LibGuides: Engineering, Electronics, Materials science and Mathematics: Books &amp; eBooks

Books, ebooks and reference books

You can find most books and ebooks on Library Search, but there are also some specialist books and collections available.

Finding books for engineering

Photo credit: 'Aircraft landing' by Richard B via morgueFile

Useful shelfmarks for finding books on engineering, electronics and materials are:

Aerospace engineering	629.1
Automotive engineering	629.2
Computer-aided design	620.00420285
Ceramics	620.14, 666
Composites	620.118
Control engineering	629.8
Digital Systems and circuits	621.39
Electrical engineering	621.3
Electronics	621.3815
Engineering design	620.0042
Ergonomics and human factors	620.82
Manufacturing	670
Materials engineering	620.11
Mathematics	510
Mechanics	531, 620.1
Metals and metallurgy	620.16, 669
Operations and logistics	658.5
Polymers and plastics	620.192, 668
Product design	745.2
Railway engineering	625.1

You find books recommended by your course tutors with Reading Lists Online.

Finding books for mathematics

If you want applied mathematics for a particular discipline, you can find it under the sheflmark for that area of mathematics.

So mathematics for engineering would be under 510, statistics for business would be under 519.5, and so on.

Useful shelfmarks for finding books on mathematics are:

Algebra	512
Analysis and calculus	515
Astronomy	520
Calculus and analysis	515
Differential equations	515.35
Fluid mechanics	532
Geometry	516
History of mathematics	510.9
Mathematical modelling	511.8
Mathematics	510
Multivariate statistics	519.535
Physics	530
Probability	519
Solid mechanics	531
Statistics	519.5
Tensors and vectors	515.63

eBook collections

Some publishers allow you to search their eBooks word-by-word: this is a much deeper search than Library Search, and will find material which Library Search misses.

We only have access to some eBooks from these services, so a few titles may be unavailable.

ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
eBooks on many scientific topics, including engineering, electronics, computing and materials. You can download and save chapters as PDFs.
Alternative link via Shibboleth
ASTM Compass This link opens in a new window
ASTM produce a range of ebooks on materials science, including their Special Technical Papers (STPs).
O' Reilly Online Learning (SHU login option) This link opens in a new window
eBook collection on computing, electronics, management, and software packages

Reference ebooks for all courses

AccessScience This link opens in a new window
Science encyclopedia, which includes: biographies of famous engineers, mathematicians and scientists; lists of Fields Medal winners; news; and picture galleries.
Only five users can use it at once, so if you can not get in, please try again later.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window
Biographies of notable dead Britons, including mathematicians, engineers and scientists.
The dictionary includes people who were born and lived in the British Isles; people from the British Isles who achieved recognition in other countries; people who lived in territories formerly connected to the British Isles at a time when they were in contact with British rule; and people born elsewhere who settled in the British Isles for significant periods or whose visits enabled them to leave a mark on British life.

Encyclopedia of Forensic Science
Covers all aspects of forensic science, including materials failure analysis, investigatory techniques, expert witnesses and investigating road and rail accidents.

Oxford Reference Online: Premium This link opens in a new window
Includes bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, dictionaries of quotations and dictionaries of subject-specific terms, such as engineering, mathematics and science.
It adds and revises titles regularly. All 20,000+ quotation entries from the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. 5,300+ illustrations, including full-colour maps, line diagrams and tables, 36,000+ bibliographies and 1,400+ external web links, as well as enhanced search functions to access results by category. Timelines currently cover events from the 20th century only. At the end of every results page there is information on 'how to cite this entry'.

Reference ebooks for mathematics

Concise Oxford dictionary of mathematics
Dictionary of mathematical terms and mathematicians
A Dictionary of statistics
Dictionary of statistical terms and statisticians.
Encyclopedia of statistical sciences
More detailed information on statistics

Reference ebooks for materials and civil engineering

ASM Handbooks Online This link opens in a new window
Massive and authoritive guide to all aspects of metals and alloy properties, selection, processing, testing and corrosion.
Wolfram Alpha This link opens in a new window
Quick look-up of basic material properties, amongst its other features
It will give you a set of options at the top of the page from which to choose if it is not clear what you want. It covers a wide range of topics, but has most material on engineering, materials engineering and science. You can save your results as a PDF.
SciFinder This link opens in a new window
Chemistry database, with useful and unusual features letting you search for articles by the chemicals and reactions involved. Also includes journal articles. Please note that you will need to register to use this database: this is free and straightforward.

Construction Materials Reference Book by Bob Cather (Editor); David Doran (Editor)
Call Number: 691 CO
ISBN: 9780750663762
Publication Date: 2013-08-29
Details of commonly-used materials in construction and civil engineering

Oxford Very Short Introductions

Oxford Very Short Introductions
A collection of very short books on huge range of different topics, each intended to provide a simple, approachable starting place for the subject

What to do if a book is not available in the Library

If there's a book which you need but which we don't have in stock, we can ask another library to loan you a copy, or to email you a copy of an individual chapter or section. This can be done through our document supply service.

Document Supply Services

If you think a book may be useful for other students or staff as well as yourself, you can also request that the Library buys a copy. We can't promise to buy everything, but will do what we can for feasible requests which are relevant to courses at Sheffield Hallam.

Suggest a Purchase request form