Searching the library catalog
Start by going our website and Search our Catalog on the main page.
Logging In
If you login to the library’s online catalog you can
- Place a hold on an item in the library
- Request an Interlibrary loan for an item not owned by the library
- See what you have checked out and when it is due.
- Renew your checked out items if they are renewable.
- See if you have a fine.
To login, click on Account Login.If you do not see Account Login on the screen, then click on Exit first.
The username will be your library card number and the password is the same password you use to login to the computers or use the self-check machine. If you do not know your password, you can ask at the front desk.
My Circulation Information
My Circulation Information lets you view the current status of the library account. Status information includes:
- The Summary section shows items currently checked out to your account, overdue items, reserved items, fines and fees you owe the library and the number of “lost” items registered against your account.
- The Items Out section lists all items currently checked out to your account, and shows the due date for each item. Click the Renew link to renew the loan for one or more items.
- The Reserved Items section lists all titles reserved for checkout your account. Click the Delete link to cancel the reserve for an item.
- The Lost Items section lists all items declared “lost” for your account.
- The ILL Items section shows the current status of any Interlibrary loan requests pending on your account.
- The Previously Checked Out Items section lists items that have been previously checked out to your account.
Browse
Browse lets you search all headings at once (Author, Title, Subject, etc.) or a click the dropdown to select a heading, to find items based on the term you enter.
When using Browse, the system will find everything that starts with the words you type.
For instance if you type cat who and choose title in the dropdown, the system will find everything where the title starts with the words “cat who”. It will not find a book with the title “The private life of the cat who...” because it starts with something other than cat.
Keyword Search
When you click on Keyword Search and you use two or more words in a search term, the system searches for items that contain all the words in any order.
Quotation Marks
When you want to search for an exact phrase, for example “ice age”, Typing “ice age” in quotes will give you items with that phrase instead of items with the words ice and age in any order.
Wildcard Search (Asterisk *)
You can use a wildcard to expand your search. For instance, searching for holoc* will find items about the holocaust, searching for bat* will find bat, bats, battle, batman, etc.
Advanced Search
Advanced Search works the same way as Keyword except it lets you create complex searches. You can use up to three search terms and the logical functions And, Or and Not.
- And – Finds items that contain the 1st search term And the 2nd search term.
(“cat who” in title and Braun in author to find all of the Cat Who books by Lilian Jackson Braun)
- Or – Finds items that contain the 1st search term Or the 2nd search term.
- Not – Finds items that contain the 1st search term but Not the 2nd search term.
(“cat who” in title and not Braun in author to find all of the books with “cat who” in the title that are not by Lilian Jackson Braun)
Using Search Qualifiers
You can use search qualifiers with Advanced Search or Recent Items search.
Search qualifiers let you limit your search results to items of a selected material type, language and/or publication date. You can use one or more qualifiers on any Advanced Search or Recent Items search.
Scoping - Scoping lets you search for only Adult books, or only New Books, or only Audio Books, etc. To use scoping, click on Library Location and click on the dropdown.
Recent Items
Recent Items works the same way as Advanced search except it will give you search results of items added to the catalog from this week to three months ago.
You could click search without typing anything get results for everything added within the last week.
You could us search qualifiers or scoping to get a list of all DVDs added within the last three months or all children’s books added in the last two weeks for example.