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University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Using the Library Catalog

This guide explains how to log into an account, search the catalog, and how to renew and request items.

Start Your Search

The simple search in the library catalog allows you to search for items by all fields. To start searching, simply begin typing your search terms in the search box. Notice that as you type, options for searching will appear under the search box:

1. Go to the Library homepage.
2. Scroll down until you see the large orange capital "I" with the words "U of I Collection" underneath it. Click on the "I."
3. Start typing your search in the box.

image of options that appear when you start typing in the default catalog search box
 

As you can see from the screen shot above, you can change where you search at the time that you enter your search, but you can also easily change your search once you get your results list, by clicking on the drop-down menu in the right side of the search box, as shown below:

image of library catalog, i-share, and course reserves search options from the results list screen

Narrow Your Results

Once you do your search, the library catalog gives you options to filter your results under "Tweak your results" on the left side of your screen. You can narrow by availability (including online only items), resource type, library (this would be location: which library is the physical copy available in), subject (this is Library of Congress Subject Heading), author/creator, creation date (when it was published), and language. When you click on an option you are taken to a new results page.

image of ways to narrow your results, described in the text above the image