Library Orientation

Searching for Library Books

In the library catalog, click on "Advanced Search" as seen in the picture below:

You will then be able to control your search results much more efficiently to quickly find what you need. When searching for books, you have three options: Author/Title search, subject search or keyword search. See the sections below for more information on when and how to use these types of searches.

Combined Author/Title option

• quickest way to find an item if you know the author and title
• use the Author or Title options only if you know the exact forms

Subject option

• yields only items cataloged under prescribed subject headings (ie Library of Congress headings see list of possible subject headings below).

Examples of subject headings:

• Great Britain -- History -- 19th century

• Women -- China -- History

• Great Britain -- Social life -- Customs

If you are not familiar with the subject terms, ask a librarian for help or use keywords:

Keyword Option (words from the title)

• usually yields more hits as it searches author, subject headings, titles and series