Library Catalog Tutorial

You can access the library catalog from the middle of the library homepage. On the left, you will see a search box. On the right, you can use the drop down menu to search by keyword, title, journal title, author, subject, or call number.

Title Search

• Type in the name of the book in the search box. (Omit a, an, or the from the beginning of the title.) Pull down the arrow on the right and choose title. Then click search.

LNDL Books

• You are now in the results. Each listing will show you the year the book was published, the title and author of the book as well as its call number, availability, and location. You can tell if the book is located at the Loyola Notre Dame Library because our library will be listed at the bottom of the result. You can tell if a book is available if it says "not checked out" next to our library's name. To get the book, write down the call number. The first letter of the call number will tell you where to go in the library to find the book.
  
  
• You can check out anything that says "LNDL Stacks," but you can't take out reference books, which are labeled "LNDL Reference."

At Another Library

• Sometimes there are books in our catalog that are not available at the Loyola Notre Dame Library. This happens because we share the catalog with four other libraries. If you see a book that you want that is not available from our library, but is available at another library, you can request it and have it delivered here (you can only request non-reference books from the other libraries). To request, click into the record. Then click on "Make a Request" on the right hand side of the page. Fill out the form using your barcode and last name.
  
  
• On the next page, select which library you want the book delivered to. Most students will want to pick "LNDL Circ," but if you take classes at Loyola's Columbia or Timonium campus, you can have your books delivered there. In the "phone number" box, provide either a phone number or an email address. This is how we'll notify you when your book arrives - usually the next day, except on weekends.

Multiple Holdings

• When you are looking at a result that says "Multiple Holdings," it means that more than one library owns the book. Click i into the record to see which libraries own the book.

Ebooks

• You can recognize ebooks because the words "electric resource" are in brackets next to the title. We have a growing collection of e-books that you can read from your computer. To open an e-book, click into the record, then scroll down to where it says "Loyola Notre Dame Library World Wide Web." Next, click on the link next to the "linked resources" heading. This will open the book.

Keyword Searching

• Let's say that you are researching September 11th. You can simply type in the term and hit search. When you do this, the catalog will perform a keyword search. this means that it is looking for the words that you type anywhere in the information it has about each book--the title, author, subjects and even the name of the publisher. This is a broad way to search, but is the easiest method.
  
  
• You can use the results in your search to find more books that directly relate to your topic. Click into a record. On this page, you will see a list of Subjects that are related to the book. Clicking on a subject will take you to more books that focus on the topic. Click on the subject heading again to see this list of books.
  
  
• Once in the results, you can look at each book's locations and availability. For books at LNDL, write down the call number and go to the appropriate floor. Request books that are available at another library.
  
  
• Instead of doing a keyword search, you can start off your search in the catalog by using a subject term. This works particularly well when you are looking for books about a person. If you would like to learn how to perform a subject search, contact the Research Assistance desk.
  
  
• Don't forget that you can also search for books by a particular author or by the book's call number.
  
  If you need help with any of the topics covered in this tutorial, contact the Research Assistance desk (410-617-6802).