Google Scholar is a powerful search tool for books, articles, patents, and other scholarly and technical literature. It looks a lot like the Google interface almost everybody is familiar with, but (like any database) using it effectively means knowing its strengths and limitations. It isn't always the best tool for the job, and you usually need to use it alongside the databases the library subscribes to.
This guide will help you set up Google Scholar to search the library database, install the Scholar Button to search for articles from any website, and--most importantly--know when you need to use something else. Good research rarely means looking in just one place.