How to Look Up Books in an Academic Library Catalog

You head to an academic library, looking for a specific book. Once inside, you’re met with shelves upon shelves of books. How on earth are you going to determine if the library has it? With the library catalog, of course!

If you’re new to searching in a library catalog, don’t fear, your friendly neighborhood librarian is here. I’ll walk you through the process step-by-step so you can check out all the library books your heart desires.¹

What is a Library Catalog?

First things first, let’s review what a library catalog is. In a nutshell, it’s a comprehensive database consisting of catalog records for all the materials available in a library. Catalog records contain bibliographic information about the materials, such as title, author, publisher, date, subjects, description, and location.

Academic libraries own different types of materials in physical and digital formats, including books, serials (magazines, journals, newspapers), audio, video, and even archival records. For this post, we’re focusing on books.

A library catalog, therefore, tells patrons which books the library owns, what format the books are in, where the books are, and if they’re available to check out. Academic libraries own analog books, which are physical printed books located on the shelves. They also own audiobooks and e-books available through digital platforms like OverDrive/Libby, databases, and e-book collections. So. Many. Books!

Accessing an Academic Library Catalog

Now, back in olden times, there was the card catalog. Boy, was it a doozie to use. It contained all the bibliographic data on individual cards, which were placed in cabinets in the library.

Thankfully, in the 21st century, we have digital catalogs accessible through the Internet. As a result, you can search a library’s catalog from any device in any location that has access to the web. All you have to do is go to your library’s website and navigate to the catalog.

You can also search the catalog while in the library. Just hop on one of the computers and open the catalog.

While many libraries use similar catalogs, they each have their own quirks. There is also a noticeable difference in the catalogs used by public libraries versus academic libraries. This post focuses on academic libraries. To learn about public libraries, see How to Look Up Books in a Public Library Catalog.

Looking Up Books in an Academic Library Catalog

To look up a book in an academic library, you must first navigate to the library’s website. There is always a link somewhere on the main college or university’s website. You can also find the website through a search engine.

Once you’re on the academic library’s website, you’ll see a single search bar at the top of the homepage. The search bar is surrounded by several tabs and links. These may seem confusing, but we’ll go through them.

Search Only the Catalog

More often than not, the search bar is set to a default tab that searches literally everything the library owns, including print resources, electronic resources, databases, and archival collections. Sometimes this is called an “Everything” search or “OneSearch.”

I strongly advise that you do not use this unless you’re a seasoned researcher. Unless you know what you’re doing, you’ll be overwhelmed because there’s too much to sift through.

You might also see tabs for databases, journals/periodicals, digital collections, course reserves, and research guides. Since we’re just trying to find books, ignore these.

To search for only books, select the tab that says “Catalog.” This way, we’re only searching in the library’s catalog, which contains records for books and other media. Better yet, if there is a link that says, “Advanced Search,” click that.

Advanced Search

Academic libraries have a nifty feature called Advanced Search, which gives you more than one search field and a set of limiters. Advanced Search allows for a more targeted search. But, once again, you must make sure you’re searching only the library catalog. There’s often a drop-down menu or clickable buttons with this option.

Searching for Titles and Authors

If you know the title and/or author of the book you want, type it into the search bar. Use the drop-down menu next to the search bar to specify whether the term is the title or author.

Limit your search by material type or format by selecting “Books.” Click search and voila!

Browsing by Subject

To browse books by subject or topic, use keywords in the search bars. Leave the drop-down menu as the default, “All fields.”

Please do not type in whole sentences! If you want to learn how to develop good keywords and get fancy with your search strings, see How to Research Like a Pro: Search Tips and Tricks. Since academic library catalogs are a bit more robust than public library catalogs, you can try some fun search tips like using Boolean operators and wildcards.

Filtering Your Results

Once you have your search results, you can refine them with filters that appear in the sidebar. Common filters include publication date, subject, language, and author. Don’t forget to click “Apply Filters” at the bottom of the page.

You’re also able to filter by format and usually have 2-3 options. You can filter by resources that are available online, which are e-books and audiobooks. Resources held by the library are physical print books.

You may also see “Open Access,” which refers to digitized books from a consortium, company, or non-profit that makes materials available to the public online, for free. Think HathiTrust, Project Gutenberg, or Google Books.

Navigating the Catalog Record

Academic library catalogs give you brief information about each book on the search results page. They tell you the title, author, date, format, availability, and location.

To access the catalog record, which contains the book’s full bibliographic data, click the title. Academic catalog records have a lot of options, including generating bibliographic citations, exporting the citation to an external tool, and creating permalinks. You can also share the catalog record by emailing it to yourself.

Finally, I find it very cool that these catalogs have a description of the book, as well as the table of contents.

Browsing in the Catalog Record

Like public libraries, academic libraries also assign subject headings to books. These headings are links in the catalog record that lead to another search results page with all the books on that subject.

Academic library catalogs also have a fun “Virtual Browse” feature for print books. This allows you to look at the catalog records for the books that are physically next to the selected book. It’s basically a virtual way to browse the shelves.

To learn how to navigate academic catalog records, check out these two examples: New York University Libraries and Fordham University.

Checking Out Print Books

Once you’ve selected a print book to check out, look at the search results page or catalog record to see if it’s available and where it is. If a university or college has multiple campuses and libraries, the catalog specifies which one has the book.

The catalog also notes which collection the book is in. Academic libraries have several collections, including reference and reserve, that cannot be checked out. Books that can be checked out are in the circulating or main collection. 

Finally, look at the call number to find out which shelf the book is on. If you don’t know how to do this, see How to Find Books in a Library Using Call Numbers. Academic libraries typically use the Library of Congress Classification System (LCC), which is different than public libraries.

If a Book is Not Available

Books listed as “Not Available” are either checked out by another patron or have been ordered by the library but haven’t arrived yet. If a book is checked out, you can place a hold on it. When the patron returns it, you’ll be notified, and can come pick it up.

Checking Out Digital Books

Accessing e-books and audiobooks is quite simple in an academic library catalog. If the library subscribes to platforms like Overdrive/Libby, you check out the book in the same way as a public library. To access the platform, create an account with your academic library credentials.

In academic libraries, digital books are also located in databases and e-book collections. To access them, go to the book’s catalog record. There’s a section that says, “View Online,” “Electronic Access,” or something to that effect. Clicking on the link brings you to the database that has the book. If you’re not on campus, you’ll be prompted to log in to your account.

Once you’re in the database, you can download the book as a PDF or EPUB file. Sometimes, however, you can’t download the whole thing because of copyright issues. Instead, select certain chapters to download.

Finally, you can also opt to read the book in an online reader.

What if they don’t have the book I want?

If your library does not have the book you want, fear not! Academic libraries have amazing interlibrary loan departments and can get most books for you from another library. They also have request forms where you can ask them to buy a specific book. If they have the budget, they just might do it, especially if you’re faculty.

Now that you’re an expert in using an academic library catalog, I wish you many library books in your future!

Footnotes

1. Important note: to check out books from an academic library, you must be a student, faculty, or staff member of that university or college. Your ID card is typically your library card. Some community colleges and state universities allow members of the community to access collections, but each has different access levels. Inquire with the librarians. ↩︎