Finding Books -- Part 1 Getting Started Using the SCHOLAR catalog Authored by Kathy Dobda and Ken Burhanna The text only versions provide a linear presentation of the Hands-On flash modules.  The Hands-On modules often incorporate images and interactive presentations to help demonstrate and support the text.  These images and interactive features are lost in the text only format.  Users can supplement their reading of the text versions by going onto the World Wide Web and visiting the web sites and doing the searches that the text indicates.  This is most easily done by printing the text version and using it as a guide. After completing this module you will: 1. Know What a Library Catalog Is 2. Be able to Access the SCHOLAR Catalog 3. Be able to Find Your Way around SCHOLAR's     Main Menu Introduction The SCHOLAR catalog is the online catalog for both the University Library and the Law Library of Cleveland State University.  SCHOLAR allows users to locate materials that the university physically owns or owns access to, and it is one of the first resources students access when doing research at Cleveland State.  This lesson will introduce you to SCHOLAR, how to access it, and orient you to its main menu. 1. What is a library catalog? If you've ever used a library before, you've likely used a library catalog. A library catalog, also called an online catalog, is a database or collection of information arranged for ease of access and retrieval. In other words, just like an index at the back of a book tells you on what page or pages certain topics are discussed, the library catalog will tell you where to find or access things that the Library owns.   The Cleveland State University Library catalog is called SCHOLAR. SCHOLAR enables users to search for materials that the University Library and Law Library hold in their collections. Although we're concerned with books in this lesson, SCHOLAR provides access to many types of materials, including: - sound recordings - computer software - microfilms - videos and films - magazines and journals - electronic resources and web sites (Note: while SCHOLAR provides information on the titles of journals owned by the Library, it does not hold information about the articles within those journals). 2. Accessing the SCHOLAR catalog The SCHOLAR catalog can be accessed from any computer having an Internet connection by entering its web address or URL:   http://scholar.csuohio.edu The easiest way to access the SCHOLAR catalog is from the University Library's home page.   The University Library's home page is located at: http://www.ulib.csuohio.edu From the Library's home page, you navigate to SCHOLAR by clicking on one of its links. See if you can find a link to SCHOLAR on the Library's home page. 3. Finding Your Way Around SCHOLAR's Main Menu Now that we know how to get to SCHOLAR, let's take a closer look at the main menu. SCHOLAR's main menu has two sections: a navigation bar on the left and the "Search the Catalog" options at the center of the page. Let's look briefly at each section.   Options available from the navigation bar are: - Course Reserves: access materials your professors put on reserve.   - View Your Own Record: see what items you have out and check on OhioLINK requests. - Renew Materials: renew materials online from your computer. - Library Information: provides address, phone numbers, and links to hours and other general info. - Suggestion Box: suggest materials for the Library or make comments. - Help/Instruction: connects you to help resources like the Hands-On web site.                                                                                                The Home Pages section of the navigation bar links to the web pages of the: - University Library - Law Library - Cleveland State University The "Search the Catalog" section provides access to different types of searches. You are probably familiar with some of these search options. Click on the link for a Title search. Notice that tips on doing title searches are provided below the search box. Okay, how about searching by author?  Find the link for Author search. We'll discuss title and author searching in our next lesson. What if you wanted to search by topic? What kind of search would you use?  Click the appropriate link. Yes, a keyword search would help you find information on topics. Also, you would have been correct to select Subject search as well. We'll talk about keyword and subject searching in lesson 4 of this section. Let's go over the other search options available on the Scholar's main menu. Library of Congress Call No. is a combination of letters and numbers used to place a book in its proper place on the shelf.  Searching by this option allows users to retrieve books at or near a specific call number. ISBN=international standard book number. ISSN=international standard serial number. These two numbers are unique to book and periodical publications.  They provide a unique way to search for materials. Local Call Numbers are often used to identify and organize items in special formats.  The following are examples of local call numbers:   audio cd 01131 fmbur video cstte 00426 mic/9 00028 (microform) mstr thes hist 0019 (master's thesis). OCLC stands for Online Computer Library Center.  OCLC provides shared resources to hundreds of libraries. The unique numbers they assign to materials can be used to perform searches. Government Documents are assigned unique numbers.  Searching by the government document no. will help you quickly find the document you're looking for. Other Numbers allows users to search by other unique numbers assigned to materials.  For example, publishers often have their own numbering system.  Also, technical reports usually possess an unique number.  If the number does not fit into one of the searches above, try searching it here. This concludes Getting Stared Using the SCHOLAR Catalog