Research Tools & Searching Tips

Tools

Socrates : the primary tool to discover materials in Special Collections.

Finding Aids to Selected Collections : links to detailed guides to many of the collections.

Catalogs & Search Tools : a resource on the Stanford University Libraries main site.

And:

Non-Stanford Online Resources in the History of the Book

Non-Stanford Online Resources for Antiquarian and Rare Book Bibliography (coming soon!).

Socrates Searching Tips

Socrates can be searched in several modes:

Simple Search - use a keyword, author, or title, and limit to a library (such as Special Collections & University Archives) if desired.

Combined Search - use keyword, author, title, publishers, etc., along with library, publication date, format type (archives, books, maps, etc.), and language. This type of search allows upfront limiting such that a result will be more specfic.

Another good tip for searching in Socrates is to narrow a subject search by using specific subject categories which are standardized and found in records. For example, if a search is done with keyword "printing" and library "Special Collections" the result is 1587 records. Viewing some of these records will reveal search strings (such as "Printing History" or "Printing Specimens") that will help further limit the result.