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PolyU Library

Building & Real Estate

Your starting point for research and study in the area of building & real estate.

When to use HKALL & ILL

Free Academic books: DOAB

Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) allows you to discover open access, free download academic books for at ease.

 

Other Book Discovery Tools

A global catalog of library collection which helps you to find what you want in a library near you.

Searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned.

Find Books

Find Books from OneSearch

The quickest way to find books is through a direct search in OneSearch. You may search by Keywords, Title of the Book, Call Number, or an ISBN number. Follow the steps below:

  1. Visit Library homepage OneSearch. Type in your keywords or title of the book and hit the search button. 
  2. Limit results to "Books" under Resource Type on the right panel of the page. You may further refine results to "Physical items" (which means print books only), or "Full Text Online" (which means e-books only). For books with multiple versions, you can click to see all versions.
  3. Click on the book title to see more information about the book. 
    For e-books, click on the link provided and sign in with your NetID and NetPassword to get access to the full text of the book. 
    For print books, check if the book is currently available to loan. Click "Location" to see which floor the book is located on. The book is sorted by its Call Number on the bookshelf. Check it out using our self-help machine or at the Loan and Return counter on P/F.

Look for Course Readings?

Option 1. Go to your course page at Learn@PolyU and click on "Resource List" from the left menu.

Option 2. Go to the library homepage and search under "Course Resource List".

Video Tutorial

Watch this video tutorial to learn how to quickly find your course readings.

How to Read an eBook?

The way to access an e-book can be different depending on the platform the book is located. Some platforms allow you to download the whole book in PDF with one click, while some allow downloading a limited number of pages per day due to copyright restrictions.

Note: To view the full text of the book, you will be prompted to login with your NetID and NetPassword, especially for off-campus access.

 

Here are a few commonly seen examples from e-book databases:

⦿ Full book download allowed. Usually, books directly offered by publishers offer full book or chapter download options.

⦿ Limited no. of pages download per day. Two major e-book providers - ProQuest and EBSCOhost- offer this option. Note that some popular books may only allow online reading. There is no limitation if you read the book online. 

Other than downloading a limited no. of pages to PDF, you may also "Borrow" the whole book for a specified no. of days and read it offline after installing the Adobe Digital Editions app.

Access E-book from Ebscohost

(Link to this book on OneSearch)

⦿ PDF full download is not available. Usually, textbook providers offer this option. 

You can check out the books and read them online for a specified no. of hours.

Access e-books from VitalSource

(Link to this book on OneSearch)


Some books may allow downloading a number of pages to PDF with watermarks. 

Access e-books from VitalSource

 

What if the book you need is not avaliable?

There are chances that the book you need is not available in the library. It could be because our library does not have the book, or our copy has been checked out by another user.

Here are two ways to help you:

⦿ Option 1. HKALL - faster

HKALL is a shared platform by 8 UGC-funded university libraries in Hong Kong. Eligible users can request a book from other libraries when the copy in PolyU is not available. The book will be then delivered to our Library in about 2-3 working days for pick-up. 
 

⦿ Option 2. Place a hold (wait in the queue)

Place a hold to reserve a book when the book is only available in our Library and there are no available copies from HKALL. After you place a hold, the previous user will be asked to return the book in about 28 days.

Follow the steps below to request a book from HKALL, or reserve a local copy when HKALL does not apply.

  1. Click into the record of the checked-out book and sign in to the system if you haven't done so. 
  2. Click Request this item via HKALL. You will then be brought to the record page under HKALL.
  3. Click HKALL Request if there are available copies from other HKALL Libraries. If no available copies, you may place a hold from PolyU Library by clicking Request.
  4. Proceed to Request if there is no Volume number or Standard number to specify. You will be notified by email when the book is ready to pick up.

How to Read a Call Number?

Each physical item is labeled with a call number, which contains both letters and numbers representing the source's location in the library, e.g., TX911 .V33 2019. Books on the same subject will be placed in the same range on bookshelves. When you search a print book through OneSearch, you will get a call number, which tells you where you can find the book.

Call numbers can be divided into 4 rows:

  • The first row is simply sorted in alphabetical order.
  • The second row is sorted in numerical order.
  • The third row consists of a character and a set of numbers.
    The character is sorted in alphabetical order; The set of number is sorted as decimal numbers.
  • The last row represents the publication year, which is simply sorted by the year.

Below are some examples of the rules mentioned above:

Please note that large books which cannot be accommodated on the normal shelves (indicates with [QRT] before the call number) are kept at the end of the collection in each wing. 

Recommended Books to Support Literature Review