Books can contain summaries of research on a particular topic, such as Stephen Sears' Gettysburg, or personal narratives of events, such as Witness to Gettysburg which contains personal narratives of officers and men who fought the battle and civilians, reporters and children who witnessed the battle. Books can be found using Library online catalogs, such as WestCat and I-Share, or union catalogs such as WorldCat, an index to books, maps and other resources owned by libraries throughout the World. When searching WestCat, I-Share and WorldCat, the subject heading for the battles under consideration are:
Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--France--Normandy (the Library of Congress' subject heading for D-Day)
Iwo Jima, Battle of, Japan, 1945
Tet Offensive, 1968
Fallujah, Battle of, Fallūjah, Iraq, 2004
These phrases can be copied into a Subject Search in WestCat. Searches can be narrowed further if needed by browsing through related subjects for an appropriate subject heading.
These subject headings can also be used to search for materials in I-Share, the online catalog for academic and research libraries in Illinois. Many of the books in I-Share can be borrowed by logging into the system and placing a request.
Note: When you are unsure of what the subject is for a topic, search an important term as a subject (e.g. D-Day). In some cases, WestCat provides a See Also reference that links users to the correct subject heading. I-Share does not guide users to the correct subject headings. However, the Library of Congress Authorities database can be used to find the correct subject heading.