Finding Books Using the Hannon Library Catalog
This page is designed to help you find books about a research topic using the Hannon Library Catalog. If you have not selected a topic, you may want to use the Finding Topics page.
Finding Books in the Hannon Library Catalog
To find a book in the Hannon Library Catalog, you can search by title if you know the title of the book. But if you are trying to find books about a topic, you can begin with a keyword search. A keyword search is broader because it retrieves books with your words in any order in the title, subjects, and in some cases, the table of contents, of a book. A keyword search may retrieve some books which are not about your specific topic. With a subject search, the words you type in must exactly match a subject heading which has been assigned according to a list created by the Library of Congress. If you do not know the correct subject term, it is best to search by keyword. There are several ways to find the subject headings which apply to your topic:
- Try a subject search on your topic words in the Hannon Library Catalog. If you happen to select terms which are not used, in some cases the Library Catalog will still be able to refer you to the appropriate Library of Congress subject headings so that you can complete your search.
- Look up your topic in the Library of Congress Subject Headings set (in the Reference area near the computer terminals) to find the appropriate subject headings.
- Follow the instructions below to use a keyword search to identify appropriate subject headings.
Using a Keyword Search to Identify Subject Headings: Sample Search
- Select the Hannon Library Catalog
- Do a keyword search for "toxic wastes"
- If you are searching for more than one keyword, separate your words using "and"--toxic and wastes.
- When doing a keyword search, if you get zero or fewer than expected results, you may need to use other keywords--sometimes a broader or a related term.
- To find more appropriate terms, select a few of the titles and check their records for a subject heading that could be used to mean the same thing as "toxic wastes"
- You will probably notice the synonym "hazardous wastes" in the subject headings
- Click on the subject heading link or go back to the search screen to do a subject search for "hazardous wastes"
- Your search should retrieve more specific entries this time
Using a Keyword Search to Identify Subjects Headings: Your Topic
- Select the Hannon Library Catalog
- Do a keyword search for your topic
- Select one good title which covers your topic, and look at the record for this title
- Write down the best subject headings from this record
- Do a subject search for these headings
Summit: Orbis Cascade Alliance Union Catalog
- Search Summit Catalog for books available from the Summit consortium. Summit is a library catalog that combines information from 36 academic libraries in Oregon and Washington into a single unified database. The Summit catalog contains records for almost 29 million books, videos, government publications, and other items--over 9 million individual titles.
- You can search for titles, authors, and publisher numbers. Search keywords from subjects, content notes, titles, personal and corporate authors and more. Explore subject headings from the Library of Congress, and from other subject headings lists such as medical, agricultural, children's literature.
- Borrowing materials through Summit
- Students, faculty, and staff can request items located at one of the participating libraries by selecting the Request This Item.
- Items are delivered to the Hannon Library within 3 working days. Items not picked up within 4 days are returned.
- Items can be checked out for 3 weeks with one renewal.
- For more information, go to Summit Borrowing.
Please direct inquiries about this page to Dale Vidmar.