IUCAT The Indiana University Libraries' Catalog

QuickStart

http://iucat.iu.edu/

IUCAT contains records for the materials held by the Indiana University Libraries statewide. Books, recordings, U.S. government publications, periodicals and other types of materials are included in IUCAT. While IUCAT contains records for most items acquired by the Libraries since 1976, the database does not yet contain records for all items owned by the IU Libraries. You may still need to check the card catalog or ask staff for assistance. IUCAT is accessible from terminals in the library and from your IU Library's homepage.

Orient Yourself to IUCAT

Always scroll down and up to look at the entire screen.

At the top of the screen are options which take you to IUCAT and connect you to the Reserve catalog.

The next level of screen navigation is found in the red bar. This red navigation bar appears near the top and the bottom of each screen. Options in the navigation bar change depending on the specific screen you are looking at. The two buttons common to all screens are:

<Go Back> Always use the IUCAT <Go Back> button instead of the browser's back button to back track in your current search.

<New Search> Use this Button to go to the keyword search screen.

The <Help> button appears in the red navigation bar of each search screen. Click <Help> for detailed explanations of IUCAT searching and search results.

Search tips appear on every search screen.

Start Your Search

First, choose the type of search you need. At the top of each search screen is a row of search types: Keyword, Advanced, Browse, Exact, Call Number. The IUCAT default search is a simple keyword search and is automatically selected when you log in to IUCAT. Select a different kind of search by clicking on it.

Keyword search - do a keyword search when you want to do a quick check of IUCAT and when you are unsure of the exact title, author, subject heading, etc. This Quickstart guide will focus on the keyword search option.

Advanced search - do an advanced search when you want to combine keyword search terms from more than one field, or when you want to limit your search. This Quickstart guide will provide basic information about Advanced search options.

Browse search - do a browse search to find authors, titles, etc. that contain your search terms. Browse search results are first presented as an alphabetical list of the closest matches to your search request.

Exact search - do an exact search when you know the exact title, author or subject heading. The system will do a precise letter-by-letter search for the terms exactly as you type them in.

Call number search - do a call number search to scan titles in one in call number order. This is especially effective when you want to see what a specific library owns on a specific topic. Results may be browsed forward or backward indefinitely.

Keyword Search

The keyword search is the default IUCAT search. When you log in to IUCAT and when you click on <New Search> in the red navigation bar, you will see the keyword search screen.

Scroll down the screen to read the searching tips.

Click on <Help> in the red navigation bar to see the IUCAT Library Help Topics.

Then click on <Keyword> to read more about keyword searching.

Step one: Verify that you are doing a keyword search: be sure it is selected at the top of the screen.

Step two: Enter your search terms in the "enter terms" box. You may enter just one word or as many key or important words as you need. Use Boolean operators (and, or, not, xor) and positional operators (same, adj, near, with) to combine search terms. Use truncation to find differing forms of a search term. You may use a variety of punctuation to customize your keyword search.

Click here to see more information about Operators and Punctuation

Step three: Limit your search to a specific library. This is optional. Use the drop-down menu (click on the down arrow at the far right of the "select library" box) to select a specific library from an alphabetical list or select "all." "All" will do your search in all IU Libraries statewide.

Step four: Execute the search in all fields or in specific fields. Click on one of the following options:

Keywords anywhere to search for your search terms anywhere in a record.

Author to search only in the author field

Title to search only in the title field

Periodical title to search in the title field of records for journals, magazines, newspapers, etc.

Series to search for the terms only in records for items that are part of a series.

Subject to search in the subject field of every record.

Medical Subject to search the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) field of any record that contains MeSH headings.

Click here to see examples of searches.

The Search Results Screen for a successful keyword search is a list of records that match your search request. Your search terms and the number of records found will appear under the red navigation bar at the top of the screen

Search results are listed in last-in-first-out (LIFO) order. This means the first record of the list is the one most recently entered into the database or most recently modified.

If more than twenty records are retrieved in your search, twenty at a time will appear in the search results screen.

The red navigation bar at the top and bottom of the search result screen will contain buttons that allow you to move to the <Next> or <Previous> screen and to <Jump To> a specific item in the search results list.

Each item in the list will contain the title, author, date of publication and code of the libraries (or library) that own the item.

Click on the <Display> button to see the bibliographic record.

The Single Record Display gives more information about a specific item.

The default record view is the brief view. The brief view of the bibliographic record contains the author, title, publishing information and description, subject headings and, if available, URL.

Other information, including holdings (if there are multiple volumes), call number and shelving location are displayed on the bibliographic record screen.

If an item is checked out, the shelving location code will be "checked out."

Click on <Change Display> in the red navigation bar to see more information about an item. You can only do this when you are looking at a bibliographic record. The LONG display provides information about other contributors, series information, ISSN and ISBN. The COMPLETE display will provide even more details.

Limit Your Search when your keyword search results are not exactly what you need.

Click on <Limit Search> or scroll down to the bottom of the search results screen to limit or edit your search.

In the "Search Again" section, verify that your search terms are still entered. Make any changes you wish. Before executing your search (step #4). Choose your search limits:

Shelving Location or Collection: Use the drop down menus to select and limit your search to a specific shelving location or collection. Note: these are very specific limiters and will not be useful for all searches.

Publication Year: Examples of ways to limit your search to a specific year or to a span of years are given on screen. To search for items published after 1989, enter >1989. To search for items published only in 1989, enter 1989. Suggestion: do not use this limiter for periodical title searches.

Format: Use the drop down menu to select a specific format. Formats include: Video/Slides, Etc. and Sound Recordings/Music for recordings or printed music.

Language: Use the drop down menu to select from hundreds of different languages. Example: limit your search to English only or Spanish language items only.

Sort your Results by author or title. You can also sort your results by publication year from oldest to most recent or from most recent to oldest. If you do not sort your results, they are listed in LIFO (last-in-first-out) order regardless of publication year. Note: search result sets of up to 999 records may be sorted.

Once you have set your search limits, click on the search you want to do (Keywords Anywhere, Author, Title, Periodical Title, Series, Subject, Medical Subject).

Advanced Search

An advanced search is a guided keyword search that also allows you to limit your search and specify how to sort search results from the very beginning.

Click on Advanced Search at the top of the search screen to select it.

Click on <Help> in the red navigation bar at the top of the Advanced Search screen for detailed information about Advanced Search features.

Select the part of the record you want to search. Use the drop down menus to the left of the search term boxes to select/change the part of the record you want to search.

Enter your search terms.

You may use all or just one search box.

You may use operators and punctuation within a search box.

Connect the search boxes by selecting appropriate operators from the drop down menus in the boxes to the right of each search line.

Limit your search if you desire. Use any or all relevant search limit boxes.

Use the drop down menus to limit your search to a Specific Library (e.g. Indianapolis-University Library, Bloomington-Music Library), Shelving Location, Collection, Format (e.g. video/slides, sound recording/music), Language.

Follow the on screen examples to limit your search to a specific publication year or range of years.

Sort your results. Specify how the search results should be listed by selecting from the Sort drop down menu. If you choose "none" results will be presented in Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) order.

Do the Search. Click on the <search> button to do the search.

Search Results. Refer to the Keyword Search: Search Results section of this guide. Keyword search results and Advanced Search results are presented in the same way.

Printing, E-Mailing or Saving Results

Many IUCAT records are very long. Records for periodicals (magazines and journals) are especially long and contain information you may not want to print or save. Avoid unnecessary printing or saving that wastes paper or valuable disk space by using the procedure outlined below:

Select the Records you want to print, e-mail or save to disk. Click in the box next to records you want in the result list or click on <Display> then mark the record by clicking in the box at the top of the bibliographic record display where it says "Mark Items for Print/E-Mail/Save."

Select <Print/E-Mail/Save> in the red navigation bar at the top or bottom of the screen.

Verify that the records you want to print have been selected by checking the numbers in the first box of the print/e-mail/save screen.

Choose the version of the records that you want to print by using the drop-down menu to select Brief, Long, or Complete.

Choose the type of output you want to print by using the drop-down menu to select either Labeled or MARC. Labeled output is recommended.

Save on a disk or hard drive: Click on <Save>. You will see a formatted screen that shows exactly how the information will look when you save it. Use the browser's FILE menu (usually in the upper left corner of the screen) and follow the browser's save procedure.

Print the records you selected to a local printer: Click on <print>. You will see a formatted screen that shows exactly how the information will print out. Be sure to scroll down this screen to estimate how many pages your printout will be. Use the browser's FILE menu (usually in the upper left corner of the screen) and follow the browser's printing procedures.

Note: for long printouts, you may specify which pages to print and only print those parts of the records you need for your research.

E-mail copies of the records to yourself or someone else. Fill in your complete e-mail address (for example: you@iupui.edu) in the "e-mail to" box. Click on <E-Mail>.