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Library Research Tutorial

William Hessel Library

 

Online Catalog

What is the Online Catalog?

The Online Catalog contains the William Hessel Library's catalogued holdings of books and audio-visual materials, and currently received magazines. The Online Catalog also contains searchable records to the eBooks in the netLibrary database (or see netLibrary tutorial). And it also contains a link to search the local holdings of libraries in Berrien County. The catalog allows you to identfy titles held in the library. Records retrieved that say the location is Main Collection are items that can be checked out. Records that identify the item location as Reference do not circulate.

NOTE: The Online Catalog does NOT allow you to search the contents of periodicals (magazines, journals, or newspapers). Search the magazine abstract and/or full-text databases such as Academic Search Elite on EBSCOhost for periodical content.

Where is the Online Catalog located on the Library home page?

(1) Click on the bulleted link called Library Catalogs/Books.

(2) Look for and click on the Online Catalog/Research Portal link.

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Logging into the Online Catalog.

Click on "Account Login" and enter your 8 digit student ID number and password (6 digit birthdate)to access the Online Catalog.

Why login?

  • Logging in also allows you to change your personal information, recall past searches, set your favorite search preferences and other options. You can also have items sent to South Haven, Bertrand, or MTec campuses if you are a student at any of those campuses..
  • Additionally, when you log in you will have access to the Research Portal. The Research Portal lets you access and simultaneously search the Online Catalog and selected databases whether you are on or off campus. (A great way to receive results from book and magazine sources at the same time!)

 

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Keyword searching.

What is a keyword search?

Keyword Search in the Online Catalog is more of a basic search. It is a simpler screen and does not have limiters that are available in the advanced screen. . Entering a word or several words in the All Headings fields will search: Title, Author, Subject, Notes, etc. Below is a sample of different search set ups one can use:

      • quilting (single keyword search)
      • quilting michigan (the "and" operator is automatically assumed between all words in a search term in the Online Catalog)
      • "stephen king" (putting quotes around the words searches the words in the order keyed in; this search will only return results that contain the words stephen king in that order)
      • stephen king (will search for and return results with stephen king as well as king, stephen)

 

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Advanced searching.

What is advanced searching?

You can use Advanced Search to locate materials either by All Headings, Author, Title, Subject, Notes, etc., based on the word(s) you enter and the fields and the logical operators you select. In otherwords, you can specify different fields to search.

For example: You are looking for the book by Stephen King called Bag of Bones. But all you can remember is King's last name and the word "bones" in the title. You could type in "king" and select author as the field. Then go to the second box and enter "bones" and select title as the field. Therefore the search would look for any titles with the word "bones" in them by any author with the first or last name of "stephen."

The advanced search also allows you to limit searches by material and/or date.

Below is the screen image showing the different Advanced Search options:

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Search example with results in advanced searching.

Below is a advanced search example. The search is 'hiking,' and is searched as a subject; therefore, records with 'hiking' anywhere in the subject headings fields will be located.

Below is the result list for the first 6 records. The first title listed is a book shelved in the library. The other titles are eBooks available via netLibrary. The eBooks are accessible from the Online Catalog as you can see by the http links to netLibrary.

Clicking on the title to brings up the full record. Here is what the first record looks like:

Let's take a look at this record. Identify these fields:

  1. What does LCCN stand for? It is the Library of Congress Control Number. The Library of Congress began to print catalog cards in 1898 and began to distribute them in 1901. The Library of Congress Card Number was the number used to identify and control catalog cards. With the development of the MARC format (electronic)and the first distribution of machine-readable records for book materials in the late 1960s, the name of the LCCN was changed to Library of Congress Control Number.
  2. What does ISBN mean? ISBN stands for international standard book number, a ten-digit number assigned to every book before publication, recording such details as language, provenance, and publisher.
  3. Who is the author? Robert Strauss.
  4. What is the title of this book? Adventure trekking: a handbook for independent travelers.
  5. Who is the publisher? Mountaneers.
  6. What is the date of publication? 1996
  7. How many pages is the book or what is the description? 254 pages long.
  8. What does the "notes" field tell us? That the book provides bibliographical references and an index.
  9. And what are the four searchable subject headings?
          1. Subject: Backpacking --Handbooks, manuals, etc.
          2. Subject: Hiking --Handbooks, manuals, etc.
          3. Subject: Camping --Handbooks, manuals, etc.
          4. Subject: Tourism --Planning --Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Notice that this book is located in the Main Collection of the Hessel Library. The call number is 796.52 S91 and the status shows the book is available. In fact, this book can be checked out as it is found in the "Main Collection." Books with the location designated as "Reference" do not circulate.

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Author, title, and subject, and notes searches using advanced searching.

As mentioned previously, when you are at the Advanced Search screen, you can click on the down arrow and select all headings, author, title, subject, or notes.

Example of types of searches:

  • A search for 'shipwrecks' in all headings would locate records with the the word 'shipwrecks' anyplace in the records - author, title, subject, notes field.
  • A search for 'toni morrison' as author would locate records (books, videos) she has authored.
  • A search for 'paradise' as a title would locate records (books, videos) with the word, 'paradise' in the title field.
  • A search for 'shipwrecks' as a subject would only search for records with 'shipwrecks' in the subject field.
  • A search for 'poe' as notes would only search for records with 'poe' in the notes field.

Record from the Notes field search:

Here is a record from searching 'poe' in the Notes field. In the Contents or Notes field you will see quite a listing of short stories and their authors. One of the short stories is by E. A. Poe, called The Cask of Amontillado. If you had searched for 'poe' as an All Headings search, this record would also have been located.

 

Browse searching and how it differs from advanced searching.

Browse search differs from Keyword Search and Advanced Search in the way the Online Catalog reads the search term and in the results returned. When using Browse, it reads the word(s) in your search term as a string of characters (rather than as separate words), reading each character from left to right.

To give a better example of the difference between searching 'hiking' as All Headings in Advanced Search and also searching 'hiking' in All Headings in Browse Search:

Browse search results: (Looks for 'hiking' only if 'hiking' is the first word in the author, title or subject fields. Below it shows titles and subject headings where 'hiking' is listed first in the string of words.)

Browse search is most useful when you know the exact wording of the title you are searching.

Advanced search results: (Looks for 'hiking' anywhere in the record - author, title, subject, etc. and brings up a title results listing.) This is a more comprehensive search.

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Limit results in Advanced Search.

On the right hand side of the image below, notice the Limit results for Library Catalogs. This function allows you to limit your searches by publication year or material type.

Material type choices are:

By selecting, for example, Visual Materials, you can then limit your search to that type of medium. If you search for drama as All Headings and have selected Visual Materials, here is what your search results may look like:

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Patron menu. (You need to be logged in.)

Notice in orange, the wording, Patron Menu. Clicking on this menu allows you to click on My Account to edit your account, e.g., add/change email address or change your password. You can also check your Circulation Status. This will allow you to see what titles you have checked out as well as renew your titles online. Search History will allow you to see your past searches.

Circulation Status. See below the Items Out headings and the Renew link. Students can check out most circulating items for 14 days and renew once. This particular patron is an employee and therefore can have the items for the semester. (Unless there is a recall for one of the titles by another patron.)

My Search History. Do you want to see your past searches? If so, click on My Search History. Be aware that you do need to be logged in to use this function. Below is a sample:

 

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Reserve title.

Students taking classes at Betrand Crossing and South Haven campuses can click on the Online Catalog's "Reserve Title" function to have an inhouse circulating item(s) sent to their respective campus. Below is a record of a book held in the Hessel Library.

To use the "Reserve Title" feature, users need to be logged into the Online Catalog. If not already logged in, users can log in after clicking on "Reserve Title" as the Catalog will ask for log in information.

Searching holdings of area libraries.

In the screen sample below, look for

Clicking Other Library Catalogs will take you to the link, Berrien County Libraries. Click on that link and click on Begin Search. Then make sure you click on Advanced Search. This will allow you to search the public libraries in Berrien County. Below is a search for the title, A Million Little Pieces.

Here is one of the records as a result of the search and the library or libraries who hold it: Do you see the locations information?

Searching the Berrien County Libraries link is a very helpful way to search mulitple libraries all at once!

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If your instructor has assignments about the Online Catalog, go to: Blackboard or practice searching on Online Catalog (direct link to catalog).

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