Research Guides: Fashion Research Guide: Books + Dissertations

Where to Find Fashion Books

The Library Search is a Great Starting Point for Books!

Use the search box below to search almost everything the library has to offer, or visit the library homepage. Checkout the How to Find Books [link to guide page] page in this guide for step-by-step directions.

Borrowing Books Beyond SAIC

If you are seeking books that are unavailable in the library catalog, we recommend first checking if it can be requested through I-Share (linked below). If you aren't sure how to request books from I-Share, follow these instructions. If that does not work, the next step is to fill out the Interlibrary Loan form (ILL). Library staff will do everything we can to get materials for current SAIC faculty, students, and staff through ILL when not available through I-Share. You can also explore this full list of locations (both near, far, and online) where you can find books.

I-Share
Group of college & university libraries in Illinois; request & check out books.
Ryerson & Burnham Libraries
Research library of the Art Institute of Chicago; you cannot check out books but can make an appointment to use materials in their reading room. See this link for instructions on making an appointment.
Chicago Public Library
8th floor, Visual & Performing Arts, Harold Washington Library Center (Van Buren & State Streets). Get your CPL library card -- it's not part of I-Share

Finding Digitized Books (ebooks) + Dissertations

Google Books
Millions of books scanned cover to cover. To find fully scanned books that you can read online select Full view only in the Search: option.
HathiTrust Digital Library
Digitized books & documents from research libraries. SAIC is not a member; full-text limited to public domain items.
Internet Archive
Many digitized books can be checked out for a limited period. Continually growing collection offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format.

Dissertations & Theses Global: Humanities and Social Sciences Collection (PQDTAFT) This link opens in a new window
Full text access to dissertations and theses in social sciences and humanities. More than 70,000 new full text documents are added each year.
EBSCO OpenDissertations This link opens in a new window
Index that incorporates EBSCO’s previously released American Doctoral Dissertations, and features additional dissertation metadata contributed by select colleges and universities from around the world.
EThOS British Library Dissertations This link opens in a new window
Many are free; others are made available by the Center for Research Libraries and can be requested through our interlibrary loan form
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) This link opens in a new window
An international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic analogues to traditional paper-based theses and dissertations with the goal to more effectively share knowledge.
WorldCat Dissertations & Theses This link opens in a new window
Indexes dissertations and masters theses available from OCLC member libraries.