Italian Language and Literature 

What's Here

Use Orbis to search for materials at Yale on

• Key Thing to Know
• Using Subject Headings to Find Books
• Topics
  
• Limit by Language

To find materials that Yale does not own, you can use these same subject headings to search in WorldCat. Request these items through Borrow Direct or Interlibrary Loan.

The Key Thing to Know

Use keyword searching if you are unable to find what you are looking for in the usual ways, for example, by author, title or subject.  Often you need to know the precise title, subject heading, or name (for example, Tomasi di Lampedusa, Giuseppe, NOT Lampedusa, Tomasi) in its precise order to find the materials you seek.  Keyword searching locates these terms anywhere in the record, irrespective of the order in which they occur.

If you get too many hits from a simple keyword search, try an advanced search, which permits you to specify in which field—author, title, subject, etc.—you want to search. 

This is true not just in Orbis, but also in the databases that give access to the articles and chapters in the books and periodicals we hold, though the way different database search engines do this may vary. 

Tip:

Topics in literature

Looking for the study of a particular theme in literature (or in art)?  Try the subject heading, “’X’ in literature”, for example, “Women in literature”.

Using Subject Headings to Find Books

Subject headings strive to identify topics with consistent terminology. The basic terminology is produced by the Library of Congress. Always look at the subject headings in any catalog, database or index to make sure that you are searching with the most relevant terminology. Once you have the right terms, it's much easier to find the right books.

If you need an introduction to searching in Orbis, look at the site for Yale's Online Catalog (Orbis) Tutorials.

EXMPLES OF  SUBJECT HEADINGS:

• ????

TIME SAVER: You can often save yourself work by looking at existing bibliographies, which often include both books and articles. Criticism never goes out of date (there are lots of Aristoteleans out there), and you can locate the most recent research by using article indexes and Orbis.

Topics

The best way to find materials on a topic is use the Library of Congress Subject Heading. Since you may not know what the right heading is, you can use a Keyword search to look for genres and topics. A keyword search finds the term anywhere in the Orbis record. When you do a keyword search, look at the record for one of the books that appears relevant and check the subject headings used to describe the topic. Then also search by the correct Library of Congress Subject Heading. Also, use a keyword search if you have multiple concepts or topics to search.

Examples of key subject terms:

• Italian language
• Linguistics
• Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321--Criticism and interpretation

Other subject headings of interest include:

• ????
  

Also, most genres and geographical areas can be searched using subject headings, such as:

• Poetry
• Italy

Limiting Results by Language

To limit results by language in Orbis, use the MORE LIMITS option on the initial search screen.  Languages are listed first with English, then alphabetically.  Limits stay in effect until cleared.