Library Catalogue
How can I connect to the
Catalogue?
What information will the
Catalogue provide?
How can I look up a book,
on the Catalogue?
How can I look up a journal
on the Catalogue?
How can I look up a video?
How can I use the Catalogue
to find material on a topic?
What do I do if the book
or article is not available?
How do I connect to the Catalogue?
The Library's Online Catalogue
is accessible via the Internet, 24 hours per day.
Access is available in all of the Branch Libraries, in the History
Department, in the Computer Labs, in fact on any computer which has
Internet access, anywhere in the World. The web address is: http://cat.lib.unimelb.edu.au
What information will the Catalogue provide?
The Catalogue will provide:
Bibliographic details. - Author, title and publication
details.
Location details - The Call Number indicates
the exact location.
Number of copies held.
Availability details. - Available or Due Date.
How can I look up a book on the Catalogue?
You can search for a book on the Library Catalogue by author or title.
There is also the option to search by ISBN Number or Call Number or
Keyword.
Author Type in the author's name, surname first.
Title Type in the exact title, if it is lengthy, the first part
of the title (say, four or five words)
University
of Melbourne Library Catalogue
How can I look up a journal on the catalogue?
To check whether the Library holds a specific article, search for the
Title of the Journal on the Catalogue.
Tip: If the journal does not have a distinctive
title, and your search retrieves a large number of titles, try the Limit
option on the Catalogue. (i.e. press L) Select the Book / Magazine...
option. This allows you to limit your search results just to journals.
Tip: Its always worth checking the entry on the
Catalogue to see whether the Volume you require is held.
(Note: Individual journal articles aren't listed on the catalogue.)
How can I look up a video on the Catalogue?
A Title search is usually the best option. Simply type in the
title of the video.
Tip: If the video does not have a distinctive
title, and your search retrieves a large number of titles, try the Limit
option on the Catalogue. (i.e. press L) This allows you to limit
your search results by Material Type, in this case, VID,
FILM, SLIDE.
How can I use the Catalogue to find material
on a topic?
A Keyword search is the best option. This allows you to type
in a keyword or keywords, and the catalogue will retrieve all the records
(for books, serials etc.) which contain those words.
Refer to the sections in Planning Your Search on Identifying
Search Terms and Boolean Searching.
What do I do if the book or article is not
available?
There will be times when the book, or journal (or video etc.) is not
available.
Out on Loan? You have a couple of options. Either place it on
Hold (through the catalogue) or see if a copy is available at another
library.
Not on the Shelf? There will be times when the item you wish
to locate is not on the shelf (even though it is listed on the Catalogue
as being Available). More than likely the item has been recently
used in the Library by someone else. Check the sorting shelves, if its
not there, give it some time and try again later. (If you search unsuccessfully
for an item over a period of a number of days, report it to Library
staff at the Loans Desk)
Not held in the Library? Check to see whether it is held in
another library nearby. See Section on Locating material in other
libraries.
