The online catalog is best for finding books held by the University Library or I-Share Libraries.
You can also request a book through the catalog by clicking "Get It" in the catalog record. Please see the University Library's COVID-19 Response page for up-to-date protocols.
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.
Quick Tip: 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.
Examples of Subject Headings (from catalog record for The Courtiers' Anatomists: Animals and Humans in Louis XIV's Paris):
Académie des sciences (France) -- History
Histoire des animaux
Du Verney, M., 1648-1730
Perrault, Claude, 1613-1688
Académie des sciences (France)
Zoology -- Study and teaching -- France -- Paris -- History
Anatomy -- Study and teaching -- France -- Paris -- History
NATURE -- Animals -- General
NATURE -- Animals -- Wildlife
SCIENCE -- Life Sciences -- Zoology -- General
Anatomy -- Study and teaching
Zoology -- Study and teaching
France -- Paris
Electronic books
History
Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery (Doc Express)
Items that CAN be requested
Items that CANNOT be requested
Items that CAN be requested:
Items that CANNOT be requested: