Skip to Main Content

Education

Accessing the Library Catalog

 

Click on Books & Articles in the left column.  Then click Library Catalog.

The library catalog is called Primo Pathfinder.

 

 

 

 You can search by keyword (words or phrase), author, title, subject, series and/or periodical title.

 Or, you can use the Advanced Search.

 

Searching the Library Catalog

 

Search Hints

On the search screen you can combine search elements to refine a search, to limit a search based on criteria configured by your library, produce a browse list of specified items, or perform a call number search.

Combining Search Elements

You can combine search elements by separating them with Boolean operators. You can combine word or phrase, author, title, subject, series, and periodical title searches. This will allow you to search for any records containing the combined information. Use the Boolean operator pull-down menu to further refine your search.

  • Type a word or phrase in the Words or phrase field and you can search for any catalog records containing the word or phrase.
     
  • Type an author's name in the Author field to search for any catalog records containing the author's name. Although you can search for an author by the first name, last name, or initials, searching by an author's last name produces a more complete list of search results, or if your search reverts to the browse list, places you in a more focused portion of the browse list.
     
  • Type words from a title in the Title field. This allows to you search for any catalog records with those words in the title. Articles and stopwords are ignored.
     
  • Type a subject term in the Subject field to search for any catalog records with the search term in the subject index.
     
  • Type a series title in the Series field to search for any catalog records with that search term with that series title.
     
  • Type a periodical or journal title in the Periodical title field to search for any records containing the search term in the periodical keyword index.

A search expression can consist of a single term or a set of terms, as well as operators and special punctuation.

After you have entered the search criteria, select the Search button to perform the power search. Select the Reset button if you want to clear the fields and enter different search criteria.

  • Limiting the Search

You can limit your search based on criteria configured by your library. Your library may have the following options for limiting a search.

  • If you are familiar with your library's catalog record item types, you can choose a specific item type to search under from the item type pull-down menu.
  • You can limit your search by the area of the library that the item is located from the location pull-down menu.
  • You can have your search match on a particular part of a catalog record (such as keywords only) by using the match on pull-down menu.
  • You can limit your search to a specific publication year from the pub year pull-down menu.
  • You can sort your power search results by specified criteria from the sort by pull-down menu.

Browsing

From Search page, click on Browse to produce of browse list of items. The browse list may be produced based on a search of an author, a title, a subject, a series, or a periodical or journal title. 

Call Number Search

If you know the call number of the item you are searching for, you can use the Call Number Search option. Your library may have the following options for limiting a search.

  • If you are familiar with your library's catalog record item types, you can choose a specific item type to search under from the item type pull-down menu.
     
  • You can choose the library shelving location to search in by selecting one from the location pull-down menu.

Reference