Top 3 things to know about the catalog
- The catalog doesn't include individual journal articles. See "How do I find articles on a topic?" below.
- If you know the title or author of the item you are looking for, use search type "Title begins with" or "Author (last name first)"
- For information on a topic, use Keyword searches. Advanced search lets you perform more exact searches and to easily limit your searches by year, language, format or library location.
Library Catalog FAQ
Once you have the call number of an item in the Hesburgh Library, you can find which floor it is on here.
Need help using the Library of Congress call number system? Check out this guide to reading Library of Congress call numbers.
To find articles on a particular topic, search your home institution's indexes (ND, SMC, Bethel, Holy Cross)
Indexes are like search engines, usually dealing with a broad subject. They:
- Help you search for articles on a particular topic.
- May provide the full text of the article.
- May also contain records for government documents, books and book chapters, dissertations, theses, images, and more.
To find if your institution's library has the article you are looking for, do a Periodicals search for the title of the journal or magazine in your institution's library catalog.
- To do a Periodicals search, click the Periodicals tab
- Enter the title of the journal in which the article appears
- In the results list, click the location in the right hand column to see what issues of the journal the library owns
- If the library owns the correct volume and/or issue, record the call number. (If it is in the Hesburgh Library, consult this guide for the location.)
If your institution's library doesn't own the item you want, check the other library catalogs listed at the top of the catalog (ND, SMC, Bethel, Holy Cross). If none of them has it, your library can get it for you from another library. Contact your institution's Interlibrary Loan (ILL) dept. (ND, SMC, Bethel, Holy Cross).
Do a search for the item in the catalog. Click on the "Recall item" link in the record for the item on the results list page. Click the Recall link on the lower left of the Holdings screen. You will be prompted to sign in to My Account (if not already signed in).
Sign in to My Account, then click on "Loans." The Loans page lets you renew individual items, or renew all at once.
Aleph has several functions for saving and emailing search results.
- My e-Shelf lets you save search results to the server and retrieve them later
- You can save search results to your computer
- You can email search results
- You can export search results to EndNote
The University of Notre Dame Libraries have several new book services where new library materials are available. They are described here.
ND faculty can have books or photocopies delivered to their office or branch library. Details and forms for this service.
Help Topics
Before you begin
We recommend you use Netscape version 6.0 or later, Firefox version 1.0 or later, or Internet Explorer version 5.0 or later.
Since the catalog uses javascript and popups, you need to make sure that your browser has javascript enabled and that popups are enabled for the catalog. Configuration instructions here.
To correctly display records with characters from non-Western alphabets, your browser setting may need to be changed.
To set the browser character encoding:
- Internet Explorer: From the View menu, select Encoding, then click on Auto-Select.
- Netscape: From the View menu, select Character coding, then Auto-detect, then All [for Netscape 6.x] or Universal [for Netscape 7.x].
The Arial Unicode MS font provides the most complete support for Unicode characters. It is available on the CD that comes with the following Microsoft products: Publisher 2000, Office 2000 Professional, Office
If Arial Unicode MS is not available to you, other fonts can be used with the Web OPAC. For information on other fonts that support Unicode, see the Useful resources link at http://www.unicode.org.
Signing in lets you:
- see what items you have checked out
- renew items you have checked out
- save My e-Shelf records to folders so you can view them later
To sign-in, enter the 14-digit barcode number on the back of your Notre Dame ID card and your verification code (initially the month and date of your birthday, mmdd)
You do not need to sign in to use the catalog.
My e-Shelf lets you save records. If you are signed in to My Account, you can save your My e-Shelf records for later viewing. If you are not signed in, your My e-Shelf records are discarded when your session ends.
You can add records to My e-Shelf from search results lists.
From My e-Shelf you can:
Searching
Browse searching is like scanning the names in a telephone book. All of the people with the same last name are together. Browse searching is the quickest way to find what you are looking for if:
- You know the exact title or the beginning of the title
- You know at least the author's last name and first initial
- You know an exact subject heading and want to find works on that topic
- You know the call number of a work and want to find other works with similar numbers
Note: On the Basic search page, browse searches include "Author (last name first)" and the "... begins with" searches.
| If you're looking for... | Search type to use | Search text |
|---|---|---|
| Works by a specific author | Basic Search: Author (Last name first) | Shakespeare, W (you can omit part of the first name) Twain Mark (you can omit punctuation) |
| A specific work where you know the title | Basic Search: Title begins with... | gone with the wind (You don't have to capitalize.) room with a view (Omit initial articles. Title: A room with a view) |
| A journal or newspaper | Periodicals search, Periodical title begins with... | wall street journal |
Keyword searching lets you search for words in any part of the record. It can be a powerful finding tool when you know characteristics of the information you are looking for, but not the exact author, title, or subject.
For instance:
- You are looking for a topic, but don't know the exact subject heading
- You are looking for a specific work and know the topic but not the exact title
- You are looking for a specific work and know the author's last name and what it is about
- You know the last names of two or more authors or editors of a work
| If you're looking for... | Search type to use | Search text |
|---|---|---|
| Words that could be in any part of the record (title, author, subject, ...) | Basic Search: Keyword Anywhere | cats dogs (both cats and dogs will be in the record; same as searching "cats and dogs") sigmund freud dreams |
| Words in title, but you're not sure of the exact title | Basic Search: Title Keyword | supernatural victorian (You don't have to capitalize.) peloponnesian history |
| You're not sure of the exact name of the author | Basic search: Author Keyword | conference ieee bioinformatics |
The advanced search page lets you do more focused searches. You can search on several fields at once. You can also limit searches by format, language, location, year of publication, and by how recently an item was cataloged (last 7, 30 or 90 days).
Command Search (also known as Common Command Language or CCL) is the most powerful search. It lets you search several different fields at once, including coded data not searchable any other way. You must specify a command code in addition to your search words. Some of the most common command codes:
- WRD - words anywhere
- WTI - words in title field
- WAU - words in author field
- WNO - words in note field including contents notes and dissertation note
- WPU - words in publisher field
- WSU - words in subject field
- WYR - year of publication
will search for Notre Dame in the notes field of the bibliographic record. This would include: reproduction notes, content notes, dissertation notes and others.
Complete list of Command search codes with examples (and lists of values where applicable).
| If you're looking for... | Search text |
|---|---|
| DVDs of films in Russian | WNO=DVD and WLN=rus |
| Irish language newspapers not on microfilm | WTP=newspaper and WLN=gle not WSL=micro |
| sound recordings of Glenn Gould performing on the harpsichord | WMP=glenn gould and WRD=harpsichord |
The tabs across the top of the catalog screen represent subsets of the catalog. Subsets have full search functionality, restricted to a part of the catalog:
- Full catalog - search the entire ND Libraries Catalog
- Periodicals - search for journals, magazines, serials and newspapers
- E-Resources - search for resources accessed via computer, including journals, books, databases, and government documents
- Reserves - search for items on both print and e-reserves
- More - search for Bible, Catholic Church, Data sets, Music and Sound recordings and more
For words adjacent or phrase searching use quotation marks around phrase:
Example: "new york" or "civil war"
The * character (asterisk) acts as a wildcard and can be placed at the left, right or middle of a portion of a word.
Example: africa* fiction (finds "Africa," "African," etc. and "fiction")
Example: colo*r (finds "color" or "colour")
Example: wom*n (finds "woman" or "women")
Boolean searches let you broaden or narrow searches. You can do Boolean searching on the basic, advanced, and Command search pages. The three Boolean search operations the catalog supports:
 |
A search for media and perception will locate records containing both the word media and the word perception. |
 |
A search for women or woman will locate all records containing either word. |
 |
A search for media not television will locate records containing the word media but not the word television. |
| Proximity | Any order george %2 bush finds "George Bush," "George W. Bush," "Bush, George," but not "George cut down the bush." Fixed order george !2 bush finds "George Bush" and "George W. Bush" but not "Bush, George" |
| Range | wyr = ( 1503 -> 1512 ) finds books published between 1503 and 1512 |
Working with search results
Modify/Limit lets you refine your search results by adding additional search terms or limiting by format, language, location, year of publication and newly added materials (within 7, 30 or 90 days).
To use the Modify/Limit function, do a search, click the "Modify/Limit" link above the search results, then modify or limit your search in the form that opens.
Crossing lets you compare two searches to find records that are in one set but not the other, or that are in both sets. (Also see Boolean searching.)
To cross sets, click the "Previous searches" link at the top. In the list of searches select two search sets from the same database, the appropriate operator, then click "Go." To view the results, select the new search set and click "View."
- Do your search
- Place checkmarks by the records you want to email, or click "Select all"
- Click "Email selections"
- Select desired options in steps 1-4 or accept the defaults.
- Supply an email address in "Email," and optionally, information in "Email Subject" and "From."
- Click the Go button.
- Sign in to My Account
- Do your search
- Place checkmarks by the records you want to save, or click "Select all"
- Click "Add to My e-Shelf"
- You may enter a note, if desired.
- You can save as many records from as many searches as you want (we're not aware of any limits). The records will be added to a default folder called "Unfiled." My e-Shelf has a "Folder Management" function that lets you create folders and move records into them, and manage them.
- To view your saved records later, sign in to My Account, then click on "My e-Shelf." Select the folder whose records you wish to see.
- Do your search
- Place checkmarks by the records you want to save, or click "Select all"
- Click "Add to My e-Shelf"
- Enter a note, if desired.
- Click on "My e-Shelf." Place checkmarks by the records or you want to save on your pc or email.
- Select desired options in steps 1-4 or accept the default options.
- Click the Go button following "Save file on your computer."
- Browse to the directory you want to save them to. If desired, change the filename.