You will use the UIUC Online Catalog to find books in the Library. The UIUC Online Catalog shows which books we own (as well as journals, databases, microform collections, and other types of resources), and where they are located. (Searching for articles on a particular topic is a separate search process described under the Periodicals tab.) Use the UIUC Library Catalog to do a subject search for books, or to find out where a particular book or journal is located on campus. The online catalog contains information about published primary source material and secondary literature.

The UIUC Library is one of 130+ member libraries that compose the I-Share consortium. I-Share libraries have a single online catalog, and you can borrow directly from other libraries in the consortium by placing a request through the catalog. (The online catalog is often referred to as the “OPAC,” which is an acronym used by librarians for “Online Public Access Catalog.”)

You can also search the UIUC online catalog separately. We have two versions of our online catalog: the "classic" online interface and a new interface called VuFind.  To browse by call number, author, or subject, you must use the "classic" version. VuFind only supports keyword searching.  To order items from other I-Share libraries, however, you must use VuFind.  The VuFind interface was adopted by the I-Share consortium and is intended to offer simplified searching, but since it lacks some of the functionality of the older interface, we continue to make the "classic" catalog available for users of our library.

You will also want to consult WorldCat to identify books not available either at UIUC or through I-SHARE. If you locate a book in WorldCat, place a request for it through Inter-Library Loan.

Books and journals are organized in the UIUC Library by subject. Upon receipt, new books are assigned subject headings and classification numbers. Print journals were cataloged in the same way.

Books are shelved according to their call numbers (see below). In addition to the main bookstacks, there are several departmental librarie you will want to use. The Main Library houses the History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library (HPNL), the Language and Literature Library, the Classics Library, the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library, and several others. Departmental libraries located outside the Main Library that you may need are the Music Library and the Architecture and Art Library. Each of these libraries has subject specialist librarians who can assist you with your research. You'll find that there are fewer departmental libraries every year, but you can consult the most recent list of existing departmental libraries, along with their hours of operation, at library.illinois.edu. This list includes some departmental libraries that exist only as a website maintained by a subject specialists.

The "Classic" online catalog offers both "Quick Search" and "Advanced Search" options. Use the "Quick Search" to browse a specific subject heading (e.g., Crime-Massachusetts-History), to search a title when you know exactly how it begins, to locate a work or works by a particular author, or to search for a specific book when you already know the call number. Use the "Advanced Search" to combine subject headings (or elements from subject headings) or to combine keywords from any part of the record with subject headings.

Examples of "Quick Search"

• You have a complete book citation and need to find it in the UIUC Library (Sight and Embodiment in the Middle Ages, by Suzannah Biernoff, New York, 2002). Search under title using "Quick Search - Start of Title."
• You have identified a subject heading and would like to find all variations (subdivisions), as well as all books in the online catalog that were assigned that heading ("Imperialism" or "Riots-United States"). Use "Quick Search - Browse Subject."
• You have an author's name and would like to find works by that author (Linda Gordon). Use "Quick Search - Browse Author."
• You know the first words of the title, but don't know the author's name (Born to Procreate). Use "Quick Search - Start of Title."
• You have a call number for a book (from the card catalog or other source) and need to know where the book is located in the UIUC Library system (704 W772). Use "Quick Search - Browse Call Number."
• You want to find books on a topic ("home front" or "involuntary sterilization") but do not know the subject headings to use. Search by "Any Words." Your results will be ranked in order of relevancy, as determined by frequency of the term or terms in the record, which field or fields in the record contains the term(s), and, if you searched multiple terms, how many of your terms appear in the record and how close to one another they occur.

Examples of "Advanced Search"

• You know words from the title ("good war"), but are not certain of the exact title, and you don't know the author's name Use the drop-down menu on the right and select "Title Words."
• You know the author's last name and also some part of the title (Melman, English women). Construct a Boolean search using "Author Words" and "Title Words."
• You want to find books on a topic ("pronatalism" or "medievalism") but do not know the subject headings to use. Search by "Any Words." Find a record for a book that pertains to your topic and use the hyperlinked subject headings in that record to identify additional books, or browse those subject headings in "Quick Search."
• You want to do a Boolean search on multiple subject terms ("Birth control" and "Race discrimination"). Use "Subject Words" for each element.
• You know there is an "edited volume" containing a chapter on punishment in Massachusetts by Jules Zanger, but you don't know the title of the book or the name of the editor. Construct a Boolean search using "punishment" and "Zanger" as "Note words."
• You want to search on keywords from titles or contents notes ("popular justice"). Search by "Title Words" or "Any Words" or "Notes Words."
• You want to combine subject terms ("Middle Ages") and keywords (crime). Construct a Boolean search using "Subject Words" and "Any Words."

Note on subject searching

The key to successful searching with subject headings is to remember that there will always be multiple headings for any topic, and if you are doing historical research, you need to identify as many as possible to lead you to all material on your topic. This is true whether you are searching the UIUC catalogs or one of the online article databases discussed below. You may find the perfect subject heading for your topic, but it may have been created recently, and thus would not have been available for use with earlier works. Even when the perfect heading exists and is available for catalogers and indexers to use, for one reason or another they may not assign it.

Note that a book or article assigned a relatively broad heading, such as “United States—Race relations” or “Middle Ages—History” in the online catalog, card catalog, or an article database, may contain some discussion of specific themes or topics that is not separately indexed. Sometimes you simply have to scan the works themselves to determine if your particular topic is addressed.

Renewals and course reserves

From the online catalog you can log into your account to renew books. You can also access course reserves through the online catalog (listed by instructor and course number). If a journal article or book chapter on reserve is available electronically (“e-reserves”), you can link directly to the material. If there are “print reserves” (books) for the course, they are also listed, along with the library where they are located and their current circulation status.

The Library offers workshops in using library resources, including tips on searching the online catalog. In addition to the “Savvy Researcher” series of workshops, there is a workshop designed specifically for TAs and RAs (teaching assistants and research assistants).

The subject headings used in the Online Catalog are standardized Library of Congress terms, which may be “subdivided” (made more specific) by geographic area, chronological period, genre, or sub-topic. The language of subject headings is not at all intuitive or natural, so you shouldn’t hesitate to ask a librarian for help in finding the correct subject headings.

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 in order 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.

Subject Headings vs. Keyword Searching?

Why bother with subject headings in the online catalog when you can do keyword searching?

It's true that developing facility with subject headings was more critical in the era of card catalogs. They provided the only subject access to library materials. In online catalogs, you can often identify material on a topic quite easily by searching on keywords. But if you limit yourself to keyword searching, you are likely to miss important material on your topic that uses other terms. For an undergraduate term paper, a keyword search may turn up a few good sources, and that may be sufficient for the purposes of the assignment. But when you’re doing historical research, you won’t want to miss critical material on your topic. A systematic, comprehensive subject search requires searching with subject headings as well as with keywords.

Classification:

After a new book is assigned subject headings, it is then “classified” according to the Dewey Decimal Classification. UIUC is the largest “Dewey” library in the world. In addition, we use a system called Superintendent of Documents Classification ("SuDocs") for U.S. government publications (based on issuing agency).

In Dewey, the first three numbers indicate the main subject, and additional numbers are added after a decimal point to narrow the subject. Books and journals on historical topics are usually classified in the 900s, although much of social history gets classified in the 300s, and the history of science, technology, and medicine is classified in the 500s and 600s. Religion is classified in the 200s, philosophy in the 100s, literature and literary studies in the 800s, and the fine arts in the 700s.

For more detail on the Dewey Decimal classification (zzzzz), consult the Dewery summary tables.

In the 1960s, many libraries adopted the Library of Congress Classification, but by that time the UIUC Library already had more than four million volumes classified in Dewey. Some large academic libraries began using LC classification for new materials and left their older materials in Dewey, splitting their collection in two. Here at UIUC we debated this approach in 1979, but decided against it, primarily because of the potential inconvenience to our readers, who would have to go back and forth between the systems. Eventually we did adopt LC classification for Music, Law, and materials in Asian languages; older materials in those collections were retrospectively converted to LC classification. Many newer acquisitions, across all disciplines, are being cataloged in LC.

In summary, use the Online Catalog when you have a reference or citation to a particular book or journal you want to find in the Library, or when you want to do a subject search to find books on a particular topic.

• Luxury.
• Luxury --Early works to 1800.
• Luxury --History.
• Luxury --Moral and ethical aspects.
• Luxury --Moral and ethical aspects --History.
• Luxury --Social aspects.
• Luxuries.
• Luxuries --History.
• Luxuries --History --18th century.
• Luxuries --Social aspects.
• Luxuries --Taxation.
• Luxury goods industry.
• Material culture --History.
• Material culture --History --18th century.
• Wealth --History.
• Wealth --History --18th century.
• Consumption (Economics).
• Consumption (Economics) --Great Britain.
• Consumption (Economics) --Great Britain --History.
• Consumption (Economics) --History.
• Consumption (Economics) --History --Sources.
• Consumer goods.
• Consumer goods --History.
• Consumer goods --History --Sources.
• Consumer goods --Psychological aspects.
• Marketing.
• Marketing --Case studies.
• Marketing --Great Britain --History.
• Marketing --History.
• Affluent consumers.
• Rich people.
• Rich people --Conduct of life.
• Rich people --Drama.
• Rich people --Fiction.
• Rich people --France --Drama.
• Rich people --History.
• Rich people --Homes and haunts.
• Rich people --Social life and customs.
• Art patronage.
• Art patronage --Greece --Athens.
• Art patronage --Italy.
• Art patronage --Italy --Florence --History --17th century --Exhibitions.
• Art patronage --Italy --History.
• Art patronage --Italy --History --Sources.
• Art patrons.
• Art patrons--Germany.
• Art patrons --Germany --Biography.
• Art patrons --Germany --Prussia --Exhibitions.
• Art patrons --France.
• Art patrons --France --Biography.
• Art patrons --France --Biography --Dictionaries.
• Art --Collectors and collecting.
• Art --Collectors and collecting --France.
• Art --Collectors and collecting --France --Paris.
• Art --Collectors and collecting --France --Paris --Correspondence.
• Art --Collectors and collecting -- History.
• Collectors and collecting.
• Book collecting.
• Book collectors.
• Stamp collecting.
• Stamp collectors.
• Collectibles.
• Antiques.
• Art and religion.
• Art and religion --Exhibitions.
• Art and religion --Italy --Early works to 1800.
• Christianity and the arts.
• Christianity and the arts --History.
• Christianity and the arts --History of doctrines --16th century.
• Economic history.
• Paris (France) --Social life and customs --18th century.

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.