LibGuides: Art Guide: Finding Books and eBooks

Finding Books and eBooks Using the Library Catalog

The following is an overview of using the library catalog. For a fuller description, with images of the searching process, click through the tabs above.

To find books or e-books using our online catalog, go to the library homepage, and use the link for "Library Catalog."
Perform a search for your desired book. You may get a large number of results. Use the filters on the righthand side of the screen to narrow down those results. You can choose to look for a specific material type using the Resource Type filter.
To find a physical book in our collection, choose the "Held by Library" option under the Availability filter.
There are several places books can be in our library. "Reserve" materials can be found behind the front desk. Books in the "Circulating Collection" are located in the stacks around the library. Please ask a librarian for assistance locating materials.
"Online Access" materials are available through links directly in the catalog. To look for e-books specifically, choose "Books" under Resource Type and "Full Text Online" under Availability. Click the link in the record under View Online to access the e-book.

To find books or electronic books using our online catalog, go to the main library homepage, and use the link for our "Library Catalog."

You will be taken to our Online catalog. You can begin your search by typing a keyword into the "search anything" box, or use the advanced search option at the right.

Start your research journey by putting a word or term into the search bar. The results will provide a variety of resource types, including physical books on our shelves, ebooks, database articles, web resources, and many, many more. Our search for "video games" reflects this--coming back with over 145,000 results. To narrow down these results to just books in our physical and digital holdings, use the filters on the right.

Looking through over 145,000 results is an impossible task, but luckily the catalog has the ability to filter your results into a more manageable amount. For example, maybe you are looking for a book you can checkout from Houff Library. To filter the results to show just physical books that we have here, check the box next to "Held by Library" under the Availability filter, and "Books" under Resource Type. This will limit the results to those on our shelves at Houff.

As seen below, this narrows our results to just a few resources. You can click on the title to find out more information about a book, or grab it from our shelves by using the call number (seen in purple). Your active filters are remembered by the catalog, so if you want to change any of these either press reset, or X out of filters individually. If you have any questions about finding a book in Houff, please ask one of the librarians at the information desk.

Call numbers are the address or location for books in the library. Within the library, books can be found in the following areas:

Reserve - books behind the information desk that are usually for in-house library use only.
Circulating Collection - located in "the stacks," and can be borrowed for four weeks.
Online Access - books available online to read on the internet. You can access these books anywhere. If you are off-campus, you will need your myBRCC credentials to access e-resources. For more information, check out our off-campus access guide.

Please ask the library staff if you need help locating a book! To learn more about our circulation policies and how to navigate the library stacks, please see this guide on Houff Library Resources.

catalog item example

To access e-books, use the filters at the right and check the box next to "Full Text Online" under the Availability filter, and "Books" under Resource Type. This will limit the results to materials in our digital holdings.

Once you have decided on an ebook to read, you can access the text by clicking into the catalog record and accessing the database link in the "View Online" section of the record. This link will open in a new tab and will usually provide options to either read the book online, or download to your device.

Books Available at the Library

The Legacy of Maria Poveka Martinez by Richard L. Spivey ; photography by Herb Lotz
Call Number: E99.S213 M3785 2003
Publication Date: 2003
Maria, the potter of San Ildefonso (1887-1981), is not only the most famous of Pueblo Indian potters but ranks among the best of international potters. Her work Is collected and exhibited around the world, and more than any other artist, Maria Martinez brought "signatures" to Indian art. She and other members of her family revived a dying art form and kindled a renaissance in pottery for all the Pueblos. She raised this regional art to one of international acclaim. This lavishly illustrated book draws from Spivey's 1979 classic work. Featuring entirely new photography and 120 added pots as well as a significantly expanded text, this volume considers the entirety of this artist's immense oeuvre and important works and developments in her collaboration with Julian, and after his death, with her daughter-in-law Santana, son Popovi Da, and grandson Tony Da, bringing the legacy of Maria into the bright future of Pueblo ceramics.
Postmodern Ceramics by Mark Del Vecchio
Call Number: NK3930 .D45 2001
Publication Date: 2001
Postmodern Ceramics provides an international overview of the richness and diversity of ceramic art since c. 1980. Mark Del Vecchio surveys the achievement of over 130 masters of contemporary ceramics from more than twenty-five countries, among them Ralph Bacerra, Adrian Saxe, Betty Woodman, Akio Takamori, and Andrew Lord, analyzing their various approaches by presenting the work in twelve themes: the postmodern look; post-minimalism; pattern and decoration; the multiple vessel; organic abstraction; the real/super-real; history, culture, and time; the image and the vessel; the vessel as image; figural sculpture; abstract sculpture; and post-industrialism
The New Age of Ceramics by Hannah Stouffer (Editor)
Call Number: NK3940 .N49 2016
Publication Date: 2016
While most surveys of contemporary art focus largely on two-dimensional work, there is a growing movement of emerging as well as established artists that are producing work in the ceramic medium. The New Age of Ceramics documents that movement; accross 180 illustrations it showcases a story of the art world redefining what was previously considered 'craft' rather than art.
Ceramic Figures by Michael Flynn
Call Number: NK4660 .F58 2002
Publication Date: 2002
Michael Flynn looks back at the last twenty-five years and selects over one hundred of the most important artists working with ceramic figures. He also includes ceramicists from earlier in the century whose work has had an influence on the subject. The work ranges from porcelain to raku and from the small to the monumental.
Materiality : the Miller Ceramic Art Collection by Wayne Higby (Editor)
Call Number: NK4008 .M38 2019
Publication Date: 2019
The Miller Ceramic Art Collection features masterpieces highlighting the artistic ideals of numerous luminaries of mid-twentieth century to early twenty-first century American ceramic art. In addition, the collection includes important examples of European and Japanese ceramic artworks of the same period. This publication is a comprehensive presentation of one of the world's most distinguished private collections of contemporary studio ceramics, and an observation on the correlation between ceramics and architecture.
Sex Pots: eroticism in ceramics by Paul Mathieu
Call Number: NK4252.E76 M37 2003
Publication Date: 2003
Over the past twenty years debates about pornography have raged within feminism and beyond. Throughout the 1970s feminists increasingly addressed the problem of men's sexual violence against women, and many women reduced the politics of men's power to questions about sexuality. By the 1980s these questions had become more and more focused on the issue of pornography--now a metaphor for the menace of male power. Collapsing feminist politics into sexuality and sexuality into pornography has not only caused some of the deepest splits between feminists, but made it harder to think clearly about either sexuality or pornography--indeed, about feminist politics more generally. This provocative collection, by well-known feminists, surveys these arguments, and in particular asks why recent feminist debates about sexuality keep reducing to questions of pornography.
A Potter's Book by Bernard Leach
Call Number: TP807 .L4 2015
Publication Date: 2015
Written by Bernard Leach, the father of British studio pottery, this seminal book is the first treatise to be written by a potter on the workshop traditions handed down from the greatest period of Chinese ceramics in the Sung dynasty. With this book, potters can learn everything from how to adapt recipes for pigments and glazes to designing kilns.
The Ceramic Presence in Modern Art by Sequoia Miller; John Stuart Gordon
Call Number: NK3930 .M555 2015
Publication Date: 2015
This lushly illustrated volume is the first comprehensive examination of postwar ceramic sculpture alongside other fine art of the period. The catalogue features more than 80 objects by leading 20th-century ceramicists. Essays consider the art in connection with renowned paintings, sculptures in other media, and works on paper. Juxtaposing ceramics with non-ceramic works, both visually and conceptually, and examining the visual, historical, and theoretical affinities among the objects, the authors demonstrate that the finest ceramics share the formal sophistication of the most celebrated artworks of the postwar period.

Art Guide: Finding Books and eBooks

Finding Books and eBooks Using the Library Catalog

The following is an overview of using the library catalog. For a fuller description, with images of the searching process, click through the tabs above.

To find books or electronic books using our online catalog, go to the main library homepage, and use the link for our "Library Catalog."

You will be taken to our Online catalog. You can begin your search by typing a keyword into the "search anything" box, or use the advanced search option at the right.

Call numbers are the address or location for books in the library. Within the library, books can be found in the following areas:

Reserve - books behind the information desk that are usually for in-house library use only.

Circulating Collection - located in "the stacks," and can be borrowed for four weeks.

Online Access - books available online to read on the internet. You can access these books anywhere. If you are off-campus, you will need your myBRCC credentials to access e-resources. For more information, check out our off-campus access guide.

Please ask the library staff if you need help locating a book! To learn more about our circulation policies and how to navigate the library stacks, please see this guide on Houff Library Resources.

To access e-books, use the filters at the right and check the box next to "Full Text Online" under the Availability filter, and "Books" under Resource Type. This will limit the results to materials in our digital holdings.

Books Available at the Library

Photo ID Required to Check Out All Library Materials