Howard County Subject Guide: Books & Media

Books provide in-depth information on broad subject areas. Researchers use them when they need:

• Historical context or comprehensive background information for their subject area
• Synthesis and analysis of events and information

Note: Often a chapter or two, rather than the entire book, are all that you may need.

Search words to use for Howard County Research:

• columbia md
• howard county md
• ellicott city md

Advice: Keep your search simple: find books using the search terms above and then, use the table of contents and index to look for more specific local subjects

Basic Search

• Use the basic search when you're exploring a topic, or when you're searching for a specific book but are unsure of the exact title or author.
• The catalog searches the title, author, subjects, keywords, etc. from each item description - for the words you typed.

Advanced Search

• Use the advanced search feature when you know the specific title and author or are combining multiple concepts.
• Use the drop down menus to choose which field you want to search.
• Each search term must appear in the catalog record where/how you specified for the items to be included in the results list.