MBA Program

If you find a physical book, it will have something called a call number. The call number is like its home address. Copy and paste any call number into the Call Number Locator below to see where it lives in the library. 

A call number will look something like this: 

HD66 .S4849 2017

You can use the call number locator map to see what shelf the book is located on in the library.

While you can have physical books shipped to you as a distance learner, sometimes, in the interest of time, it's faster to limit your search to eBooks that don't require waiting on the shipping and handling of materials. 

Luckily, in the SURF search results, you'll find a menu on the left side of the page with different limiters. By selecting the limiter under "Availablity" for "Available Online" you'll limit your search to only those books you can view online.

Ebooks do not have a Call Number, they are accessible via a link in a catalog record. Once you limit your search to "Available online" if you click on one of the search results you'll be taken to the catalog record. You can either use the menu on the left and click on the link for "View Online" or you can scroll down to the "View Online" section.

From "View Online" you'll find a link that will take you directly to the eBook. Sometimes there may be multiple links as we may have multiple access points to read the eBook. If you get an error message, it is possible the book is "checked out" and not available. If you get a message that it is a DDA title and a suggestion to email Nicole Kulp, this means the title is basically available on demand. Follow that suggestion and Nicole will ensure the title is turned on and available to use.

1. Research question or statement

What is it exactly that you are trying to find? Think of a way to state your topic in 1-2 sentences.

Example research question:
How do international companies create business strategies that successfully work in different work cultures that may vary drastically from one another?

2. Search Terms

Using the 1-2 sentences you created for your research question or statement, pull the important words (and synonyms of those words) to use as keywords to create your search.

Example keywords:

• international management
• culture
• business strategy

3. Boolean Operators

Boolean operators can broaden or narrow your search and create relationships between keywords.

AND, OR, NOT

• AND combines two search words together. Both must appear in your article, narrowing your results. 
• OR allows you to search for synonyms or like terms. Only one of the terms must appear in your article, broadening your results. 
• NOT removes a specific term from your results.

Quotation marks

• Phrases stick together as one key phrase. "international management"; "business strategy"

Asterisks

• Add to the end of a root word to find all words that include all words that include that root term. cultur* will return results with the keywords cultural, culture, cultures, etc.

4. More Tips

• Use Search Options (also known as facets or filters) to further narrow your search to a specific type of resource or date range. These facets are typically found in the left menu of a database and in SURF.

• String together relevant synonyms or words with similar meanings to broaden your search result. For example: strategy OR plan OR method OR practice
• Avoid putting your entire research statement into the search box. You'll get better results breaking your query up into keywords as shown above.
• If your search returns no results, be sure to change the drop down next to the search bar in SURF to include UM Libraries and use the facet in the left menu to "Include Non-USMAI Results." Even if our library doesn't have a title you can still request a copy via Interlibrary Loan. 

In our third floor stacks our books are organized by topic using the Library of Congress Classification. This means, if you find a book on the shelf about a certain topic, the books in the same general area will be similar in scope. This is really helpful for browsing the stacks. When you find a book that's relevant, take a look at the nearby titles, look at their tables of contents and indexes, maybe another book is more relevant to your research.

In business research you may find yourself in these areas of the collection more frequently then others:

BF - Psychology

G - Geography

• G154.9-155.8 Travel and state. Tourism

H - Social Sciences

• HA Statistics
• HB Economic Theory. Demography
  • HB615 Entrepreneurship
• HC Economic History and Conditions
• HD Industries. Land Use. Labor
  • HD28-70 Management
  • HD60-60.5 Social Responsibility of Business. Social Entrepreneurship.
  • HD1361-1395.5 Real Estate Business
• ​HE Transportation and Communications
• HF Commerce
  • HF5410-5417.5 Marketing
  • HF5549-5549.5 Personnel Management. Employee Management
  • HF5601-5689 Accounting. Bookkeeping
  • HF5801-6182 Advertising
• HG Finance
  • HG179 Personal Finance
• HJ Public Finance
• HM Sociology
• HN Social History and Conditions. Social Problems. Social Reform

K - Law in General

• KF Law of the United States

T - Technology