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A Guide
to Searching Sterling
| Words | Subject Headings | Authors | Titles | Author/Keywords | Call Numbers |
| Standard Numbers | Limiting and Sorting | Interpreting Screens | Showing Similar Items | Printing | Further Assistance |
The Sterling Library Catalog is a database shared by all units of the Howard University Library System, including all its branches and special collections (except Law--search DanielWebCat separately). It contains:
You may search for single words or a combination of words in titles, subject headings, contents notes, names of companies, organizations, governments and conferences. Words may be combined using the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT.
When you enter more than one word, Sterling assumes an "AND" between them and
finds only those records containing ALL of those words, not necessarily
as a phrase. Using "AND" narrows the search.
| Sample Search: | Finds catalog entries: |
| brewster place | with the word "brewster" and the word "place," retrieving the book entitled, The Women of Brewster Place |
| primates adaptation | with the word "primates" and the word "adaptation," retrieving materials that discuss both subject areas |
| guitar weeps | with the word "guitar" and the word "weeps," retrieving the "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." |
| white house aging | issued by the White House Conference on Aging |
| inorganic chemistry ejournals | with the words "inorganic," "chemistry" and "ejournals" in either the title or the subject terms. This search identifies electronic journals matching the search criteria and specifies the database service in which the full text appears. For example, Polyhedron (ejournal:SciDirect). |
| Sample Search: | Finds catalog entries: |
| discrimination OR prejudice | with the word "discrimination" or the word "prejudice" |
| beijing OR peking | with both place names for this Chinese city |
| color OR colour | with both the American and the British spelling of "color" |
| Sample Search: | Finds catalog entries: |
| mexico NOT new | with the word "mexico" but not the word "new," retrieving materials on the country but not the state of New Mexico |
| bronte NOT charlotte | on the Bronte sisters, but not Charlotte |
| Sample Search: | Finds catalog entries: |
| australia* | with the words, "Australia," "Australian," "Australia's" |
| adolescen* | with the words "adolescent," "adolescents," and "adolescence," as well as foreign language spellings such as "adolenscente" and "adolescencia" |
| Sample Search: | Finds catalog entries: |
| dakota* NOT (north OR south) | on the Dakota Indians or the Dakota Territory but not the states of North Dakota or South Dakota |
| substance abuse (teenage* or adolescen* or youth) | on substance abuse by youth, whether they are referred to as "teenagers" or "adolescents" or simply "youth" |
Subject headings can be topics, places, persons, or organizations. Most
subject headings are based on the Library of Congress Subject Headings
(Print copies are available in all libraries). You may enter a complete
LC subject heading, or browse by using a shortened form of the heading.
The less you type the more you retrieve. Subdivisions of an LC heading may
be entered first.
| Sample Search: | Finds catalog entries: |
| afro americans education higher | with the Library of Congress subject heading, "Afro-Americans" with the subdivision "Education (Higher)" |
| afro americans | with the LC subject heading, "Afro-Americans" without any subdivision, providing a greater number of entries to browse |
| case studies adolescent psychiatry | with the LC subject heading, "Adolescent psychiatry -- Case studies" |
| mozambique | with the LC heading "Mozambique" |
| mozart wolfgang amadeus | with the LC heading "Mozart, Wolfgang, Amadeus", retrieving materials about Mozart rather than music composed by him |
| amnesty international | with the LC heading "Amnesty International", retrieving materials about the organization rather than materials published by the organization |
Search the catalog by Subject Heading.
Authors can be persons (such as poets, editors, translators,
illustrators,
artists, composers, performers, actors, and directors), companies, corporations,
countries, government agencies or conferences.
| Sample Search: | Finds catalog entries: |
| soyinka | by Wole Soyinka |
| oneill e | by all the Oneills whose first names begin with "e" |
| bronte charlotte | by Charlotte Bronte |
| garcia lorca federico | by Federico Garcia Lorca |
| elizabeth i | by Elizabeth I |
| american psychological assoc | by the American Psychological Association |
| conference on british studies | produced by the Conference on British Studies |
Title searches will retrieve both individual titles and series titles. Initial
articles, e.g. a, an, the, el, une, das, may be omitted but internal
articles must be included.
| Sample Search: | Finds : |
| color purple | Walker's book, The Color Purple |
| all the kings men | Warren's book, All the King's Men |
| poeta en nueva york | Garcia Lorca's poem, Poeta en Nueva York |
| 1000 avant garde plays | Koch's 1000 Avant-Garde Plays |
| chronicle of higher education | The Chronicle of Higher Education |
| journal of structural geology | The Journal of Structural Geology |
| monde | La Monde |
| philadelphia inquirer | The Philadelphia Inquirer |
| dido and aeneas | Purcell's opera, Dido and Aeneas |
Search the catalog by Title.
An unsuccessful search results in the message "your entry would be here." Try
An Author/Keyword search is an Author search limited by a word or words in the title or subject heading. After you type in an author's name and
a word or words from the title or subject, the system will retrieve all
entries by that author and then pick out entries that contain those words.
Note that the words you choose to search do not have to be the first words of the title. This is a good search strategy to use when you know
the name of an author but are unsure of the complete title.
| Sample Search: | Finds: |
| shakespeare w / henry | Shakespeare's plays, King Henry IV, Henry V, King Henry VI, and King Henry VIII |
| bronte / heights | Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights |
| society of friends / old banner | a collection of essays entitled, The Old Banner |
Search the catalog by Author/Keyword.
Library of Congress call numbers are used to
classify
most of the materials in the University Library System. Note that LC numbers
always begin with a letter. Type the full LC call number with or without
spaces or browse by typing a shortened version of the number.
| Sample Search by Library of Congress call number: |
Finds: |
| hq1236.5u6c68 | a book entitled, The Grounding of Modern Feminism |
| hq 1236.5 u6 c68 | the same book, The Grounding of Modern Feminism |
| hq1236.5 | the LC classification in the area of women in politics |
Consult the letters and titles of the main classes of the Library of Congress Classification.
The National Library of
Medicine Classification (NLM)
is used for health sciences or health-related material.
Dewey decimal call numbers are found in the Undergraduate
Library where about one third of the older materials in the social sciences
and literature are in the Dewey decimalclassification. Dewey decimal numbers always begin
with at least three digits. Type the full Dewey Decimal call number with
spaces between elements or browse by typing a shortened version of the
number.
| Sample
Search by Dewey call number: |
Finds: |
| 888.1 M996 | a book entitled, Heroditus, Father of history |
| 888 | the Dewey classification for ancient Greek writings |
Standard Numbers - include the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) and the ISSN (International Standard Serial Number). Type the ISBN without spaces or punctuation. Type the other standard numbers with exact spaces and punctuation.
| Sample Search by ISBN: |
Finds: |
| 0837151759 | a book entitled, The Social Dimensions of Mental Illness |
| 0028-9604 | the magazine, Newsweek |
Once you have done a search, you may sort the result by year of publication and limit the results by one or more of the following:
An unsuccessful limit search produces the message "0 entries found."
The information enclosed by the box at the bottom of the screen gives location, call number, and status of the item. The status area will tell you if the item is available, or out to another borrower and when it is to be returned to the library.
When you have displayed a record for one title, you can click on underlined headings in that record, such as the author, subject headings, call number, or alternative titles. The catalog will perform a new search for the heading you selected. Once you have found one title that matches your needs, you can use this method to quickly find similar materials.
You can print any screen by clicking on the PRINT button of your web browser.
If you have any questions about this guide or would like to learn more about searching Sterling, contact a reference librarian.
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Howard University, all rights reserved.
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