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
1. keyword search with truncation:
keywords: monsters in literature
modify search
language: english
2. keyword search; then try a useful subject term:
keywords: godzilla*
* = truncation symbol/wildcard (child* = child, childs, children, childish, childhood...)
click on the title of the record to see official subject headings and other key terms you can use to find more items:
subject: godzilla
searching by subject keywords brings up a list of the heading and subheadings, for example: gozilla (fictitious character) and godzilla films
another example:
keywords: vampire* movie*
subject: vampire films
3. using quotes to keep terms together as a phrase:
mad scientist*
"mad scientist*"
other features:
- modify your searches or use advanced keyword searches to limit to English, to specific years of publication, to a library location, by format (videos, maps, etc.)
- save items to a list and e-mail the list to yourself
- make sure you know the library location, call number and availability (checked out or not?) of the item(s) you want
11 million items and 29 libraries not enough? Try MELVYL, catalog for 10 UC campuses!
