Access from the library's homepage.
Click and highlight Keyword Search in the "Select Search Type" window. Enter keywords into "Enter Search Terms" dialog box. Put phrases within quotation marks. Use ? to truncate terms.
Examples:
Click and highlight the word Author in the "Select Search Type" window. Enter the author's last name first. Enter as much of the name as you know. No punctuation is necessary.
Examples:
Click and highlight the words Exact Title in the "Select Search Type" window. Enter the title, but do not include initial articles a, an, or the. Example: last laugh (Not "the last laugh")
Click and highlight LC Subject Headings in the "Select Search Type" window. Use Library of Congress subject headings (controlled vocabulary).
Examples:
Click on the Advanced Search tab. Enter search terms in the "Search for" dialog box. Select "all of these" "any of these" or "as a phrase" from the drop down menu. Select fields in which to search for the search terms from the drop down menu.
Combine other search terms, if needed, with a Boolean and, or, and exclude terms by clicking in the circle by the word not.
Example:
AND
LIMITS, if used, can be applied before performing the search or after performing the search by clicking the "Post Limit" button.
Find items on reserve in the library by selecting the instructor's name, department, or course number. Hint: Do not fill in too many boxes.
Note that most of these items are now available full text online through this search!
Help Screens are available from any page; click gold Help button.
You can email book records to yourself or others.
Book records are linked within the Library Catalog. When you find a book or AV item useful in your research, click on its assigned subject heading(s) to view other materials on the same topic.
You can customize a search session by clicking gold buttons found along the top of the web page. 1. Set a preferred search method in "My Preferences"; 2. Save search strategies to easily re-execute them later in "My Saved Searches"; 3. Select and keep certain titles in a file, like dropping books into "My Bookbag".
Patron information is available to you when you log in so that you can view other library items you have checked out and renew items that are due. Other users cannot view this confidential information without your log in information.
Hint: Be sure you log out again if you are using a public terminal. (There is a time-out feature if you forget to log out.)
Recall checked out items by clicking the gold Recall button. You can then pick up the recalled items at the Circulation Desk.
You can search other UW System library catalogs simultaneously, by clicking the gold "Other Catalogs" button, and you can borrow books from other UW libraries through Universal Borrowing (UB). Ask at the Reference Desk.
You can search for journal/magazine/newspaper titles to identify which ones the library subscribes to (in Simple Search). Please note this search does not find articles within journals, nor does this search identify journal titles the library subscribes to full text online. See library's database index.