• Quicksearch (the Yale Library discovery tool that includes the catalog, the Law Library catalog, a direct link to the database Articles+, and links to archival and digital collections)

The Library of Congress subject headings can be found here.  You can also use the LOC "Subject Authorities" page. To make sure a subject heading exists, you can search this list of LC subject headings before searching by "subject" in Books+ in Quicksearch. Subject headings come in all types. You can look up subject headings...

By country and period:

• American literature--1783-1850
• American literature--History and criticism
• American literature--19th century--Criticism and interpretation

By genre:

• American poetry
• Protest literature, American
• American drama
• Revolutionary literature, American
• American essays
• Picaresque literature
• Novel
• Drama
• Fiction
• Fairy tales
• Folk literature
• Religious literature, American
• Prose literature
• Comic books, strips
• Motion pictures--United States
• Children's literature, American
• American diaries

By literary movements:

• Harlem Renaissance
• Beats (Persons)
• Journalism--United States
• Gothic fiction (Literary genre), American

By Author (Name Authority records):

• Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892
• Melville, Herman, 1819-1891
• Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886.
• Morrison, Toni, 1931-2019

BorrowDirect enables faculty, students and staff to request material from our partner libraries; it is often the fastest way to borrow something not available at Yale Library. 

• Available items usually arrive within 4 business days.
• Items can be picked up in person or mailed to your home (some restrictions apply).
• Loans are for 16 weeks; renewals are not allowed.
• Items may be returned to any Yale library or book-drop.
• View checked out items in your library account.

*If the item you are requesting via Borrow Direct is not available in the system, an automatic Interlibrary Loan request will be generated for the item so that you do not have to make a separate ILL request.

Interlibrary Loan enables faculty, students, and staff to request materials from libraries around the world.

Yale Library will attempt to borrow any material another library is willing to lend.

• Yale faculty, students, and staff can use ILL.
• Approximate turnaround times by format:
  • Articles and book chapters: 2-4 days
  • Books, scores, and audio-visual materials: 9-12 days
• Physical ILL items can be picked up in person or mailed to your home (some restrictions apply)