Q. how do I find a scholarly source? And how do I check out books online

A scholarly article is one that is written in an academic journal, as opposed to a weekly or monthly periodical.  One of the first sources to look in for a scholarly article is the electronic database Academic OneFile.  When you click on Academic OneFile the landing page is the advanced search page.  Towards the middle of the page there are two boxes that need to be checked.  Check the "full-text" box, and the box that says limit to "peer-reviewed."  Peer-reviewed indicates that the scholarly article has gone through an editorial process before it was published.

Combine your search terms on the search lines provided and then your search will return only academic journals, or scholarly articles.

Depending on your topic, you can check "academic journals" or "peer-reviewed" in other databases to limit your results.

Books can not be checked out online - you would need to search the library catalog to identify titles of interest to you and then come into the library to check them out. We do have some eBooks, which can also be searched using the catalog.