The Catalog

To find a book in the library, back in the pre-computer dark ages, you'd first have to navigate your way through drawers and drawers full of thousands (if not millions) of typed index cards, filed alphabetically by subject, author, and title. These "card catalogs" have largely been disposed of in the last 30 years (many have been re-worked by a variety of artists).

Nowadays, however, you can use the online catalog to find all kinds of stuff in the library. You can access the CCA catalog right from the top of the library homepage. The online catalog is, fortunately, pretty easy to use, but here are a couple of quick tips that should help you get better results:

• Find one good book and then browse the shelves. Books are shelved together by subject, so it often saves time to head directly to the shelves once you find one or two call numbers, instead of searching the online catalog over and over.
• If you get zero results for a catalog search, try again! Check your spelling and/or try some synonyms if you don't find any books with your first search; there's usually something relevant in the library, but it may take a little digging to find it.
• Don't look for articles in the catalog. Use the article search page instead.

Image credit: Woodrow Wilson Reading Room card catalog by Wallace K Harrison (1961), accessed via ARTstor