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UNT Library Catalog Search Help

Why Use the Catalog?

The catalog lists most of the books, journals, music materials, databases, indexes, government documents, indexes, maps and other materials that are owned or subscribed to by the UNT Libraries

What Can't I Find in the Catalog?

You cannot find individual journal articles using the catalog. Use a database or index search from the Electronic Resources page.
Some materials or collections are not always listed in the catalog. These include:

Maps
Music Special Collections
U.S. Government Documents
Some older materials are not yet entered in the online catalog; please consult the card catalogs for these items.

If you need this sort of information, please ask at a Reference Desk.

How to Use the Catalog

Decide on the type of search you want to do. Common searches are keyword, title, and author.
You may also perform searches for course materials that your instructors have put on reserve.
If you already know the title, author, keyword, subject heading, or call number that you want to search for, you can perform a Quick Search on the Catalog home page. If you prefer to perform a more specific search, select 'Advanced Search' under the Guided Search options.

Searching

Advanced Search (also called Keyword Search)

What Is It?

The keyword search option will search for a word or a combination of words from author names, titles, subject headings, names of organizations, content notes, and series titles.
Keyword searching permits boolean searching, adjacency and proximity searching, and several truncation options.

When would I use this?

When you are trying to find resources on a topic or subject, such as environmental policies, Shakespeare, World War I, etc.
When you don't know the exact name of a government department, the full titleof a work, the library-assigned subject heading used by the library.
When you are trying to find conference proceedings/papers.
When you retrieved only a few records in a previous search.

How Does It Work?

You can use one or more terms in your search.
Results are presented based on "relevancy" using a "relevancy algorithm" much like internet search engines, such as Google and Yahoo.

Setting Search Limits

In the Advanced Keyword search you have the opportunity to add limits to your search.
Options include:

Language
Material type (video, book, etc.)
Year of publication
Collection

Quick Search Tips

Use Adjacency (phrase).	environmental policies
Use Boolean operators.	environment and policies
Use Truncation (alternate endings).	environment*
Use Proximity.	environment within 10 policies

Detailed Search Tips

Search Type	Description	Examples
Adjacency (the default) also known as phrase searching	By default, all words in the entered search expression are ANDed together. To search the exact string, enclose the search expression in double quotes.	north texas university finds both university of north texas and north texas university Exact search: "north texas university"
Truncation	Find alternate endings for search terms, such as plurals. An * looks for 0-5 characters after the word. Use ** to find all possible forms for the word. There must be at least three characters to the left for this to work.	accom* finds accomm followed by 1-5 characters: accompany, accomplish, etc. accom finds accomm followed by unlimited characters**: accommodation, accomplishments, etc.
Wildcard	Wildcards are useful for finding limit words with variant spellings such as English and American spelling, and some plural spellings. Wildcards are also useful to limit results when truncation gives too many results. A question mark may be used as a wildcard within a word to replace zero or one characters. An asterisk can also be used to look for unknown characters within a word. There must be at least two characters to the left for this to work.	behavio?r finds behavior or behaviour counsel?ing finds counselling or counseling wom?n finds woman or women *counl** will find counsel, counsell, council, etc.
Operators	Use and, or, and not to search for different combinations of words in records. Use "and" to search for all words in any order. Use "or" to find any of the words in any order. Use "and not" to exclude words.	natural and pharmaceutical* finds "natural" and words beginning with "pharmaceutical" together in the same record. indonesia or malaysia finds records with "Indonesia" or "Malaysia" or both york and not new finds "york" but not "new york"
Proximity	Use near to retrieve records that contain the specified words or phrases within ten words of each other . Use within # to search words within a set range of each other. * You must leave a space between the operator and the number.	water near pollution finds "water" within 10 words of "pollution" shakespeare within 5 criticism finds "Shakespeare" within 5 words or "criticism"
Combining Multiple Search Strategies	Combining multiple searches using (). The search strategies within the brackets will be performed first, then combined with the other terms or strategies from left to right.	(secondary or high) and school will find information on secondary high schools *(teenagers or adolescents) and driv behavio?r and not (alcohol or drugs) (marijuana or marihuana) within 10 (decrim or legal)**
Fields	You can force search terms to be present in specific fields of the record. Fields available for searching are: A: (author) T: (title) S: (subject) N: (note/additional words) D: (descriptor/subject)	a:shakespeare and t:hamlet to find items with Shakespeare as the author and hamlet in the title (a:mozart or a:bach) and s:flute to find items with "mozart" or "bach" in the author field (but not necessarily the same author field) and "flute" in the subject
Before/After	Use these to specify in what order the words appear. Any number of words may appear between the specified terms.	illness before vaccination finds illness before vaccination teenage* after pregnan* finds some form of "teenage" after some form of "pregnan"
Special	Use to find all items in a specific format, language, or location.	Type ** in the search box and select the formats, etc. you want to search on using the drop-down boxes.

Author Search

What Is It?

Use this search to find material using the author's name. Authors can be individuals (William Shakespeare); editors of books or conference proceedings; associations (American Chemical Society); a company (Hewlett Packard); a performer or composer; or a government body.
For individuals/persons, type the last name first.
Do not include punctuation such as commas, colons, and apostrophes.

Search Tips

Use format: last name first name or initials	Clinton Bill Winfrey Oprah Tolkien, jrr
You do not need a first name or intials although you may get many results	tolkien clinton
Check alternate forms of the names and pseudonyms	lewis cs lewis clive staples twain mark clemens samuel
Use as much of the name as you know	shakespe
If you are unsure of the complete spelling	hewlett pack
For multiple last names, use usual conventions	gogh vincent van evans pritchard
Use both full names and acronyms	ibm international business machines
Search conference proceedings by the name of the conference ** If you do not get a result, use a Keyword search.	international symposium on technology and society
Watch for "see" and "see also" links	For example: typing in lewis daniel day will retrieve Lewis Daniel Day -- See --Day Lewis Daniel

Title Search

What Is It?

Use this search to find terms by their title (or name).
The title search will find titles of books, journals, and magazines (but not articles in them), conference proceedings, music, maps, and more.
You must type the words in the title in the exact order and correct spelling is important. Please see the examples below.

Search Tips

Less can be better than more. If you have trouble finding your item, just search the first few words to the title.

physiology and biochemistry

readings in literat

new directions in play

Try alternate forms of title words

initials, acronyms, abbreviation	us or u.s.a or u.s.
numbers	1 or one
one word or two	website or web site
spelling variation	behavior or behaviour

If you don't find a result, try using a Keyword search.

Subject Heading Search

What Is It?

Many cataloged items have subjects attached to them. These can be very useful.
Subjects are assigned using "controlled vocabulary," which is a widely accepted list of terms. Most items use the Library of Congress Subject Headings.
Subject headings can also be people, organizations, events, or ethnic groups.
If you have difficulty finding items using the subject search, use a Keyword search.

Search Tips

Type as much of the subject heading as you know. * Ask at a Reference Desk for help if you do not know or use a Keyword search.	elephants -- migration -- china dakota indians -- women -- biography family relationships grief woodwind trios bassoon clarinet flute
People can be subject headings. * Note: enter last name first	reagan ronald clinton hil
Ethnic groups can be subject headings.	Irish Navajo Indians
Events can be subject headings.	World War, 1914-1918 Persian Gulf War, 1991
Watch for "see" and "see also" terms.	desert storm Agricultural Scientists -- See --Agriculturists

Combined Author/Title Search

What Is It?

Use the combined Author/Title search when you know a word or two in the title of the item and the author's last name (or part of it) or the government body, business, etc.

Search Tips

Type the author's or artist's LAST NAME first. For example:

tolkien

tolkien jrr

tolkien john ronald reuel

Type as many or as few of the words in the title as you want. For example:

green knight

green

OR

Type in as much of the name of the organization in normal order.

american chemical society

american chem

Type as many or as few of the words in the title as you want. For example:

materials

environmental scie

Journal Title Search

What Is It?

Use this search to find journals using their title (or name).
This search will not find articles within the journals.
Note: If you do not find what you need with this search, please use a Title search.

Search Tips

Enter as much of the journal name as you know from the beginning.	journal of psychology journal of psyc
Do not use abbreviations. Ask at a Reference Desk for information on how to find the full title of the journal.	jama j psych

Call Numbers and Other Numbers Searches

What Is It?

All items in the catalog have a unique number attached to them. This next section will discuss the various types of number searches and provide examples.

Call numbers are given to all library materials so they can be easily located.
There are three common types of call numbers:

Library of Congress (LC)
SuDoc (Government Documents)
Dewey Decimal Numbers

Specialized numbers, such as videos, CDs, and others have other types of numbers.
Use the floor maps for each library to find where the item is located.

Search Tips

Start at the beginning of the call number and type as much as you know.	Library of Congress: BF199 .B33 1994 GN24 .B43 PS3551.M58 Z465 1995 Q199 .C65 1997 RJ507.A29 R93 2000 Government documents: PrEx 3.15:2002 Y 4.J 89/2:96-12 D 301.2:F 51/2
Other types of call numbers identify slides, sounds recordings and other media, rare books, and microform materials.	MicF 203 Slide 191 LPCD 31137 Ph-disc 114 ACD 20 Ph-tape 1005 CD-ROM 5 DVD 1897 F.S. 357

Course Reserves

Search course reserves by instructor's name or course code.

Note: The course reserves search is not limited to a specific collection and will search the entire catalog.

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