Library:HSS Catalogue Search Tips

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Catalogue Tips for HSS Reference Questions

Video

Question: I don’t have the name of a video. Can I search for videos on a topic?

Yes. Use the “Location/item type/language” filter and select "Format:Videorecording" and enter your keywords.

Language

Question: What books do you have in Spanish?

  • Use “Location/item type/language” filter. In basic search, only French, German, or Spanish are available for books in Koerner. Go to advanced search to get full list of languages.
  • Also use the Library of Congress Classification Outline to get the call number range to browse. For example, PQ4001-5999 for Italian literature, within that PQ4860-4886 for Individual authors, 1961-2000. Many times patrons just want to browse the language collection for something to read in that language for practice and they're not too fussy about what.

Series

Some series are listed individually by title in the catalogue, others are not. If they are, you can click the series title to see a list of individual titles in the catalogue. If they are NOT listed individually, you can't search by individual title.

Question: What do you have in the BAR international series?

  • The Title (begins with) field also searches the series title. Search the catalogue by title to see a full list of our holdings by title in reverse chronological order.
  • Series is hyperlinked in catalogue record; can be a good way to find additional materials on a topic.


Question: I’m looking for vol. 15 of the series “African literature today”. The volume is called Women in African Literature Today. Do you have it?

  • Catalogue record for the African literature today series notes "From V.16 onwards individual volumes are listed by author and title in the catalogue."
  • What if someone comes to you with title of vol 15, Women in African Literature Today?
  • Won’t be able to find by main title in catalogue. Record says we have vols. 1-15, but they’re just not in the catalogue by title. We do have this item.

Conference Proceedings and Symposia

Conference proceedings can sometimes be tricky to find. A keyword search is best; try a keyword search of the word proceedings and part of the name of the conference. Sometime the conference is listed individually by title and year; other times it is not.


Question: Do you have the book "Perspectives on Arabic linguistics : papers from the XX annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics.

  • Proceedings not individually catalogued by title in this case. Title for whole series is Perspectives on Arabic linguistics : papers from the ... annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. We do have this volume.


Encyclopedias (and other reference material)

Question: I’m looking for some basic information on the history of tobacco.

  • We have a lot of very specific encyclopedias that can help students get started on a topic. Use the term encyclopedia (or handbook or dictionary, etc) in your search to see what we may have.

Example: [tobacco and encyclopedia] finds Tobacco in history and culture : an encyclopedia.

Microforms

Question: I need the find this book “Community innovation : innovation performance of manufacturing firms in Canadian communities”. And what’s a microform?

  • recent micrologs often online. If a student comes looking for the microform, try a Google phrase search to see if the pdf is available. They will be very happy if you can find the online content.

Cartographic Material (Maps & Atlases)

Question: Do you have any maps of Mount Logan, preferably with ascent routes?


BIOL 140

Question: I need information on this organism called artemia and I found this item at Koerner called “Scale-up studies on the culture of brine shrimp Artemia fed with rice bran”. Can you help me find it?

  • This is a BIOL 140 student, and you will see lots of them in Koerner October and November. They have done a keyword search and found a thesis on microform on their topic. It likely won’t be helpful. Refer them to the BIOL 140 course page with appropriate reference material, search terms, and best of all, tutorials to help them find material. They really should be over in Woodward and will be happy if you show them the course page.


Call Number Browse

Question: Can I see what’s on a shelf without going into the stacks? title search Ethnographic encounters in Southern Mesoamerica In koerner –next item in ikblc

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