Why bother with subject headings in the online catalog when you can do keyword searching?
It’s true that you can find sources on a topic by doing keyword searches. But if you limit yourself to keyword searching, you are likely to miss important material on your topic that uses other terms. If you only need two or three books, you can probably find what you need by doing keyword searches, but if you are doing historical research, you can’t afford to miss critical material on your topic. For a comprehensive subject search, search with subject headings as well as keywords.
A good way to identify subject headings for a topic is to do a keyword search in the online catalog using terms you think describe the topic and try to identify a few relevant books. Look at the full record for those books to see what subject headings were used, then do another search on those headings.
As a rule of thumb, use fairly broad headings, as well as the specific ones that describe your topic, in order to make sure you haven't inadvertently eliminated relevant material that is contained within works of larger scope. Most likely you will find multiple headings to describe your topic, and you should use all of them. You can narrow your search in the online catalog by combining subject headings (as a phrase) with keywords, using the “Advanced Search” option.
Chicago (Ill.)—Social conditions
Chicago (Ill.)—Politics and government
Chicago (Ill.)—Race relations
Chicago (Ill.)—Intellectual life
Chicago (Ill.)—Social life and customs
Chicago (Ill.)—Economic conditions
Chicago (Ill.)—Politics and government
Chicago (Ill.)—Emigration and immigration
Chicago (Ill.)—History
Chicago (Ill.)—History, local
Chicago (Ill.)—History—1875-
Chicago (Ill.)—Church history
Chicago (Ill.)—Statistics
Chicago (Ill.)—Census
Chicago (Ill.)—Biography
Chicago (Ill.)—Maps
Chicago (Ill.)—Bibliography
United States—Emigration and immigration—History
Minorities—Illinois—Chicago
Illinois—Race relations
Minorities—United States—History
Immigrants—United States—History
Italian Americans—Illinois—Chicago
Italian Americans—Ethnic identity
Hispanic Americans—Illinois—Chicago
German Americans—History
African Americans—Illinois—Chicago
African Americans—Illinois—Social conditions
African American women—Illinois—Political activity
African Americans—Civil rights—Illinois—Chicago—History
African Americans—Migrations—History—20th century
African Americans—Housing—Illinois—Chicago—History
Civil rights movements—Illinois—Chicago—History—20th century
Migration, internal—Illinois—Chicago—History
Labor and laboring classes—Illinois—Chicago
Labor and laboring classes—Illinois—Chicago—History
Labor and laboring classes—Illinois—Chicago—Political activities
Community organization—Illinois—Chicago
Packing-house workers—Illinois—Chicago—History
Meat industry and trade—Illinois—Chicago
Public housing—Illinois—Chicago
Neighborhood—Illinois—Chicago
Urban policy—Illinois—Chicago
Housing policy—Illinois—Chicago
Environmental policy—Illinois—Chicago
Housing—Illinois—Chicago
Urban renewal—Illinois—Chicago
Social settlements—History
Discrimination in housing—Illinois—Chicago
American literature—Illinois—Chicago—History & criticism
Charities—Illinois—Chicago
The "Classic" online catalog offers both “Quick Search” and “Advanced Search” options.
Use “Advanced Search” to identify subject headings on your topic, to combine subject headings (or elements from subject headings) in a Boolean search, or to combine keywords from any part of the record with subject headings to narrow your search.
Do an Advanced Search on the terms “residential segregation” and “Chicago” to find books on this topic. (“Residential segregation” is not a Library of Congress subject heading.) Then look at the subject headings in your results (Discrimination in housing, for example) and do a Quick Search on those subject headings to find more books on the topic.
Do an Advanced Search combining the keyword “Chicago” with the subject keyword “social settlement.” Or try an Advanced Search combining the keyword “neighborhoods” with the keyword “Chicago.” Or try an Advanced Search combining the subject heading “racism” and the keyword “Chicago.”
Do an Advanced Search when you know part of the title (South Side) but are not certain of the exact title. Use the drop-down menu on the right and select “Title Words.”
Use “Quick Search” to browse a subject heading (e.g., Housing—Illinois—Chicago), to search a title when you know exactly how it begins (e.g., Block by Block), to locate a work or works by a particular author (e.g., Amanda Seligman), or to search by call number for a specific book (e.g., 363.34 K685h).
In addition to the 13 million+ printed books available to you here in the Library, we also have a rapidly growing collection of digitized books.
