SHAWNEE STATE UNIVERSITY ::

Research Strategies

:: The Library

:: Search Strategy

:: Topic

:: The Web

:: Scholarly?

:: Reference

:: Catalogs

:: Articles

:: Databases I

:: Databases II

:: Databases III

:: Databases IV

:: Quick Search

:: Evaluation

:: Plagiarism

:: Citing

Catalogs
Library catalogs contain catalog records of library materials such as books, online resources, videos, government documents, CDs, and other items that are owned by a particular library (like SSU's) or consortium of libraries (such as OhioLINK.)

Many online items are now accessible via the library's catalog.

SSU Library Catalog
Our Shawnee State Clark Memorial Library Catalog is a finding tool for the resources in the local collection. Since our local catalog is interactive with the OhioLINK Catalog, if you do not find what you need in our catalog, click the OhioLINK icon, and request the item from another OhioLINK library.

My Library Account
Use "My Library Account" to renew items. Your account will list the titles that you have checked out and the dates the items are due and will also show you the status of any items you have requested from other OhioLINK libraries.

Accessing the Catalog
The "Find Books, Videos, Etc." option on our Library homepage searches our local catalog and identifies both items here in the library and electronic resources, such as online multimedia and ebooks.

Most catalogs offer search choices such as Word (Keywords), Author, Title, Subject, and Course Reserves.

In this example, a WORD (keyword) search for HIP HOP found 18 items.

Each catalog record includes either the location, call number, and status of the item or, if the item is an online electronic resource, the electronic link to the item. The item at the top of this list is a book that the library owns -- so the catalog provides its location, call number, and status. The second and third items are online resources. To see their contents, click the links (Connect to title online.)

Click the "Search OhioLINK" icon to move from the local catalog to the OhioLINK Catalog.

The Browse Screen
Depending on the type of search you choose, your search results may be presented as a list of titles or as an alphabetical list of names or subjects.

This example shows the initial results for an AUTHOR search for "SMITH, MARY."

To see the titles for a particular author, click the author's name.

Brief Record Results
In addition to providing the location or link, the item's cover art will appear in the brief results.

Click the cover art to see publisher-supplied information about the book. Some of this information, such as the table of contents, and other information, such as summaries, may be available also in the full catalog record.

graphic of brief to full record

The Catalog Record
The information in the full catalog record is organized in fields. Fields at the top of the record include the author, title, and imprint (publishing information).

Tabs within the full record (More Details, Find Similar Items, and Full Record) will allow you to see more information about the item.

On our local catalog, the location, call number, and status of the item, or, if the item is an online electronic resource, the electronic link to the item, will also be indicated.

Getting an APA or MLA Citation
The full record also offers a citation formatter that shows the bibliographic reference in several styles.

Subject Headings
Subject and/or Med Subj (medical subject) fields, visible in the Find Similar Items and Full Record tabs, identify the subject headings, which can be either Library of Congress or MeSH Medical Subject Headings.

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), the 5-volume set of big red books on the document stand to the east of the Reference Counter, provides an alphabetical list of all LC subject headings and additional information about broader, narrower, and related terms, as well as the call number(s) commonly associated with a particular subject heading. MeSH descriptors are the same as those used in MEDLINE and PubMed.

Click a subject heading to find more titles about that particular subject.

graphic of subjects result list

Subjects List
When you click a subject heading (or search by subject), the catalog will display the subject headings preceding and following the heading clicked. The selection will be boxed and in a larger bolded font.

Click any heading to see the list of items cataloged under that heading.

Local and Consortial Catalogs
Library catalogs can be local, like Shawnee State's Clark Memorial Library Catalog that contains records for materials in the Clark Memorial Library collection, or they can be shared by a number of libraries, like the OhioLINK Catalog that contains more than 11 million records representing the collections of all 89 OhioLINK member libraries -- over 50 million items. If an item is not available at SSU, you may request it via the OhioLINK catalog.

graphic of OhioLINK results page The OhioLINK Catalog
SSU's Library Catalog is interactive with the OhioLINK Central Catalog. The OhioLINK Central Catalog is very similar to the Clark Memorial Library Catalog; however, the OhioLINK Central Catalog contains the records for the resources of all of the OhioLINK member libraries and provides users with the opportunity to request materials from other institutions.

From any screen in our local catalog, you can uplink to the OhioLINK Catalog to check holdings at, and to borrow from, other OhioLINK member libraries. Depending on what you are doing in our local catalog when you uplink to OhioLINK, you may see a list of records or a single catalog record.

The OhioLINK "REQUEST" function allows SSU users to have cataloged materials from other OhioLINK libraries delivered within three working days to Clark Memorial Library for local checkout—at no cost to the user.

No library catalog contains records for all the books ever published, but some, like WorldCat, represent very large shared collections.

For more information about using the catalogs, see our webpages Tutorials, Guides, Tips, and Help and the Video Guide to the OhioLINK Catalog.

To go to the next page in the Research Strategies tutorial, click Articles.

Need Help?

Get help via IM, Chat With a Librarian, online chat, email (Reference_Services@Shawnee.edu), or by phoning (740.351.3321).

If you prefer face-to-face assistance, stop by the Clark Memorial Library Reference Counter or schedule a Research Consultation with a Reference Librarian.

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