THE ONLINE CATALOG FOR RIT LIBRARIES

What is the Online Catalog?
The RIT Libraries' Online Catalog contains records for all the items available in the Library, the Educational Technology Resource Room (ETRR), and the Educational Technology Center (ETC)/ Media Resource Center (MRC).

Users are able to search the entire catalog and also have the option of searching the E-Content Finder or the Video Catalog. The E-Content Finder and the Video Catalog are, essentially, sub-catalogs of the online catalog. Searching E-Content Finder allows users to search for all electronic material accessible through the RIT Library. Searching the Video Catalog allows the user to search for videos and DVDs in the Wallace Library, ETC's Media Resource Center and ETRR.

Why use the Online Catalog?
Use the Online Catalog to determine which materials the library owns and to determine the location of that material. You can find books, titles of journals, serials magazines or newspapers, which you may expect. Some surprises might include the materials placed on reserve, audio books, software and multimedia products that are also listed in the online catalog.

Where to find the Online Catalog?
The Online Catalog is available on the Internet through the Library's homepage at RIT.  The URL
(Uniform Resource Locator or Internet address) for the homepage is http://library.rit.edu.
When you locate this homepage you can click on the Books and More button (top link in the left hand column). The URL for the Catalog is: <http://albert.rit.edu/>.

How do I search for books, journals, and other items using the Online Catalog?

Word Search
The catalog database is not case sensitive so capitalization is irrelevant. Word searches are good if you are unsure of a title or the proper subject heading for the topic. You can combine topics and concepts in a word search to make your search more specific.

Hints about using the Word Search feature
Adding more concepts to a word search will retrieve fewer records. After performing a word search, look at the record to see the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) that are used. You will notice that the subject term(s) is underlined. This means that it is a link to other records. You may find additional material that pertains to your subject by clicking on (selecting) the subject heading within the record.

Subject Search
Subject searches are based on the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). While LCSH provides you with precise searching on a specific subject, you must first know the exact subject heading assigned according to LCSH. The Online Catalog will often automatically default to the correct subject heading. However, if you enter a subject search and are told the library has no material pertaining to that subject, then consult a reference librarian or try your search as a Word search.

Author Search
An author can be the name of a person, an association, a government body, conference, or an organization. Enter the author's name, last name first. It is unnecessary to use capitalization or punctuation. When using the Video Catalog, the name of the film's director or primary actors can be used in the author field.

Title Search
Search for titles of books, titles of journals (such as Newsweek or The Journal of the American Medical Association), videos, and multimedia. Enter the title or the first few words of the title. It is unnecessary to include articles such as "the" or "a." Capitalization is also unnecessary.

(NOTE: Looking here for the title of a journal or magazine will tell you whether or not the Wallace Library subscribes to a particular journal or magazine. This catalog will not tell you about specific journal or magazine articles. For that you will need to consult an electronic database or paper index.)

Limiting or Refining Searches

By clicking on "Advanced Search" from the front page of the Catalog, you can set limits or expand your search by utilizing the Boolean Operators. Boolean Operators are the words: "and, or, not". Connecting multiple search terms with the word "and" will focus your list of results by listing only records containing all of your search terms. The Boolean Operator "or" will expand your list of results by returning records with either of your search terms identified. And, the Boolean Operator "not" will also limit your results by allowing you to exclude a certain segment of the topic. Searches can also be better focused by selecting a specific field for the term you are searching, i.e., searching for a particular name within the author field. Advanced Searching will also allow you to limit results by location, type of material, publisher and publication date, and language.

Understanding a catalog record
Each catalog record contains a wealth of information. From the record you can find out if the book is illustrated, whether or not it has a bibliography or an index, how many pages it has or if it is part of a series. Much if this information can be useful. It will help you to determine whether or not the material meets your needs. Read the record carefully; you may save yourself some time. Clicking on the yellow "More" button will provide you with additional information links. Clicking on the Syndetics link will provide varying types of information ranging from book reviews, table of contents, chapter excerpts and cover images.

An important aspect of the record is the location of the item. Within the record, you will see a box around the location information in order to make it readily visible. In the location box (similar to the one shown below) you will find, in the following order:

1. 1. 1. The Location - floor or department of the library - where the item is located

      2. The Call Number given to each individual item

      3. The Status of the item. If it is loaned to someone else, and if so, the date it is due back.

If an item is checked out, a "request" button will be available on the screen so that you may place a hold on the book.

Emailing, saving or viewing results
Once you complete a search you will see a list of records. You can click on each record individually and view it or you can create a list of selected records. To create a list, select a record by clicking in the box in front of the record. This marks the record. You can select each of the records you want to see. Then at the bottom of the page select SAVE MARKED RECORDS. Repeat that process for each page of your results. Click on EXPORT SAVED LIST at the bottom of your page when you are finished marking records. This will display your entire list of saved records. The records selected can be emailed or downloaded to a disk. To have records emailed, type in your email address and click on Submit. Your records will be emailed to you. The option for Downloading your list is shown. Follow the screen directions.

My RIT Catalog
This  feature allows you to save your searches to your My RIT Catalog. These searches are saved as Preferred Searches. Once a search has been saved, you can also elect to receive monthly e-mail alerts regarding new additions to the RIT Library collection in your searched topic area.