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*English Language & Literature

A guide to conducting research in English language and literature at the University of Virginia Library

Graduate Student Orientation

Contact

Sherri Brown, Librarian for English
slb4kt@virginia.edu
Shannon Library 419F 
Zoom or on Grounds consultations by appointment 

Basic library information

Graduate Student Research Services (many behind NetBadge)

Library Catalog and Stacks

Virgo is the library’s catalog.

  • Searching for e.g. American Poetry 21st Century and sorting the search results by Date Published: newest first will show you the most recently published titles we own/have access to that match your search terms.
  • Items can be found in the Clemons Stacks, in another library, or off-site (Ivy Stacks).
  • The current periodicals space in Clemons has browseable recent issues of literary magazines and journals. (Fall 2020 - ask at Clemons Desk about paging of current periodicals) 
  • Request LEO delivery for items in off-site storage. Process is described here.

Virgo account (login through NetBadge)

  • See Account Information
  • View Checked-out Items
  • Renew Items
  • Set Preferences 
  • Bookmark items 

Research portal page

The research portal page is the gateway to most of the library’s online resources. It includes links to

  • Subject guides
  • Popular databases
  • A-Z list of library databases

Off-Grounds Access

See the Tools for Access tab on the left of this guide to find out how to set up the VPN (Virtual Private Network) on your computer and how to use tools like LibKey Nomad and Reload@UVA to make researching from off-Grounds easier. 

Google Scholar
Google Scholar is good for tracking down PDFs of journal articles, figuring out metrics/impact. To set up preferences to recognize UVA as your "home institution": 

  • Settings--> Library Links --> University of Virginia Libraries --> "Find this @UVA"
  • Save preferences. (Note: Cookies must be enabled for this to work.) 

What to do first