There are basically two skills required if you are to successfully locate the references you need for your research: (1) you need to find out what titles might be relevant to your current research (2), you then need to be able to actually lay your hands on the book or journal (often a difficult task).
To locate specific, known titles and journal articles, you make use, obviously, of the library's electronic catalogue. Library staff can provide you with information and guidance on how the catalogue works and they have a number of pamphlets available. (See, for example Using the Library Catalogues and Arts and Humanities Subject Areas). If the library does not have a copy of the reference you are seeking, you can try inter-library loans. The library has information on how to search the catalogues of other university libraries and how to request a book from another library. (Unfortunately you will have to pay a fee to borrow the book.)
Much of this information on searching the library catalogue is available online via the WEB. The Information Services homepage (including all library resources) is at http://www.is.bham.ac.uk/menu/index.htm .
For the online catalogue, where you can search on various combinations of Author, Title, Keyword etc, click on http://library.bham.ac.uk/www-bin/www_talis?.
