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Social Work

Key information resources for research in clinical social work, social policy, child welfare, gerontology, mental and behavioral health, military behavioral health, leadership, and social work education. Expanded resources for conducting systematic review

Finding books

We have books in print and electronic formats.

There is no dedicated "social work" section in the library, that's why it's important to use the catalog to find where books you want are located.

The most common locations in the Young Library for social work-related books are: BF, HM, HN, HQ, HT, and HV.

If you have questions about how to best search for books, please contact the Reference Desk for help.


PRO TIP: Consider searching for books related to your topic(s) on Amazon, then check our library catalog. If you use this method, just copy and paste the title of the book in quotation marks and click search to see if we have it.

Directions for general catalog search

STEP 1: Select "Books" under "Material Type."

Catalog screenshot showing where to change material type

Catalog screenshot showing selection of "books" as material type


STEP 2: Type in your search terms and click "Search." In the below example, the search term "personality theory" is used.

Catalog screenshot using "personality theory" as an example search


STEP 3: On the results screen, you can limit results to print only, by clicking "Available In The Library" in the "Refine My Results" section on the left. Or, you can limit to e-books only by clicking "Full Text Online."

Catalog screenshot showing options to limit book results to print or electronic format

How to check out books

After using the InfoKat Catalog to look for books, you'll need to make note of four pieces of information from the bibliographic records:

1. In which library is the book located? This will be Young Library most of the time, but you might see other campus libraries or remote storage as possible locations.

2. On which floor is the book located? Pay attention to this so you'll know what floor to go to!

3. What is the call number of the book? This will appear as a sequence of letters and numbers. You'll need this to locate the book on the shelf.

4. Is the book available? Pay attention to whether the book is available or checked out.


When you have the book you want in hand, take it to the circulation desk with your UK ID card!

If you have questions about checking out books, please contact the Young Library Circulation Desk for help:

Circulation contact info:

Phone: (859) 218-1881
Fax: (859) 257-8379
Email: lib.circdesk@email.uky.edu

Interlibrary Loan

Do you need books we don't have? You can request them from another library using Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

If you have questions about or need assistance with ILL, please contact them.

ILL contact info:

Borrowing: (859) 218-1880
Lending: (859) 218-2049
Document Delivery: (859) 218-1203
Fax: (859) 257-0502
Email: ILLBorrowing@uky.edu