How to use the libcom library

Casual browsing

Every article is tagged with relevant keywords. Clicking on these will take you to a chronological list of all the content with that keyword, with the most recent at the top. So if you're reading a biographical article and click on the 'biographies' tag, you'll be taken to a list of all the biographical content on libcom.

Beneath each article there is also a list of five related articles under the heading 'More like this'. This is based on all the tags on the article, comparing them with other articles. It's a great first port of call if you're looking for something similar to what you've just read. And of course any article you click through to will also have its own 'more like this' recommendations.

The library index

The starting page for navigating the library is the library index. This page shows a chronological list of the latest library content, with the most recently added at the top. At the top right of the site is a search bar, which can be used to search the library (once your results come up, you can filter by 'library' using the controls in the right hand column). But also, you'll notice five other tabs, which contain powerful ways to search the library content.

Authors, people and groups
The authors tab, as the name suggests, allows you to search through the library by author. This includes individual authors and groups. Articles are also labelled with authors if they are about the person or group, as well as if they were written by them. This is very helpful if you know what you're looking for, or even for casual browsing keeping an eye out for interesting-sounding groups or names you recognise. The first thing you'll see is a short list of featured authors, but if you click on 'index' you can navigate an A-Z list of all the authors in the libcom library.

Sectors
The sectors tab allows you to navigate content by industrial sector. If you're looking for content on a particular industry, this is a great place to start.

Tags
The tags tab contains a list of featured tags, and clicking on 'index' opens up an A-Z index of all the tags on the site. If you're looking for something specific, this is a good way to narrow down your results.

Map
The map tab does what it says on the tin: all library content is overlaid onto an interactive Google map. The box above allows you to filter the content by tag, so for example entering 'strikes' would show all the library content about strikes on the map.

Bookmarked
Finally, the bookmarked tab shows popular content that other users have bookmarked. You can bookmark library articles yourself by clicking the 'bookmark this' link at the bottom of each article. You can find your bookmarked articles via the 'my account' link on the menu at the top of every page.

We hope you find this guide useful. Any comments, questions or feedback can be posted in the feedback forum. The libcom library is an ever-expanding resource and we're keen to make it as useful and accessible as possible.