The Albert Sloman Library

Guide to The Albert Sloman Library Catalogue

Table of Contents

Library Quick links

Introduction

The Library's online catalogue or OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) contains information about all of the Library's holdings, whether they are on the main shelves, in Short Loan, in one of the stores or available online. Whenever you want to look for something in the Library, the OPAC should be your first port of call.

Beginning a search

There are two ways of accessing the OPAC; from dedicated terminals within the Library (these have black screens and there are some on each floor) or from the internet, by going to http://serlib0.essex.ac.uk/. The only difference between these versions of the catalogue is that some of the interactive features, such as renewing books, requesting items which are out on loan, booking short loans and accessing online reading lists are only available from the internet version.

Library Main Menu

Types of search

On either version, you will start from a main menu, which lists various types of searches (when using the terminals, you may need to press any key to get to this menu).

To look for a particular item, the most direct search to use is Title. Enter several words from the title

(TIP: you don't need to enter the complete title, just enough to narrow down your search. For example, for a book entitled "Economics and policy : a historical study"�, you could just enter "Economics"� or "Economics and pol"� but entering "Economics and pol" will bring up a much shorter list of titles to look through).

You can also look books up by Author, by entering the surname and then the first name or initials (for example, "Shakespeare, W" or "Shakespeare, William"  although you do not need to use capitals as the system is not sensitive to case). In most cases, however, the title of a book is a more unique identifier than the author.

The Author/Title search is useful when looking for items for which you do not have a complete reference, as you can enter the surname of the author, and then some keywords which you think may appear in the title. This search is also useful when looking for items with common titles, such as selected poems, or complete works, as you can narrow it down to the complete works of a particular author, rather than looking through a list of all the complete works in the Library.

Periodicals (or journals) are listed by title in the catalogue, and can be found by using either the Title or Periodical Title searches. The Library does not index the contents of its periodicals; to find articles on a particular subject you will need to use an indexing and abstracting database (see Databases for further information). Some copies of periodical articles, especially those from journals not held in the Library, are kept behind the Circulation Desk downstairs. These can be found by searching for the title or author in the catalogue.

To find items on a particular subject, use the Keywords search option. If you enter one or more words which describe your subject, the catalogue will return a list of books which contain your terms, either in the title or in the assigned subject headings. (see also the section on Subject Headings below). Truncation and Boolean operators can be used as part of this search, to broaden or narrow your results set. More information on this is available from the Keywords search screen.

Classmarks and Subject Headings

Two of the remaining options from the main menu relate to the way in which the Library categorises information to help you find it. The Classmark search enables you to search for an item using the alphanumeric code assigned to it by the Library. This code relates to a wider scheme (in the case of this Library, the Library of Congress Classification Scheme) in which subjects are assigned a combination of letters and numbers.

The idea behind this is that items on similar subjects will be grouped together, and that there will be a logical progression from one set of items to the next. For example, books relating to history have classmarks beginning with the letter D. Within this division, books relating to the history of Great Britain all begin with the letters DA. Within this subdivision, books relating to early history will have a lower number than those relating to more modern history. This is of benefit when browsing the shelves.

The Classmark search on the catalogue can work as a kind of virtual browse; if you know the code or classmark for a book on a specific topic you are interested in, you can search under that classmark to find all the other books which have the same one.

Likewise, most items in the catalogue have been assigned one or more subject headings, which relate to the topic and focus of the item. These subject headings also come from the Library of Congress, and are controlled in such a way that items on similar subjects will have the same headings. Again, if you know the subject headings for a particular item, you can search for that heading to find other books which share it. In the internet version of the catalogue, all subject headings appear as links, so you can easily see other items which have the same headings just by clicking on them.

Search results

Regardless of which type of search you are using, once you have entered your terms, you will come to a results screen. This may take the form of a catalogue record of a specific item, or of a list of items from which you can select a record to view. If your search has been unsuccessful, you will still get one of these lists, called a browse list, with an indication of where your terms would have appeared if they had been present. You can look at as many records from a browse list as you like, by moving from item to item and back to the list .

(TIP: look for the commands at the bottom of the screen. On the terminals, you can use F for Forward and B for Back to move through a list, and R to Return to Browsing. On the internet version, click on Prev and Next, or the Return to List button.)

To begin a new search at any time, click the Start Over button (on the internet version) or press N for New search (on the terminal version).

Finding items in the Library

Once you have found an item that you are interested in, there are several important things to note. The classmark is at the top of each record – you must make a note of this in order to locate the item on the shelves. The catalogue record provides information about the author, title, publication details and physical description of the item.

(TIP: when compiling bibliographies, you can use this publication information from the catalogue).

The Shelved At and Availability information is also essential for locating items in the Library. This information is contained in a box, at the bottom of each record.

The Shelved At information shows where in the Library the item can be found. Most often, this will read Main shelves; this means that the item can be found in the main sequence which runs from floors 2-5 of the Library. If the item can only be borrowed for three days or for seven days, the Shelved At information will read 3 day loan (main shelves) or 7 day loan (main shelves) to show that it is part of the main sequence.

Here are some other locations which appear as Shelved At information:

Atlases - These items are shelved on the first floor, on the right hand side of the Reference Room.

DVD (Short loan) - These items are kept behind the Circulation desk, and can be requested from there by number.

Folio - These items are larger than most of the other books and so are shelved separately. There are Folio sections on each of the floors, covering the relevant classmarks.

Microfilm or Microfiche - These are kept in cabinets on the first floor, and can be requested from staff at the Current Periodicals counter or the Enquiry desk.

Pamphlet - These items are kept in a closed store, but can be requested by any Library user. Fill in the item details using an online Store request form, or one of the blue slips available from the Circulation desk.

Reference - These items are shelved on the first floor, in the Reference Room, and generally cannot be borrowed. Items in this section are usually dictionaries, encyclopaedias, directories or bibliographies.

Short loan - These items are shelved in the Short Loan section on the ground floor and can only be borrowed for four hours at a time or overnight. If the classmark for a short loan item begins XD, this means it is a photocopy. These can be requested from the Circulation desk by number.

Special Collections Room - These items are part of a Special Collection held in the Library. They can be requested using the grey slips available from the Circulation desk. There are also other named Special Collections (such as Russell, ESAH, Spitzer etc.) which will appear on the catalogue under these names and can be requested in the same way.

Store A or C - These items are kept in a closed store, but can be requested by any Library user. Fill in the item details using an online Store request form, or one of the blue slips available from the Circulation desk.

Videorecording (3 day loan) - These items are kept behind the Circulation desk, and can be requested from there by number.

Videotape Circ Desk (Short Loan) - These items are kept behind the Circulation desk, and can be requested from there by number.

Videotape Short loan Collection - These items are shelved in the Short Loan section on the ground floor and can only be borrowed for four hours at a time or overnight.

See: How can I find....? Locations in The Albert Sloman Library for a complete listing.

On the internet version of the catalogue, the Shelved At information usually appears as a hyperlink which can be followed to find out more about where the book is located and how to get hold of it.

The default option for Availability is in IN LIBRARY. This means the item should be on the shelves at the relevant classmark. If instead it reads DUE followed by a date, this means the item is out on loan and is due for return on the date indicated. Items on loan can be requested by other users, either by completing a white card (available from the Circulation Desk) or by clicking the Request button either at the top or the bottom of the record on the internet version of the catalogue.

Sometimes the Availability may read AT DESK. This means that someone has requested the item, and it is waiting for them to collect it from the Circulation Desk. It is possible to look at items which are AT DESK, and to photocopy from them within the Short Loan area, but they must subsequently be returned to the Circulation Desk. Another possible Availability option is NOT LOANABLE, which means that the item will be on the shelf but cannot be borrowed. Other Availability options include MISSING, SEARCHING, BILLED, CL RETURNED. All of these options mean that the item is missing from the shelf, and that procedures have been instituted by the Library either to find the item, or to acquire a replacement.

The classmark, Shelved At and Availability options in combination are what you need to locate any given item in the Library. To find out which classmarks are on which floors, you can consult the floor guides on the landings and in each of the paternoster cars. There is also a large version of this on the ground floor. The basic division is as follows:

Classmarks A-DA, Q-V are on Floor 2 and cover the subjects areas General Works, Philosophy, Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Theology, Science (General), Maths, Computer Science, Electronic Systems Engineering, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Nursing and Health Sciences

Classmarks DB-HJ are on Floor 3 and cover the subjects areas History, Geography, Social Science (General), Statistics, Economics, Economic History, Commerce, Finance

Classmarks HM-K are on Floor 4 and cover the subject areas Sociology, Social History, Political Science, Human Rights, European Documentation Centre, Law

Classmarks L-P are on Floor 5 and cover the subject areas Education, Music, Art, Linguistics, Language, Literature

Reading lists

In addition to the searching methods outlined above, there is another way in which to find items. The Library maintains online versions of all reading lists sent to the Library, as part of the Course Materials Repository (CMR). Each item on a reading list is followed by a link to the relevant catalogue record for the item, so that you can link through to see how many copies the Library holds, whether they are out on loan and where they can be found. These reading lists can be accessed from the reading lists link on the main menu of the catalogue or from within the CMR.

Viewing your library record

Another useful feature of the catalogue is the My library record option (this is called View your circulation record on the terminal version). By entering your University username and password (or your name and Pr-ID on the terminal version), you can see which items you have out on loan, and when they are due back. You can also see if any books you have requested are ready for you to pick up (although the Library will also contact you to tell you when this is the case). On the internet version of the catalogue, you can also use this option to renew books, provided that you do not have any fines outstanding on your record and that they have not been requested by another user. You can also set up preferred searches and check which books you have borrowed in the past.

Booking short loans

Short loan items can be booked through the internet version of the catalogue. Click on the link 'book a Short Loan copy' on the catalogue record for the book you are interested in and enter your University username and password. You can then choose a date and time to reserve the book. Select the appropriate date and time from the pull down menus which appear and then click the Submit button. Details of your booking will appear in full, and you will then need to click OK to complete your booking. See the FAQ page for more information if you have trouble booking a particular item.

Marking and exporting records

It is possible to mark and export a list of catalogue records from the internet version of the catalogue. You may wish to do this if you are searching the catalogue from home and you wish to create a list of books to look for next time you come into the Library. Alternatively you may wish to export a group of records into a bibliographic reference management tool such as EndNote.

Once you have found a record, or group of records that you want to add to a list for export, you can mark them, either from a browse list or at the individual record level. On browse lists, a check box is present in the column to the left of each title.

To mark an individual item, click in the box next to it. When you have marked all the records you are interested in from that particular browse list, click the button at the bottom or top of the list which says Save Marked Records. You can also choose to mark all the records in the list at once by clicking the button Save All On Page. When either of these buttons have been clicked, two more buttons will appear at the top and the bottom of the screen on the right hand side. The first button, View Saved, gives you the chance to view and export the list of records you have marked. The second button, Clear Saved Records, will clear your list of marked records so that you can start again.

To mark a record at the individual record level, click on the button, Save Records. This will add the record to your saved list, and brings up the two extra buttons for exporting and clearing the list.

When you have added all the records you are interested in to your saved list, click the View Saved button. At this stage, you have the option to remove any records from the list, if you have added them in error, or have changed your mind, by clicking in the check box next to the title and then clicking the button Remove Marked Records from This List. There are four formats in which you can export the records. The first, Full Display, exports all of the information in the catalogue record. The second, Brief Display, only exports the classmark and title of each item. The third and fourth options relate to formats suitable for subsequently exporting the records into the bibliographic reference management programs ProCite and EndNote respectively.

You can also choose whether to e-mail the records to yourself in your chosen format, or to save them to a floppy disk. To e-mail the records, fill in the e-mail address you would like them to be sent to and click Submit. To save the records to disk, click the radio button next to Local Disk and click Submit. A dialogue box will then appear asking you whether you would like to open the file or save it to your computer. Click on Save and then choose the A drive. Whether you have emailed or saved the list, you then need to clear it by clicking the Clear Saved Records button at the top of the screen. This will take you back into the main catalogue.

Further Help

Help is available from within both versions of the catalogue. On the terminal version, press I for Library INFORMATION at the main menu. This takes you to a list of options, each providing information about a different aspect of using the catalogue. To reach the same information from the internet version of the catalogue, click on Search tips from the main menu. There are also links to the relevant sections of this information from within the search screens.