Using the Catalog to Locate Books

The following steps explain how to search for books in the catalog

• For our example search, we'll use these citations:
  Boyd. E. B. (2006). Ya yas, grits, and sweet potato queens: Contemporary southern belles and the prescriptions that guide them. In S. Ferris & M. Young (Eds)., Chick lit: The new woman's fiction (pp. 159-172). New York, NY: Routledge.
  Zelman, D. L. (1983). Alazan-Apache courts: A New Deal response to Mexican American housing conditions in San Antonio. Austin: Texas State Historical Association.
• To locate these sources, we need to locate the books.
• Parts of books like the Boyd essay are not easily located by title; locating the book yields the essay.
• The Zelman book citation is more straightforward; we know which title to look for.
• Locating either source uses the same steps. The instructions below tell how to track the Boyd citation.
• You can use the window to the right to perform the steps as you read them.
• If the inset window does not work, open this library homepage window, resize it, and use it to follow the steps.

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The library catalog link is located on the library's homepage (http://www.tarleton.edu/library)

• Click the Books, periodicals, videos, audio books, CD, DVD, etc. link under the Library Catalog heading.
• Or, click the Library Catalog link in the navigation bar on the homepage's leftside.
• NOTE: If the catalog page opens in a tab instead of a window, Right Click the link & choose "Open in New Window"
• Since we know the book's title, we can use the Quick Search interface.
• In the search box, type the book's title = chick lit the new womans fiction
• Capitals are not needed and omit punctuation marks. Search tools read most punctuation marks as search commands.
• Choose title from the search field drop-down box.
• Click Search.
  
  Example search:
  
• NOTE: This book has editors, not an author. Do not use editors' names in searches. The catalog does not have an editor search field.

If the library has a book, its catalog record will appear. If more than one book has the same title, a list of results will appear. Clicking a title link will open an item's Brief View catalog record.

Only one book matched our example title search, so the Brief View catalog record appeared.

Perform a catalog search in this window while reading the steps!

If the catalog link opens in a new window, resize it to follow along.

If the inserted window below does not work,
open this library homepage window, resize it, and use it to follow along.

Only one book matched our example title search, so the Brief View catalog record appeared.

• The Brief View catalog record shows
• the book's call number (PS374.W6 C48 2006)
• If an ebook is available, the catalog record will have a link to open it. NTNET logins open library e-books.
• which library has the book (Dick Smith Library - Stephenville),
• the collection (General Stacks) where the book is shelved, and
• the book's checkout availability.
• If the library has a book, but it is not available for checkout, the Location field will state "Checked out," "In-house use only," "On reserve," etc.

If the library does not have a book, you can request it through the library's interlibrary loan (ILLiad) services. Learn more about this service on the Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad) page.