Catalogs
To find books, DVDs, maps, sound recordings, manuscripts, and much more - everything except articles - use a library catalog.
OskiCat = most UC Berkeley libraries
MELVYL = all UC campus libraries, including all UC Berkeley libraries
What's the difference? more details here
For each item make sure you know the name of the physical library, call number, and whether or not it's checked out, library use only, etc.
Call numbers are on the spine of the book; learn how to read them so you can find what you need on the shelves.
Sample Searches in OskiCat
(keywords) chinese cook*
* = truncation symbol/wildcard for variant word endings
ex: immigra* = immigrant immigrants immigration etc.
look at the titles and official subject terms and find other terms:
(subject): cooking chinese
cookery chinese
food habits china
broaden and narrow your searches:
keywords: asian american* food*
subject: cookery chinese social aspects
cookery chinese history
cooking chinese social aspects southeast asia
chinese food social aspects southeast asia
southeast asia social life and customs
chinese ethnic identity
cookery chinese
language: english
year of publication: after 1900 before 1968
if you know the name of a person or organization, search it both as an author and as a topic:
author: sinclair, uptonauthor: united states food and drug administration
Try out these OskiCat features:
- limit your search to a type of material (DVDs) or a library location (Doe Reference)
- save items to a list you can e-mail/download/print
- place a recall request online
- request items from storage (NRLF)
- view a list of items you have checked out
- send call numbers to your cell phone (see below)
- receive alerts of new items that match your search terms ("preferred search")
