Search the Catalog

TARLETON STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY HELP

Searching the Libraries' Catalog

The library's online catalog contains records for all the items owned by the library: books, journals, magazines, maps, CDs, videos, etc.

Learning to effectively search the catalog, to understand the information contained in the record, and to quickly locate the item will make your research experience more rewarding and enjoyable. The following sections offer tutorials that should help you locate items quickly and efficiently.

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Search for items in the Dick Smith Library

Search the Catalog

Choosing this option will take you to a screen that will allow you to search by subject, author, title, call number, or keyword. If you want to search for books, documents, recordings or other items that the Dick Smith Library has, click on this button and follow search directions below.

Reserve Books

This option allows you to search for items placed on reserve by your professors. This screen will allow you to search by instructor's name or the course number.

To search simply type your terms in the white text box and click "Begin Search" or hit enter. The list result will display very brief results. Click on a certain item to see the brief display with for the call number or click on the entry to see the full record.

Subject Search by the Library of Congress Subject Headings

When searching by subject, you must use the subject
headings designated by the Library of Congress. To search by subject, simply type the subject in the white text box and click "Begin Subject Search" or hit enter. Your results, if any, will display in a list of subject headings. If you click (about), this will only give you information about how the library uses this particular subject heading. Choose the most appropriate subject by clicking the link that precedes the parentheses. This will take you to a brief record that contains information about individual items, including the call number. To see more information about a particular item, click the link that contains the brief bibliographic information. If you did not receive any results, try a keyword search or consult a reference librarian.

Author Search for an author's works

To search by author, type the author's name in the box in the format Last name, First Name. For example to find books by Jane Austen, type "Austen, Jane" and click "Begin Author Search" or hit enter. A list of hits will appear, some with more specific information. For example the search for Austen, Jane returned "Austen, Jane, 1775-1817. Correspondence". If you click "about" this will only give you information about how the library uses the subject heading. To actually see what books we have, click on the subject heading itself. This will take you to a brief listing with bibliographic information as well as call numbers for individual items. To see more information about a particular item, click the link that contains the brief information. HINT: If you did not recieve any results or want more, pay attention to search also notes. If you do a search for Clemens, Samuel notice the note that tells you to search also for Twain, Mark. If you need additional assitance, please ask a reference librarian.

Title Search for the title of an item

To seach by title, type the title, without beginning articles (a, an, the) in the text box and click "Begin Title Search" or hit enter. For example to search for A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, leave off the first "a" and type "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". This will take you to a brief listing with bibliographic information as well as call numbers for individual items. To see more information about a particular item, click the link that contains the brief information. If you are unsure of the complete title, try using a keyword search.

Call Number Search by call number, ISBN, ISSN, etc.

To search by call number, simply type the call number with all periods and with a space between the call number and the year (QA76.76.C68C64 1994). Click the "Begin Call Number Search" or hit enter.This will take you to a brief listing with bibliographic information as well as call numbers for individual items. To see more information about a particular item, click the link that contains the brief information. If you need additional help, please consult the reference librarian.

Keyword Search by any words andwhere in a record

Searching the catalog by keyword allows you to search the entire bibliographic record (subject, author, title, notes, etc.) by your search terms. With keyword searching you can also combine search terms using Boolean operators. Using the operator "AND" allows you to narrow a search by requiring both search terms be present in the record. "OR" allows you to broaden your search by requiring either search term to be in a record. Using "NOT" allows you to exclude certain terms.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Last Updated 4/2003 Send your questions and comments to reference@tarleton.edu
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