Table of Contents

What is the library catalog?

What is included in the catalog?

You can find records of library ownership (holdings records) for the following:

• books
• electronic books
• government documents, some online
• journals
• dissertations and theses
• maps
• videos
• sound recordings

Here is a sample holdings record:

This part of the record gives bibliographic information such as the author, the title, where the work was published, the year of publication, the length of the work, links to location and availability information, Library of Congress subject headings, and ISBN number.

You can also search in three distinct areas of the catalog. Just beneath the gold toolbar at the top of the catalog search screen you will see these areas to search:

• CATALOG lets you search the combined resources of all the libraries of the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions. When you search this area, you will see materials available at different institutions such as UMUC, University of Maryland College Park, Bowie State University, Saint Mary's College of Maryland, etc. You will automatically be searching this combined catalog unless you specify otherwise. It will give you the largest collection of materials from which to choose.
• JOURNALS lets you search for journals, newspapers, and magazines owned by any USMAI library and published more often than once a year. This option will tell you which campuses own print copies of the journals if you are able to visit one of our libraries in the USMAI. Note: Online full text journal articles are not included in the catalog. To search for online articles in these journals, you need to use the UMUC Library Databases and E-Journals.
• other catalogs lets you search the catalog of an individual institution. For example, you can limit your search to only those materials found at University of Maryland College Park. Remember that a combined catalog search provides a list of all USMAI libraries to choose from and request an item.

What can the catalog do for me in Maryland?

You can search the USMAI library catalog and request items. You can request that the items be shipped to any of the following locations:

• Information and Library Services, Room 2255, Student and Faculty Services Center, Adelphi, Maryland
• Dorsey Station Library, 6865 Deerpath Road, Room 2113, Elkridge, MD
• Waldorf Center for Higher Education, 3261 Old Washington Road, Waldorf, Maryland
• Shady Grove Library/Media Center, 9640 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, Maryland
• or any of the Libraries in USMAI

You are also welcome to visit any of the libraries in the USMAI System to check out materials with your current student, faculty, or staff ID card. Librarians at any of these institutions are trained to help you.

What can the catalog do for me stateside outside of Maryland?

You can search the USMAI library catalog and request items, which can be sent to you via UPS. See Get It Delivered for details.

Once you have completed your search and you are requesting an item, choose "UMUC Distance Education" as your "pickup location." This means that the item will be sent to you via UPS within the United States outside the state of Maryland. You will have to provide contact information for delivery.

You can also request book chapters for electronic delivery through DocumentExpress. Or you can use Libdex or Libweb to identify libraries in your geographic area and search their online catalogs, if available.

What can the catalog do for me abroad?

In the Advanced Search feature, you can limit your search in the USMAI library catalog to find electronic resources such as electronic books (e-books) and some U.S. government documents.

You can also request book chapters for electronic delivery through DocumentExpress. Or you can use Libdex or Libweb to identify libraries in your geographic area and search their online catalogs, if available.

Which browser should I use?

• Internet Explorer version 5.0 or higher
• Netscape version 6.2 or higher

Earlier versions will work, but you will see Unicode, i.e. characters that look like little square white boxes.

How do I access the library catalog?

• Go to the UMUC Information and Library Services home page
• Under the Find Articles, Books, More... section, click Books & Media (Library Catalog).

Do I need to log in? If so, how? Do I need to log out?

Anyone can search the USMAI library catalog without logging in. But to request a book, called "placing a hold," you will need to log in with your last name and your barcode. That is the 14-digit number on the back of the ID card given to Stateside students, faculty, and staff.

If you logged into the catalog to check out an item, click end session at the top of the screen when you finish. This will log you out so that no one else will have access to your account.

How do I search the library catalog?

1. To do a basic search, fill in the word/s anywhere box with the terms you want to search. Capitalization doesn't matter. Combine similar concepts (synonyms) using "or" and different concepts using "and."
   

   Examples:	internet or Web
   	internet and security
   	(internet or Web) and security

2. Click search. A list of titles on the topic that you have entered will appear.
3. OPTIONAL: To limit your search to items that are not checked out:
• Click on modify search on the gray bar above the list.
• Scroll down and click on Available items.
4. To see complete information on an item, select a title by clicking on the record number or title.
5. When the complete information appears, click on all locations: Availability to see which campuses own the item and whether it can be checked out.
6. You can visit the owning campus directly and borrow the item by presenting your UMUC ID with barcode and current semester sticker. If you prefer, you can request the item and have it sent to a USMAI campus, the Shady Grove Library/Media Center, the UMUC Dorsey Station Library, or the Waldorf Center for Higher Education for pickup. If you live outside of Maryland in the continental United States, the ILS staff can mail the book to you (see Get It Delivered for details).

How do I request an item?

1. Follow the steps under How do I access the library catalog? above.
2. Search the library catalog for the book you want using the steps under How do I search the library catalog? above.
3. At the catolog record for the item you want to request, click all locations: Availability in the full record, then click Request this item. You need to log in to request an item. Note that some items cannot be requested or checked out because they do not circulate, e.g. periodicals, videos, maps, sound recordings, etc..
4. Unless you specify another location, the item will be delivered to UMUC Staff Library at Adelphi where you can pick it up. If you would prefer to pick up at another location, use the pull down menu to select the location.
   Note: Distance Education students outside of Maryland in the continental United States should scroll down to pickup location and select UMUC Distance Education to have the book mailed to them.
5. Click Send.

How do I renew an item?

How do I learn more about using the library catalog?

The online catalog provides a number of additional features including advanced searching, saved items, saved searches, the ability to print or e-mail lists of books, to see what you have checked out, and to renew books yourself. To find out more, click the Help button within the library catalog or contact UMUC's Information and Library Services.