A library catalog is a database of materials available through a specific library. Each title in the library collection is searchable by author, title, subject headings, and the whole record is searchable via Boolean keyword searching (refer to p. 21-23 if you need a review). If a patron knows a specific title or author’s name, using a title search or author search is the most efficient method to determine if a library has that work, and where it is located. However, most students looking for information do not know a specific title or author, and need to locate information about a topic. For most circumstances, a Boolean keyword search is the most efficient search method to locate relevant materials. In most library catalogs, the results are listed in alphabetical order of the title or author, but most catalogs can modify the list to a relevance ranking or by date of publication. In most OPAC’s, the date of publication and the summary or table of contents are included in the record, and are the helpful to assess the sources.
Subject headings are helpful when determining if a record is relevant to a topic, and in most OPAC’s the subject headings are hotlinked in a record, which means that clicking on a subject heading can link to a list of titles that have that subject heading. However, searching by subject heading can be frustrating, as the subject heading has to be in the correct terminology or simply retrieves “no results”. Most catalogs have a system of “see” and “see also” references that direct patrons to the correct term, but this is limited to the computer having similar thought-processes as the patron. The “see” and “see also” references are remnants of the print card catalog, and also have their purpose in OPAC’s. However, patrons might want to consult the subject headings that are used by the library to avoid frustration that often occurs as a result of guessing at the appropriate subject headings.
Subject headings are essential to locating materials on specific types of research when using a library catalog. For example, historical events may have several names, but will have the same subject heading (search for Civil War or World War II). In addition, literary criticism and commentary are often classified and given call numbers near the original work. However, often a library has large literary collections and the call number is needed to locate the title on the shelf, and the subject headings are essential to locating the call number for the correct book. Search for the author’s name as a subject, and look for the subdivision that is appropriate, such as Hemingway, Ernest—Criticism and Interpretation.
If your library has an Integrated Library System (ILS), you may find it easiest to do a keyword search, then use the facets to limit your results to those with a more limited focus. These facets may include the publication date, subject tags, publication types and other factors to help limit the results to the appropriate materials. However, be careful to use the facets one step at a time, if too many options are used in one step, the results may be devastating. It is usually better to limit the results in small steps, rather than large leaps!
