Physics

Library and Internet resources for physics.

How to Find Books About Physics

In the ASU Library:

Use the ASU Library's Catalog
- To find a specific book, use the Title or Author filters in the advanced search.
- To find books on a physics topic, use a Keyword search such as:
  - heat transfer
  - particle accelerators
  - quantum theory

In Other Libraries:

WorldCat

Discover books, articles, media, and more in library collections worldwide, supporting citation verification, publication discovery, and access beyond local library holdings.

Note: If the ASU Library doesn't have a book that you need, you may request the book via our Interlibrary Loan Service.

Electronic Books:

Most of our electronic books are listed in the catalog, however, to search the full text of a book, use the native search engine for these collections:

Knovel

Access thousands of engineering, technology, and science reference works, including data searching tools, a periodic table, unit converters, and interactive equations for research and problem-solving.
O'Reilly for Higher Education

Access all eBooks published by O’Reilly, covering topics such as programming, IT networking, project management, graphic design, and business strategy. Available formats include audiobooks, videos, and on-demand learning courses.

Please read: Terms of Service before using this resource. Publisher restrictions prohibit using O'Reilly content as a replacement for textbooks in classes.
Please note that the time shown is the average time needed to read the book cover to cover and does change to show what you have read. This does not limit your use of the book.
Includes: O’Reilly Answers, powered by a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) model and draws only from O’Reilly’s curated content, fully integrated across the platform for seamless discovery.
Ebook Central

Offers academic ebooks across disciplines from top publishers, supporting research and coursework at all levels.

Titles in EPUB format may need third-party apps like Adobe Digital Editions for offline reading. For details, check the eBooks LibGuide.
Concurrent users vary by title, some titles allow only a single user. The catalog is updated monthly, and may be added or removed by the vendor or publisher.
Gale eBooks

A searchable collection of cross-curricular nonfiction titles, including encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized references for multidisciplinary research.
eBooks on EBSCOhost

Search a broad collection of academic and professional full-text e-books across disciplines.

Titles in EPUB format may need third-party apps like Adobe Digital Editions for offline reading. For details, check the eBooks LibGuide.
Concurrent users vary by title, some titles allow only a single user. The catalog is updated monthly, and may be added or removed by the vendor or publisher.
SPIE Digital Library

Access research in optics and photonics, including journals, conference proceedings, and papers from 1962; ebooks from 1989 onward.

The full text of books may also be searched by using Google Books.

ASU Library: Where the Physics Books are Located

A majority of ASU Library's books are going to be located in the High Density Storage Collection Stacks on the Polytechnic campus. To access these books, search for them in the library catalog using One Search and requesting the book be sent to the ASU Library location of your choice for pick up.

However, there are still physics books located at a couple of the ASU Library locations:

Noble Library (Tempe campus)
Contains books related to all areas of physics.
Fletcher Library (West Valley campus)
Contain small collections of physics, primarily duplicates of what is available in Noble Library.

The ASU Library also has an extension collection of electronic books available online.