Frequently Asked Questions

Why use WorldCat Local ?

WorldCat Local is an alternative to IUCAT, Indiana University's online library catalog. It provides a number of helpful new resources and services. WorldCat Local makes it easier to limit and focus your search results. Use the facets on the left side of the results screen to limit your search by author, format, genre, topic, language, or date. More than one of these limits can be used at a time. You can also find these limiters in the Advanced Search screen. Results are listed in relevance-ranked order, which means a title search will more likely bring up the title you want within the first few items. You can find more than 60 million journal articles in WorldCat Local . Use Check for Electronic Resources to link directly to the full text of the articles or see additional delivery options available to you at Kokomo. With just a few clicks, you can request the delivery of a book or other item from an IU library using Request Delivery or from another library outside of IU through Document Delivery Services (Interlibrary Loan). WorldCat Local also helps you correctly cite an item in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, or Turabian style, and export bibliographic citations to EndNote.

Will WorldCat Local  take the place of IUCAT?

WorldCat Local will not take the place of IUCAT in the near future. At present, it does not include all of the materials that you can find in IUCAT. Here are some of the limitations: WorldCat Local does not allow users to look for materials on class reserve by their course number, course title, or instructor. Materials on order do not appear in WorldCat Local. Some specialized research materials such as Lilly Library's rare books are not well represented in WorldCat Local. Searches cannot be limited to a specific IU library. Not all of IU Kokomo's e-books and e-journals appear in WorldCat Local, but most of these can be found in IUCAT.

My keyboard supports typing in non-Roman scripts. Should I search in WorldCat Local or IUCAT?

Users who work in languages using non-Roman scripts, such as Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, and Russian can search for materials in WorldCat Local. Specialized language keyboards and scripts do not work in IUCAT.

Can I use WorldCat Local to find a book (or video or other item) on reserve for my class?

WorldCat Local will show you when a specific book or other item is on reserve. Only IUCAT lets you search for all of the items on reserve for a particular instructor or course number or course title.

I am looking for a specific electronic book, but I can’t find it in WorldCat Local. Why not?

At present, WorldCat Local does not include all of the electronic books purchased for use by IU Kokomo Library users. Until WorldCat Local reaches an agreement with e-book publishers, use IUCAT to search for e-books.

I am looking for a specific electronic journal, but I can’t find it in WorldCat Local. Why not?

Not all of the electronic journals licensed for IU Kokomo Library users are included in WorldCat Local. Many can be found in IUCAT but the best place to search for e-journals is via Journal Finder.

I am looking for a database or index, but I can’t find it in WorldCat Local. Why not?

Most of the electronic databases and indexes licensed for IU Kokomo Library users are included in IUCAT and WorldCat Local. However, the best resources for research can be accessed via Finding Information, by Title or Subject. Always feel free to Ask a Librarian for research help.