Introduction to using the

Knowledge Resources On-line Catalogue

Resource Centre, Aspect House, Suite 6, 2nd Floor, AspectBusinessPark, Bennerley Road, Bulwell,

Nottingham NG6 8WR. Tel: 0115 883 4205, Fax: 0115 942 8606. Email:

November 2009

Contents:

1.0 Introduction

2.0 The Search Form

2.1 About the Search Form......

2.2 Using the Indexes

2.3 Boolean Operators

2.4 Truncation

3.0 Doing a Search

4.0 Saving Searches

5.0 Printing Search Results

6.0 Emailing Search Results

7.0 Saving Search Results

8.0 Renewing Items

9.0 Reserving Items......

-

THE KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES ON-LINE CATALOGUE

1.0 Introduction

The Knowledge Resources On-line Catalogue is a searchable database of items held in the Resource Centre and at the Byron Court and Standard Court libraries. It is available over the Internet and so can be accessed from work or home.

To gain access:

1.Go to

  1. Click on the link to the left of the page that says ‘Library Catalogue’
  1. Click on the link marked ‘Search’ in the middle of the screen. This will bring up the catalogue Search Form.

2.0 The Search Form

2.1 About the Search Form

The search form allows you to perform a comprehensive search of the library catalogue for a resource or a group of resources by filling in the search fields. You enter the values you want in these fields, combining them using Boolean operators (see page 7).

You can search the catalogue by using the following fields, either singly or in combination. The default search screen displays the following principal search fields:

This is an A-Z list of subjects used to describe what each of the resources in the Library is about. A complete listing of all the subject headings is accessible via the button (see page 6). Use this field to search for resources on a particular subject.

This indicates the suitability of a resource for a particular age range or level (e.g. Key Stage 1; 16-19; Special Needs etc.) This field can be used, in conjunction with the Subject field, to find resources that are suitable for a particular group on a particular subject: e.g. “Sex Education materials for Key Stage 3”. A list of all the levels used can be found by pressing the button.

If you know the author of the book you require, or you wish to see our entire collection of works by a particular author, then you can search the catalogue by using this field.

This field can be used to check if the Resource Centre catalogue holds an item you know the title of.

Each individual resource has its own unique reference, referred to as its accession number. If you know the accession number of a particular resource, you can search via this field to check its availability.

Other search fields can be accessed by clicking on the down arrows to reveal further options in the drop-down menu. The most useful fields to use are:

This is a very useful field as it can be used to search for key words that appear in the synopses of resources; especially valuable if you are not sure which Subject heading to search under.

Unless this field is changed via the drop-down menu, then all formats will be searched, e.g. video, book, game etc. However, it is possible to restrict your search to, for example, videos on a particular subject or books by a particular author, by altering the format searched for. The following formats are included in the library catalogue:

This is useful when used in combination with other fields to identify if we have a particular item or it can be used to search the catalogue for the most current resources we have.

Resources relating to a particular classification can be searched for by using this field, e.g. 8.e contains all items on Oral Health.

If you know the ISBN of a book that you require, this field can be used to check if the library holds that title.

You may wish to check which resources we stock by a particular publisher via this search field.

All locations will be automatically searched – the Resource Centre at Linden House, and the Standard Court and Byron Court libraries – unless restricted to an individual location by using the drop-down menu.

2.2 Using the Indexes

By clicking on next to the Subject field an index display screen appears showing an alphabetical list of subject terms used to describe the library’s resources.

To search for items on a particular subject, type the first part of the term or phrase in the Index Stem box and click on e.g., MENT for resources on mental health.

Once the term is displayed, select it by either clicking on or the term itself. Click the Search button on the blue bar to perform a search for all the items available on that subject.

Once you have clicked on index, you will see thatthe Index Listing box above the blue bar has a drop-down menu, which lists all the searchable fields (Subject, Author, Title, Publication Date, etc). You can use indexes to search any of these fields.

2.3 Boolean Operators

Boolean operators are used to link search fields. Depending on the operators used, the number of search hits will be increased or decreased.

There are three types of Boolean search:

AND operator (symbol=&)

Used to narrow a search by including specific terms e.g., SMOKING AND CANCER would include all records where the search field contains both words.

OR operator (symbol=/)

Used to broaden a search by including any terms e.g., SMOKING OR CANCER would include all records where the search field contains either the word SMOKING or the word CANCER or both words. Output of OR searches will be greater than that for AND searches or for single terms.

NOT operator (symbol=\)

Used to narrow a search by excluding specific terms e.g., SMOKING NOT CANCER would include all records where the search field contains the word SMOKING but not the word CANCER.

The most frequently used operator is AND. For example, in the diagram below, the Subject field has the search expression SMOKING & CANCER. This search strategy will retrieve records indexed with the subject headings SMOKING and CANCER.

2.4 Truncation

Truncation is a search facility that allows you to search for all the different forms of a word having the same common root by including the symbol * in the search term e.g., the truncated word Librar* will retrieve records containing Library, Libraries, Librarian, and so on.

Examples of Truncation:

Searching for variants of words: enter a term in the subject field followed by an asterisk, e.g. SEX* to find items about sex education, sexual behaviour, sexual health, etc.

Searching for items by a specific author: enter the name followed by an asterisk in the author field, e.g. Smith*, or Smith R*, or Smith Roger*

Searching for the full title of a book or resource e.g., to find the title “Legal Aspects of Care in the Community” enter legal* in the title field (see below):

3.0 Doing a Search

When you have entered search terms into as many of the fields as required, click on ‘Search’ along the blue bar to run the search. A Summary Display screen will list relevant resources. (The example below shows resources searched for by entering Anxiety in the Subject field and Key Stage 4 in the Level field):

For more information on each resource, click on to the title. This will show you whether the resource is a book, video, poster etc, at which library it is available, whether the item is currently on loan to a client or not, where it is sited on the library shelves (the Class Number) and the publication date. A synopsis will reveal more information about the content of the resource.

It is possible to ‘mark’ the records you are interested in. On the Summary Display Screen, click in the square box to the left of any resources you want to mark. In the example above, numbers 1 and 3 have been marked. Click ‘View Marked’ for more information on these items.

Clicking firstly on to ‘Search Form’ on the blue bar and then on ‘Clear Search’ (again along the blue bar) resets the search form to its default state, ready for a new search to be performed.

4.0 Saving Searches

To save your searches you must be logged into the catalogue using your library membership number and password. To save your searches:

  • On the search form, enter your search terms, e.g. “pregnancy” & “teenagers”.
  • Click save search.
  • Give your search a file name. You can also add a comment:
  • Click save.

You can save as many searches as you like in this way, building up a file of saved searches:

To Access Saved Searches:

  • In the search screen, click load search. This takes you to all of your saved searches.
  • Click on the search that you want to load.
  • Click search.

To Delete a Saved Search:

  • In the search screen, click load search.
  • Click on the search that you want to delete.
  • Click delete search.
  • Click ok.

5.0 Printing Search Results

  • You can print details of the resources you are interested in from the Summary Display Screen, or once you have gone into a particular record. Click print to take you to the Print Setup Screen (see below):
  • Change the Report Title as required, e.g. to “Resources on Teenage Pregnancy”. This will appear at the top of the page when it is printed out.
  • Indicate which records you would like to print:

Current – the record you have gone into to view the details. If you have not gone into any records, it will print out the first record in the summary list.

All – all of the records in the summary list.

Marked/Unmarked – the records you have/have not marked on the summary list.

  • You have the option of displaying your search strategy at the beginning or end of the report, or not at all. For example, if you searched for books on “pregnancy” and “teenagers”, the search strategy will display like this:
  • Choose what format you would like for your report. The most useful formats are Full Record and Special.

Full Record – displays the full bibliographic record for a resource.

Special – displays the full record, with the exception of the item’s record number, country of origin, date received and loan status.

  • The Preview function is very useful. Use it to see how your printout is going to look. You can print when in preview mode by using the browser Print button. Or use the browser Back button to return to the Print Setup Screen and make any necessary adjustments.

6.0 Emailing Search Results

  • From the summary list, click E-mail.
  • The E-mail Setup Screen takes the same format as the Print Setup Screen (see below):
  • In the Report Title box, type in the subject of the e-mail, e.g “Resources on Teenage Pregnancy”. This will appear in the subject field of the recipient’s e-mail.
  • Enter the recipient’s e-mail address in the E-mail to: box.
  • Choose which records you would like to e-mail, and in which format (see Printing Search Results on page 11).
  • Click Send Mail.

7.0 Saving Search Results

  • From the summary list, click Download.
  • The Download Setup Screen takes the same format as the Print and E-mail Setup Screens (see below):
  • Change the report title as required. Choose which records you would like to download, and in which format (see Printing Search Results on page 11).
  • Click Download.
  • You can download the file from its current location, or save it to a floppy disk. Choose which one you would like to do and click ok.
  • If you are downloading the file from its current location, you will be asked to choose a program. If you choose Microsoft Word, the file will be displayed as a word document. If you choose Microsoft Excel, the file will be displayed as an excel (spreadsheet) document, and so on. Microsoft Word is generally a good program to use.
  • Once you have downloaded the file, click File and then Save As to name and save the file.

8.0 Renewing Items

To renew your items on-line you must be logged into the catalogue using your library membership number and password. To renew your items:

  • In the search form, type in the accession number of the item you wish to renew (this is the five digit number stamped in red on the top right hand corner of the date label).
  • Click search. Details of your resource should appear. At the bottom of the screen you will see the accession number of the item that is on loan to you, the date it is due back and a renew button:
  • Click renew to renew your item.
  • The new due back date will be displayed.
  • If the item has been booked by another borrower, you will not be able to renew it, and will see a message like the one below:
  • If this is the case, the item must be returned to the Resource Centre as soon as possible.

9.0 Reserving Items

Reservations can only be made for books. To reserve a book on-line:

  • From the search form, search for the book you wish to reserve. A Reserve Item tab is located above the title of the book, to the right:
  • Click on Reserve Item. A dialogue box will appear asking for your membership number:
  • Enter your borrower number and click OK. The book will have been reserved for you. The Resource Centre will contact you when it is available.

If you need any help with searching the catalogue, contact the Resource Centre on 0115 883 4205 or email

1