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Searching the Hickory Public Library catalog is easy. For your convenience this tutorial will illustrate how to locate library resources in a variety of ways. At the library homepage, click on the catalog link or icon. The first page of the catalog appears. Below, the search options box is also opened. You may choose what type of search you wish to execute. Then type the search term/query in the search term box and click GO.

The remaining search type options in the list are continued below. Let’s select one and key in a query.

In the simple search following, we keyed in dogs as a General Keyword search. This means that the word dogs will be searched anywhere in the record including the title, the series name, author’s name, the subject heading, the content notes, etc. A general keyword search will return many records. It should be used only if titles, author names, or proper subject headings (for example, is it dogs or canines?) aren’t known.

Select one and examine the Subject Headings for clues to narrow the returns. Nearly nine hundred items that have the word dog in the record are too many to browse through.

Note the Sort Option to the right of the screen, which allows the sorting of items by title, author, publication date, or media type.

For purposes of identifying clues for further refinement of our search strategy entry 4, entitled “Millie’s book” is opened below.

At this screen we see the location and status of this title. We may also link to other parts of the catalog by clicking on the blue Author, Subject, or Browse Catalog links in the left panel. Note thatDogs is a subject heading. We may now narrow our returns by doing a Subject search. Pull down the Search Box menu and select Subjects (Listed alpha).

Below is the list of Subject (headings) beginning with the word dog. Click on the subject of interest. There are currently 71 items about dogs of which 2 are anecdotal.

For this illustration, the subject Dogs-Anecdotes was selected. The results are below.

Click on the title desired to look at the record and to determine location and status. A Title Search is illustrated next.

A portion of the results for the Title search is shown below. Click on one to see format, location, and checkout status of the item.

Let’s try another type of search from the pull down search menu. The Genre search was selected and the genre type, mysteries, has been keyed in. The results follow.

Currently the library owns 877 items in the mystery fiction genre. The next example is

a search of our Video collection for Fiddler on the Roof.

Clicking Go retrieves the following list.

The fourth record shown here has description, format, location and status information.

Advanced Searches are possible under the More Searches TAB. The terms karon, light, and mitford are entered into a few keyword fields.

This is the result of our Advanced Search. See that limiters are available.

With the limiters, results maybe further refined by selecting by book type or location. For example, selecting the at Ridgeview Branch Library option returns a list which verifies there is a copy of this title at Ridgeview.Remember: to view the whole list of limiter options, drag down the right side scroll bar in the pull down menu.

The Ridgeview Branch location is listed last on the holdings list below.

Please note that in Advanced Searches using multiple terms, there is one limitation.

If we had put the author’s name in the alphabetized (or browse) Author field we would have not been able to retrieve our results. The system can’t search more than one (alphabetized) browse list at a time. The notice below appears when this is attempted.

Next, let’s look at the Clubs, Organizations, Facts feature. Click on the ClubsOrganizations Tab and key in a query. Note that we may narrow our returns by adding other descriptor terms. For example, we can key in neighborhood in the subject (keyword) field and limit our returns to neighborhoodbusiness clubs and/or organizations. See the first and second searches and their results below.

This simple keyword search for business clubs returned 8 results of which 3 are seen here. Click on a link of interest to access basic information about that business group

In the second search we have added neighborhood to our query to narrow our results to a particular kind of business group.

Two results were retrieved.

Clinking on the link for Viewmont Business Association returns basic information about this association.

Next let’s take a brief look at the My Account TAB. Clicking on it returns this page.

Simply key in your card BARCODE and PIN numbers. If you did not provide a PIN number when you got your card or do not know your new library system number, please come to the library to verify or create one so you may access your personal library record from at home or in the library. You will be able to see the items you have checked out, place and/or check on your active holds, renew items, determine if you have fines, and review your personal information. Just read the screens for options and follow the easy to understand directions on each page.

PlacingHolds may be done from both the My Account TAB (if there are less than 5 current holds in an account) or during regular searching. You may search from either the More Searches or Home access TABS as seen below.

The results retrieved from either approach appear below.

Selecting entry 4 returns this record. Note the Request Item button in the record.

Clicking on the Request Item button will bring up this confirmation screen where the send Request button is available.

Clicking on the blue Request button places the request and reports if the transaction has been successful.

We trust that you will discover that the new library catalog is much more powerful than our previous version and we think you will welcome and enjoy its versatility.