How to Use an Electronic Card Library Catalog

You now can find modern technology in most libraries. The drawers full of index cards with book titles, authors and subjects are things of the past. Today's modern library offers its patrons electronic access to all of the library's holdings.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

1. Open the card catalog program on the card catalog computer. In most libraries, it's the default page and also acts as the library's home page with any news and announcements.

2. Search by subject. For most card catalog programs, this is the default search type.

3. Type in the subject you are researching. The electronic program can give you a list of possible subjects, as well as a list of related topics. You may have to try variations on your subject to find books on the topic you are researching.

4. Highlight the name of a book you want to know more about. Click on it. The catalog card entry opens. This screen provides title, author, date, number of pages, call number, reading level, description and other bibliographic information. It also indicates whether the book is in the library or not.

5. Look for the author of a book as well. The electronic card catalog then generates a list of all books in the library by that author.

6. Search by book title. This is the most direct route to finding a book, if you already know what you are looking for.

7. Write down the call number of the book, or print it out. This helps you locate the book on the shelves.

Tips & Warnings

• Once you know a call number for a particular subject, it is easy to go to the stacks and find more books on the subject you are researching.

• Information for the subject, author and title card entries are the same.