Finding books at the library and beyond

To find books in the library, use the online catalog. A library online catalog is an index to books and other materials owned by a library. Just as an index in the back of a book gives access to the contents of a book, the library catalog provides access to the contents of the library. It lists what the library owns by author, title, subject and keyword. The catalog in the Lane Library provides access to books, periodicals, government publications, and audiovisual materials. Almost all materials in the Lane Library are listed in the catalog.

There are several ways to locate library materials using the online catalog. For starters, the “Quick Catalog Search” box in the middle of the Library home page offers a quick way to search the Lane Library Catalog. It automatically performs a keyword search, which searches for words in the subject, the title, or the author. But you can also use the pull down menu to change to just a subject search, an author search, or a title search.

• Author searching is very straightforward. Click on author in the drop-down menu under “Quick Catalog Search.” Remember to enter the last name first. Capitalization and commas aren’t necessary.
• Title searching is very similar. The full title is not necessary—usually the first few words are sufficient.
• Subject searching is a little more complex, and requires some knowledge of Library of Congress subject headings. We will cover this in the next section.
• To carry out a Keyword search, click on keyword from the Quick Catalog Search drop-down menu and enter one, two or three words which best sum up your topic. The computer will look for any specified words anywhere in the title or subject description of every item in the system. This option can be particularly useful if you are unsure of the formal subject heading of an item, don’t know the exact wording of a title, or to suggest new lines of approach.

The difference between Keyword and Subject Headings