Information Resources for Hum 299
Writing for the World Wide Web

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF ONLINE CATALOGS

The Basics:
The COCC Online Catalog provides access to books and videos in the COCC Library. It also lists which journals, magazines, and newspapers we have. In case you are wondering, the online catalog does not give you access to the contents of books or journals.  We're not that advanced yet! The catalog lets you search by author, title, subject heading, keyword, call number, and government documents number. In each case, you perform a search, then the catalog gives you a list of items that match your search. You click on the items you are interested in, and then see a screen that gives you the information you need to find the book, including the call number. All library online catalogs work in this way. Once you have the call number, of course, it's your job to go find the book, which will usually be located on the COCC Library's second floor.

Keyword Searching:
To do a keyword search on the COCC Online Catalog, choose

WORDS in the SUBJECT, TITLE, OR NOTES

from the main menu of search options.  Keyword searching means that you search the online catalog using words that you think might appear anywhere in the title, subject headings, contents notes, or organization name for the book. Let's say you were looking for books on "adolescents". One keyword, of course, would be "adolescents". Another keyword might be "teenagers". When you do keyword searching, it's wise to use your imagination. Try to imagine which words are most likely to appear in a title or subject for a book. Try making up your own book titles for the topic you are researching. Which keywords appear in your made-up titles? Those might be good words to use in your search on the online catalog!


Boolean Commands:
Boolean commands allow you to link keywords together in various combinations, allowing
you to research complex topics. In the following examples I'm using caps just to highlight the commands; you don't need to use capital letters when you type in you search.

AND: The AND command lets you combine keywords. Each keyword represents a different concept in your topic. The AND command narrows a search.

Example: chinese AND pottery.

OR: The OR command lets you link synonyms. Synonyms are words that share the same meaning.   The OR command lets you broaden a search.

Example:pottery OR ceramics.

* : The * usually stands for truncation. Truncation allows you to type in the root of the word so that the search engine will search for all possible endings.

Example: ceramic* (Will find all endings to the word
ceramic.)

NOT: The NOT command lets you disqualify a term from a search.

Example:ceramics NOT ancient


Here are some points to remember when using boolean commands and online catalogs:

The boolean command AND is implied in the COCC catalog and most other catalogs. You don't have to type it in your search. Any words that you type together in the same search will be searched for as if there was an AND command linking them.

Generally, all OR commands/synonyms are contained within parenthesis. For example: let's say you want to see if the COCC library has any books covering
the topic of women in business. Your search might look like:

(women OR females) AND business

In this case, the online catalog will look for all of the books whose titles or subjects contain either the words women or females first, and create a set out of those items.
It will then look for all of the books whose titles or subjects contain the word business. Next, the online catalog will (because of the AND command) combine the first set of all of those items containing the words women or females with the set of all of the items containing the words business. The end result is a list of books whose titles or subjects contain
either women or female and always the word business.

You can include two or more sets of synonyms in a search if you surround each set with parenthesis'. For example:

(women OR females) AND (athletics OR sports)

Of course, you can use truncation (signified on the online catalog by an *), wherever appropriate. For example:

(women OR female*) AND (athletic* OR sport*)

Remember, the trucation sign (*) tells the online catalog to look for all various endings of a word, starting with the root word given right before the asterisk. By the way, boolean commands do not have to be in caps when you use them for the online catalog.

Searching for Videos:
To look for videos, first do a keyword search . When you get the list of items, click on the LIMIT THIS SEARCH option towards the top of the screen. Once you are at the limit screen, then choose to limit your search to location. Then select I.M.S. audiovisuals. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the rectangular button get a list of
videos containing your original keyword.