HELPFUL HINTS:
USING THE ONLINE
CATALOG
Catalog Availability
Important Search
Tips
Understanding Search Results
How to Renew/Reserve Items & See Your Personal
Details
Go to the
Catalog
Any
of the library staff will be glad to assist you with using the catalog
when you are in the library.
AVAILABILITY: The online catalog is
normally available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
However, occasional outages may
occur for system maintenance or repairs, unforseen problems, or
Internet difficulties. Availability of the
online catalog is never guaranteed, and late fines will not be
waived because of online renewal difficulties.
An Online Lesson:
The Wonderful &
Amazing Library Catalog
(external link -
information only)
ONLINE SEARCHING:
-
Search our shelves
to see if we have the item you want - from anywhere you can access
the Internet, any time of day or night!
-
Spelling counts!
The system won't find a match for misspelled words.
-
Use KEYWORD
searches unless you know the exact author name,
title, etc. Use one or two words that are likely to be unique
for your desired item.
SUBJECT, TITLE
and AUTHOR
searches always require an exact match.
-
SUBJECT
searches are trickier than they might seem, as the Subjects are
assigned according to the Library of Congress cataloging system.
-
BROADEN your search terms
-look for a more general category. For general Internet
searches you often do better by narrowing your search
terms, looking for specific details. However, here at the library
you may find a book about fish, for example, that contains
a chapter on raising angelfish... but we may not have a whole
book about raising angelfish. Also, if you can't find
anything under fish, for example, try alternate keywords like aquariums or pets.
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RESULTS:
-
Click on the
TITLE field if you want to see bibliographic details.
-
The STATUS
field indicates whether the book is Available or On Loan.
-
CALL NO
indicates where to find the item on our shelves:
-
F - ADULT FICTION:
second floor, shelved alphabetically by author's last name.
-
B - ADULT
BIOGRAPHIES: second floor, shelved separately,
alphabetically by subject.
-
LT - LARGE
TYPE: second floor, shelved separately - fiction
alphabetically by author's last name, non-fiction by Dewey
Decimal number at the end of the fiction section.
-
NON-FICTION -
shelved
numerically by Dewey Decimal number.
-
BB, E, J and YA prefixes
(Easy, Juvenile or Young Adult) -
located downstairs in the children's area.
-
R (Reference)
- reserved for in-library use - may be checked out overnight
only. (Items regarding local history and genealogy are located
in the upstairs conference room and may not be removed from the
library.)
-
Audio
and Video items are all downstairs.
-
G (Graphic
Novels for Adults) are upstairs near the stairway.
-
Q
(Queen-size) are upstairs near the catalog computers.
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YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS
You may
review your personal borrowing history with the library, check due
dates, renew items online (when eligible for renewal), request
Inter-Library Loan materials, submit item purchase suggestions, even
update your own contact information online.
-
ACCESS CONTROLS:
-
Click on YOUR
DETAILS
-
Your personal BAR
CODE is the 14-digit number on the back of your
yellow plastic library card - enter the whole number with
NO spaces: 22501090909090
-
Your personal
PIN NUMBER is usually set by the
library when your library card is issued. Try the 4-digit
month and day of your birthday (e.g., 1101
if your birthday is November 1st). If that doesn't work, contact
the circulation desk to obtain your pin number. (You may
request the pin number to be reset to your own special code if
desired.)
WHAT CAN YOU CAN SEE
AND DO?
-
RENEW ONLINE:
You can see the
list of items you currently have on loan from the
library, if any, and the due date for each item.
IF the item is eligible for renewal, you will see a RENEW
link beside it. Just click the link to renew! Make sure you see the new due date
displayed.
IF
the item was renewed, the due date will be extended by the
standard loan period for that item (2 days for videos, 2 weeks
for books, 4 weeks for popular paperbacks).
If the RENEW link is
not showing
beside an item, then you cannot renew it online. This could be
for a variety of reasons, including the following:
-
There is an
automatic limit of TWO renewals per item.
-
You may have
unpaid library fines.
-
Someone else may
have requested the item via the "reserve" process.
TO AVOID LATE
FEES: Renewal must be completed on or before the original
due date.
ABOUT ONLINE RENEWALS:
Always check
to make sure your NEW due date is displayed after you click the
RENEW button. If you cannot renew online, please try again
later OR call the library at 859-987-4419 at your earliest
convenience. Please DO NOT send renewal requests via e-mail.
Overdue fees will not be waived due to e-mailed renewal requests
OR inability to renew online for any reason.
-
RESERVE ONLINE:
-
You may RESERVE
an item and/or see a list of item(s) you have on reserve. The
library automation system keeps track of reserve requests.
-
How to Reserve an Item
Online:
-
Find your item
using one of the online Catalog search functions.
-
DO click on the underscored words “Reserve This Item” -
the active link. Do NOT click on the little white “checkbox”
which serves a different purpose.
-
Enter your
personal Bar Code and Pin Number, then click on the "Reserve
Item" button.
-
WAIT for the library staff
to
notify you by phone - they will call you as soon as your requested item is available. After you are notified, we will hold the item for you
at the circulation desk for two days (24 hours for movies).
-
SEE PERSONAL HISTORY:
See the list
of items you have previously borrowed. This is useful for
keeping track of what you have read by a particular author, or
finding the title of an item you read some time ago.
Note: you can sort
and print this list!
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Last Edited
01/15/2010
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