Guide to Library Research in Science

Lesson 6: Searching Library Catalogs

Library catalogs contain listings of the materials owned by (or accessible from) their respective libraries. Materials listed in library catalogs include books, government publications, electronic resources, scores and recordings, media, and periodical titles (but not the articles contained in the periodicals). Library catalogs also provide information about locations of materials and current availability.

The CONSORT catalog includes the combined catalogs of the College of Wooster, Denison University, Kenyon College, and Ohio Wesleyan University. In addition to listing the holdings of the CONSORT libraries, the CONSORT catalog provides direct access to the OhioLINK Central catalog, which contains records from the catalogs of more than 80 academic and public libraries in Ohio, including the CONSORT colleges.

This lesson provides information on how to search for books and other materials from these and other library catalogs.

Searching the CONSORT Catalog

From the Basic Search screen, the CONSORT catalog can be searched by Author, Title, Journal Title, Keywords, Subject Headings and various identification numbers, including Library of Congress call numbers, Superintendent of Documents call numbers, and ISBN or ISSN.

Search by author to retrieve a list of works by a specific known author, editor, translator, illustrator or composer. You may also search by corporate author such as corporation, association, or organization.

A title search will retrieve works with a specific known title or alternate title. In CONSORT, searching by title may also retrieve chapter titles within a book.

CONSORT also permits you to search by journal title (but not by article title within a journal). You may search for journal titles with a Title search, but you will retrieve records for books and other materials that have the same title. For example, searching for the journal Biochemistry with a title search retrieves approximately 140 records including books and journals. Searching by journal title retrieves five records, making it much easier to locate the record you need.

Keyword searching retrieves records that contain words or combinations of words that appear in the title, author, subject headings or contents notes of a record. This flexible search interface allows you to truncate, use Boolean and proximity operators, and limit your search to specific fields in the record. Scroll down below the Keyword search form to see examples of how to use special operators in CONSORT. The Advanced Search screen provides several options for limiting your search retrieval. See also the pages about Truncation and Proximity Operators for help using these techniques in CONSORT.

A Subject search retrieves a list of works about a particular topic based on subject headings assigned by the Library of Congress. Learning to use both keyword and subject searching will help you focus your retrieval. For example, if you are looking for materials about “chaos” you will find that a keyword search retrieves more than 1000 records using the word chaos in many different contexts. By reviewing some of the relevant records, you may find that the ones that are most useful all have the subject heading “Chaotic behavior in systems.” By clicking on that subject heading from within a record, or by typing that heading into a subject search, you will retrieve 155 records that are focused on your topic.

Other CONSORT Features

Selecting the Reserves tab from either the CONSORT Basic Search screen or the Advanced Search screen provides access to materials on print or electronic reserve, searchable by either professor’s name or course name. The reserves record lists all items placed on reserve for that course with a call number. Please use the call number when asking for a reserve item at the Circulation Desk.

CONSORT also provides an interface for direct patron borrowing of library materials from other CONSORT and OhioLINK libraries. See Lesson 11: Borrowing Materials from Other Libraries for more information.

Selecting the MY CONSORT tab from either the CONSORT Basic Search screen or the Advanced Search screen allows you to log into your own library record. My CONSORT allows you to:

• view the CONSORT and OhioLINK materials you have checked out;
• check the status of materials requested from other CONSORT or OhioLINK libraries;
• make multiple requests without re-entering your password;
• save searches in the catalog;
• set up automatic notification of new materials that match a saved search.

See the My CONSORT guide for additional information.

OhioLINK Central Catalog

The OhioLINK Central catalog is the database of all books and other materials owned by all the OhioLINK member libraries. Any search conducted in the CONSORT catalog can be performed automatically in OhioLINK by clicking on the red Search OhioLINK button on each CONSORT screen. OhioLINK provides a series of brief video tutorials covering the features of the OhioLINK catalog.