PILOT
There are four major options when searching online catalogs:
- Author
- Title
- Keyword
- Subject
Searching by Author and Title
To find a specific book or author type in the first few words of the title or the last name of the author in the search terms box. Then click on the appropriate search. Remember to omit the articles "A" "An" and "The" when they are the first word of the title.
- Let's try doing a keyword search using some key terms with the Guided Search Screen.
- Example:
- For example, to search for Juveniles, you might try the following search strategy:
"Juvenile?" or "Juveniles and Delinquency " and click on "keyword" or "title" or "subject" - Let's try doing a subject heading search using subject heading terms.
If we do not own a book you can enlarge your search to other PALCI libraries or consult UBORROW.
To recap the important difference between keyword and subject searches:
- Keyword searching means that the words you have chosen may appear anywhere
in the record. - A subject search retrieves only those books specifically about a given topic and which
a subject heading that has been assigned. - Subject headings for each book describe in some detail what the book covers.
- Subject headings are assigned using the Library of Congress Subject Headings.
Most major university libraries use these subject headings.
