Books at the J.L. Bedsole Library are cataloged according to the system established by the Library of Congress. The Call Number isn't simply random: it reflects what the book is about or what subjects it pertains to. We also track subject data of books electronically, so it is possible to use our catalog to look up every book on a certain subject.
Preliminary
Before proceeding to the steps below, follow Steps 1 and 2 from the "How do I find a book?" page.
Step 1: Click the Browse Tab
From the main catalog page, click the blue Browse tab.
Step 2: Browse Subjects
You will be directed to the Browse page. From there, click the arrow on the dropdown box that comes after the word "Browse." Choose Subjects.
Step 3: Perform a Search
Type in one or more search terms into the box between the word "for" and the blue search button. These terms should broadly describe the subject or topic that you want to research. Click the blue search button to perform the search. WARNING: the catalog is sensitive to spelling! At times, it may appear that the library doesn't have any books on "Daycart," but double check Google, a dictionary or some other resource which has the correct spelling of your search term(s).
Step 4: Find Appropriate Subject Heading(s)
Once you execute the subject search, you will be directed to a retrieval page that looks like this:
This page is a list of subject terms, or tags used to describe the subject content of books, that match the search terms you typed into the box. As you can see, subjects are tracked at different levels of specificity. You could click on a very general subject heading that will likely encompass more books or one that is much more specific and pertinent to fewer books. There is also the "SEE:" item. Essentially, what it means is that the term that precedes the word "SEE" (for example, "Mirovoi Bank") is not the subject term that our library tracks and tags books with. Rather, we use the term that comes after the word "SEE" (in the case above, "World Bank"), and this latter term is the one you should use to search for books on this topic.
After you click on a subject heading, you'll be taken to the standard catalog catalog retrieval screen:
From this screen, you simply repeat the fourth step from the "How do I find a book?" page and locate the call numbers of the books you'd like.
Incidentally, if you cannot use the catalog from some reason, there is still an easy way to do a quick subject search, though it may not be as thorough. As long as you have the Call Number of one book on the subject that you are interested in researching, you can find similar works. As stated above, the Library of Congress cataloging system organizes books according to their subject matter. So, books on the same topic will have the same call number. However, some subjects overlap into multiple academic disciplines, and books about them may have many different Call Numbers. The most effective way to retrieve everything on a particular topic is to execute a subject search as described above.
Table of Contents
Books at the J.L. Bedsole Library are cataloged according to the system established by the Library of Congress. The Call Number isn't simply random: it reflects what the book is about or what subjects it pertains to. We also track subject data of books electronically, so it is possible to use our catalog to look up every book on a certain subject.Preliminary
Before proceeding to the steps below, follow Steps 1 and 2 from the "How do I find a book?" page.
Step 1: Click the Browse Tab
From the main catalog page, click the blue Browse tab.
Step 2: Browse Subjects
You will be directed to the Browse page. From there, click the arrow on the dropdown box that comes after the word "Browse." Choose Subjects.
Step 3: Perform a Search
Type in one or more search terms into the box between the word "for" and the blue search button. These terms should broadly describe the subject or topic that you want to research. Click the blue search button to perform the search. WARNING: the catalog is sensitive to spelling! At times, it may appear that the library doesn't have any books on "Daycart," but double check Google, a dictionary or some other resource which has the correct spelling of your search term(s).
Step 4: Find Appropriate Subject Heading(s)
Once you execute the subject search, you will be directed to a retrieval page that looks like this:
This page is a list of subject terms, or tags used to describe the subject content of books, that match the search terms you typed into the box. As you can see, subjects are tracked at different levels of specificity. You could click on a very general subject heading that will likely encompass more books or one that is much more specific and pertinent to fewer books. There is also the "SEE:" item. Essentially, what it means is that the term that precedes the word "SEE" (for example, "Mirovoi Bank") is not the subject term that our library tracks and tags books with. Rather, we use the term that comes after the word "SEE" (in the case above, "World Bank"), and this latter term is the one you should use to search for books on this topic.
After you click on a subject heading, you'll be taken to the standard catalog catalog retrieval screen:
Step 5: Repeat Step 4 From "How do I find a book?"
From this screen, you simply repeat the fourth step from the "How do I find a book?" page and locate the call numbers of the books you'd like.
Incidentally, if you cannot use the catalog from some reason, there is still an easy way to do a quick subject search, though it may not be as thorough. As long as you have the Call Number of one book on the subject that you are interested in researching, you can find similar works. As stated above, the Library of Congress cataloging system organizes books according to their subject matter. So, books on the same topic will have the same call number. However, some subjects overlap into multiple academic disciplines, and books about them may have many different Call Numbers. The most effective way to retrieve everything on a particular topic is to execute a subject search as described above.
251.442.2246 | umlibrary@umobile.edu | @umobilelib(C) 2012 The University of Mobile and the J.L. Bedsole Library
Originally created by Charles W. Hodgin III