| Locating Books Using Local Catalogs |
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| Begin your research from a library computer by selecting Spectrum (1) or by starting Netscape or MS Explorer and selecting eCard Catalog (2) on the library's home page. If you are not at one of the library's computers, type in our address (http://library.mpcc.edu) from any computer on the Internet. Our catalog is usually available 24 hours a day and books can be checked out anytime the library is open. Off-campus students may request a book by email and receive it in a few days by regular mail. To find what materials are in our collection, click the eCardCatalog link and follow the instructions listed below. |
| eCard Catalog |
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| The books, videos, CDs, ebooks, and Internet sites can be found using the eCard Catalog. The buttons at the bottom of the screen are commands. Home (1) takes you back to the catalog home page. Help (1) opens screens that give more information on searching and using this catalog. A search usually results in a list of materials and items in the list may be placed in a Bookbag. As you run searches, more items can be placed in the Bookbag. The Bookbag button (3) can be clicked to show the contents and a bibliography can be printed. The Reset button (2) clears the screen and Bookbag. The User status button (4) allows you to see the titles of the books you have checked out. Use Browse (5) to see an alphabetical listing of the subjects or titles in our collection. This is useful when you need to check your spelling or view variations of a subject or title. |
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| Search Example |
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| The pull down menu (1) is used to search specific fields of the catalog. Simply type a term in the space (2) and select the appropriate field. Use Key Words or Subject to search for books by topic. Remember to type an author's last name first if you use the author field. After you have typed in your word or phrase, click the Search button on the lower right. If you don't get any results, try different search terms. The Browse feature can be used to check spelling or find other terms. You can expand your results by typing two or more terms and selecting the "or" button. The default "and" will limit (narrow) your search. |
| Basic Search |
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The results of a search for the Neil Simon play The Odd Couple are shown in this illustration. Click the Title to open the Title information screen. The Title information includes title, author's name, the publisher's name and copyright date. The Copies button (not shown) will tell if the book is checked out or on the shelf. You can then use the call number to find the book on the shelf. The Keep buttons allow you to place selected books in your Bookbag. The Bookbag page can be used to print a bibliography or save a copy of your results to disk.
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| Title Information Page |
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Scroll down the page to see the links to subjects and authors. You can usually find other books on the same subject by clicking a subject (1) link or click the author (2) link to find other works the author has written. You can quickly search for any word you see in this record by highlighting it and clicking the Hypersearch button (5). The Show results button (3) will take you back to your search list and New Search (4) will open the search screen. The area framed in red at the top is part of the notes field. This are contains the titles and authors of plays, short stories, poems, and essays. Since these short works are usually only found in collections, use the keyword field when you search for their author or title.
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| WorldCat |
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Use WorldCat to find books and other materials that are not in NPCC's collection. You can easily locate these books by selecting WorldCat from the library's home page. The FirstSearch screen allows a basic search (1) by typing a keyword. Click the WorldCat link (2) for an advanced screen that allows more control and structuring of your search. You can also select other databases from this page such as ArticleFirst to locate magazine articles.
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| WorldCat Results |
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A search for the term cognitive therapy (1) in WorldCat yields over 3300 books on the topic plus hundreds of videos, sound recording, documents, and Internet sites. Several limiters can be used including specifying the type of media (2) wanted. Caring for the mind is one of the books listed that can be borrowed from several libraries. The Libraries Worldwide link list libraries that own a copy beginning with libraries in Nebraska. To borrow a book or other item from a library, see the instructions on the Interlibrary loan page. The catalog also allows you to search for materials in NPCC's collection or area libraries (3) such as North Platte Public.
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| NetLibrary / ebooks |
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Over 17000 ebooks are available for online use. These books can be accessed from NetLibrary (www.netlibrary.org) or from the library's online catalog. In the above example, a keyword search for stem cells found 9 books. Clicking the View this ebook link from the Proteus Effect displayed the full-text book. Several tools allow you to search the content. look-up definitions in the dictionary, take notes, email or save partial content. For more information, go to their Web site and go to their help section. In order to access NetLibrary from home you will need to create a user account from the college.
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