Finding Books at the King Library

Use OneSearch to find a specific title. Search by title or the author's name.

To find literary criticism, search by the subject, using the name of the author or a topic. These are some examples of Library of Congress subject headings:

  • Harjo, Joy
  • Beat Generation --Poetry
  • American literature--African American authors

If you don't know the Library of Congress subject heading, search by keyword  using a variety of terms that are relevant to your topic.

  •  7th floor, SJSU's literature collections are shelved by the Library of Congress call numbers:
    •  PR: English literature includes British, Irish, Canadian, Australian, and Post-colonial Writers
    •  PS: American literature
  •  5th floor:
    •  AACNA collections has literature by Ethnic American Writers in the PS range in the Africana, Asian American, Chicana/o, and Native American collections.
    •  SJSU Special Collections has many first editions and rare books which an be viewed in the Special Collections reading room only.
  • 3rd Floor: San Jose Public Library: Search the Dewey Decimal call number range: 800-

Finding Books at Other Libraries

California State University Collections: SJSU students, faculty, and staff have access to over 29 million books across the entire CSU, right from within OneSearch. You can request books from any of the other 22 California State University libraries and have them delivered to the SJSU Library within 2-5 days.

Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad): Request items such as books, articles (print or electronic), and dissertations from libraries worldwide.

In WorldCat, you can search the collections of nearly 17,000 libraries worldwide to find a library that has the item you're looking for.

Using your San Jose Public Library card, borrow items that are not available at the San José Public Library (SJPL) through Link+

Borrowing from Other Libraries: Scroll to the bottom of the page to see what other Bay Area and California libraries offer. Select a library's website to find a phone number to call for assistance or search the library's catalog yourself.