Finding a specific book
Find books at UIUC using the online catalog.
IF YOU HAVE THE BOOK TITLE...
If you have the exact book title, look it up it using the Quick Search screen.
Type in the first few words of the title (omitting any initial the's or a's) and select "Start of Title" in the "Search By:" list, like so:
Clicking Search takes you to a list of results. If there is only one match for your title, you'll be taken directly to its record. If there are multiple records, you'll be given a list to select from. Here is what a book record looks like:
In the above screenshot, the three key pieces of information that you should note before retrieving a book are circled. They are:
- Status: Tells you whether a book is available ("On Shelf") or not ("Checked Out," "Renewed," or "Not Found on Shelf").
- Location: Tells you the specific library on campus in which the book is housed. (A list of library locations and hours is here. "Main Stacks" means the book is in the Main Library; more information on retrieving books from Main Stacks is here.)
- Call number: Tells you where on the shelf the book will be found.
IF YOU HAVE THE AUTHOR'S NAME...
Searching for books by author name is similar to searching by title. Once again, you'll want to use the Quick Search screen. Type the author's name in last name-first name format and select "Browse Author" in the "Search By:" list, like so:
Clicking Search will take you to a list of results. If there is a match in the catalog for the name you entered, it will be the first result. Clicking the name will show you a list of works by that author, as illustrated below.
IF YOU HAVE FRAGMENTARY INFORMATION...
If you don't know the full title or the author's full name, the Guided Keyword Search is more powerful--it allows you to search using multiple small pieces of information at the same time. For example, searching "Tolkien" in author words AND "Rings" in title words, as in the following screenshot, will get you to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Subject words can be useful here, too. Trying "Crichton" as author words AND "dinosaurs" as subject words brings up the Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park.
IF YOU'RE NOT FINDING WHAT YOU NEED...
If you're not finding a book you're looking for in the UIUC catalog, or if it is checked out or missing from UIUC, we can almost always obtain a loan of the book from another library. See this page for more information.
There are informational fliers on using the online catalog here. Please Ask A Librarian if you need additional help finding a book.
