful when your keywords are too broad, or when you know the exact title or name of an author.
Title Search Index
For Title searches, if the resource has both a title and a subtitle, the resource is only retrieved when both the complete title and the complete subtitle are in the search string (separated by a colon).
Author Search Index
For Author searches, this search type is limited to exact matches of the author's name and does not allow you to include additional information (such as Dates). If you want to include additional information, use the contains exact phrase search type.
Identifier Searching
Use of the drop down and information on which identifiers are available for search in BULS. Indexed identifiers include: Current and cancelled ISBN, ISSN, and ISMN, OCLC Number, and Publisher Number.
Quotation Marks
To search for an exact phrase, type quotation marks around the phrase. You can combine both words and phrases in your search. You can also include the wildcards ? and * in an exact phrase. For example, to search for global warming as one term, type the following in the search box enclosed with quotes: "global warming"
Search Using WildCard Characters
You can include the following wildcard characters in your searches:
? – enter a question mark to perform a single character wildcard search. For example, type wom?n to search for records that contain the strings woman, women, and so forth.
* – enter an asterisk to perform a multiple character wildcard search. For example, type cultur* to search for records that contain strings, such as culture, cultural, and culturally.
Find materials on a subject or topic
Subject/Topic Searches are useful when you are starting your research, or when you are trying to narrow a very broad research topic. Performing these searches will return many results that you can refine using the facets and filters.
For example, a Subject Search on “urban garden culture” will provide more topics under the Subject filter on the right, such as agriculture, entomology, or life sciences. You can select whichever filters apply to your topic for further searching. If you are not sure where to start your research, the Libraries have guides, such as Getting Started with Research, to help with the process – from choosing a topic, finding keywords, to planning your research schedule.
Find a specific word or phrase
Exact/Phrase Searching allows you to search for words or phrases exactly as typed, with no variation or flexibility. If you have a specific term (like “trauma informed care”) or a specific title (like “The Jungle”), you can wrap the terms in quotation marks. This means you will only see results with your exact phrase as you typed it out.
Use phrase searching when the exact order of words is important, such as with proper nouns, technical terms, or names. This helps you pinpoint specific items and avoid overwhelming results.
Example: Searching for “climate change policy” ensures the results include this exact phrase, rather than separate results for “climate,” “change,” or “policy.”
Expand your search results
You can combine words in different ways to get better results by using AND, OR, and NOT.
AND helps narrow your search by making sure all the words you enter appear in the results. For example, searching for climate AND policy will only show books or articles that include both words. This does not mean they have to appear exactly as you typed them, just that both words are in the record returned.
OR expands your search by finding results that include either word. If you search for dogs OR puppies, you will get items that mention either term, giving you more results.
NOT helps remove unwanted topics. For instance, searching for Alzheimer’s NOT Dementia will show results about Alzheimer’s, but excludes results about Dementia.
Wildcards and truncation help when you’re unsure of spelling or want to find different word endings.
A wildcard, like a question mark (?) or an asterisk (*), replaces a one or more unknown letters. For example, wom?n finds both woman, women, and womyn. Wildcards appear on the interior of a search term to create more flexibility in the results.
Truncation uses a symbol (often *) to search for all words with the same root. For example, educat* finds education, educator, and educational, and more. Truncation appears on the end of a search term to allow results to include different stems from the same phrase.
Access & Authentication
Please note that some online resources are restricted to BU affiliates only. Current students, staff, and faculty can access these resources by entering their BU Login when prompted.
Add BU Libraries to your Google Scholar account
If you are using Google Scholar for your research, be sure to connect your researcher account with the BU Libraries. This way you can access subscribed articles and other resources without having to search through the Library.
First, be sure to access our university specific instance of Google Scholar:
Add “Find Online @ Boston University – Find it @ BU”
Select “Save”
You will now automatically see the “Find@BU” button in Google Scholar results when the libraries have full text access to a resource.
Add a Proxy Bookmarklet
BU Libraries provides access to over 500 subscriptions databases which current BU affiliates can access for free on campus on Eduroam, and when correctly signed in from off campus. The proxy bookmarklet can help speed up your research when you’re away from BU:
How It Works
Install the proxy bookmarklet in your browser’s bookmark toolbar. (See details below)
When you find articles that don’t recognize you’re with BU (i.e., you’re prompted to pay for it), click the proxy bookmarklet in your bookmark toolbar.
The page will refresh, and prompt you to login with your BU login information.
If the Library has access to this item, the page will reload showing new links for viewing or downloading your article. If not, you may get an error.
Right-click on this link: Proxy Bookmarklet for Internet Explorer, then select the “Add to Favorites…” option. Please note: It is not possible to install the libproxy bookmarklet in Edge.
In iPad or iPhones
Bookmark this page or any page, then tap the Bookmarks button to edit the new bookmark, paste the text you just copied, then tap “Bookmarks” and then “Done.”
If you are an alum or interested in visiting BU Libraries, please review our Visiting the Libraries page before making travel arrangements.
Wireless Networks
All BU Libraries offer wireless network access. Learn how to connect to wireless networks via Information Services & Technology.
Library Catalogs A-Z
This list provides a comprehensive list of search tools that are locally managed and controlled by BU Libraries staff. In addition, BU Libraries provides subscribed access to over 500 subscription databases from top vendors across a variety of disciplines.
BU ArchivesSpace provides descriptive Finding Aids for unique collections housed across Boston University Libraries. Access historical documents, primary sources, or work with our archivists to expand your research.
BU Libraries Search is our main discovery tool, making it a great place to start your research. BU Libraries Search connects you with thousands of books, eBooks, scholarly journals, databases, newspapers, music, audio recordings, and more. It also shows what’s available at all Library locations across campus.
BeyondBU is a search option available in BU Libraries Search when you broaden your search to include other library holdings. Use this search instance for going beyond what is owned physically or bought online by the libraries, or finding journals and articles the library does not subscribe to.
Journals & Newspapers is a search option available in BU Libraries Search that only searches journal and newspaper titles. Use this search scope to find journals and newspaper collections, both online and in print. To search for individual newspaper articles, we recommend using the Newspaper Articles search scope.
BU Digital Library provides access to locally digitized historical and cultural heritage items from archives and special collections across Boston University.
Faculty and instructors can place books, articles, and other materials on reserve for their students using the Place Items on Reserves Form. Students enrolled in a course may access these lists by signing in.
BU Libraries provides access more than 500 databases on a wide variety of topics. These include databases of scholarly articles, newspapers, data, images, and more. Browse by subject and database type or search database titles and descriptions.
OpenBU is Boston University’s digital institutional repository for scholarly articles, theses and dissertations, preprints, and grey literature. This repository enables BU researchers to share, disseminate, and preserve their scholarship, and makes their research more accessible.
Research Guides are librarian-curated resources to get you started with your research. Guides offer recommended resources as well as tips and tricks to enhance your research skills.
WorldCat is the world’s largest catalog of library materials. BU WorldCat Discovery is a local version that makes it easier to search BU Libraries collections. Use BU WorldCat Discovery to find materials held at other Libraries, or within our collections.
