Contents:
Lamson Online Library Access (LOLA), is the online catalog of all materials kept in the library. LOLA is available from the library website http://www.plymouth.edu/library, from any computer with access to the internet. From within the PSU portal (myPlymouth) click on the Library tab.
How do I find the online catalog?
You can start searching the online catalog at the top of the Library web site, under the prompt: Search Library Catalog.
Basic Searching
Basic searching on LOLA is very easy. You’re probably already familiar with author, title, and subject searches from using other libraries. Just click on the kind of search you want to do, using the pull-down menu to make your selection, and follow the directions on the screens that appear. For example, if you’re looking for a book by Ernest Hemingway, start by selecting Author from the search menu, then enter hemingway ernest.
Note: Personal names are always entered in inverted order, and you don’t have to use capitalization or punctuation.
Or try a SUBJECT search: If you’re looking for books on global warming, you would select Subject from the search menu and enter global warming in the entry space.
You should note also that you can use this drop-down search menu to locate specific materials your professor has placed on RESERVE for your class. Select the Reserves by Professor or the Reserves by Course option.
Spend a few minutes trying to find books you’d be interested in. After you feel comfortable, try moving on to the next section of this chapter to learn about LOLA’s advanced search features.
Advanced Searching
Let’s try a more complex search. Imagine you’re looking for a book about the health issues relating to pollution in the United States.
First, identify the elements of your question that would be important for your search. There are five:
health, pollution, United States
Second, whenever possible, truncate the terms in order to find various versions of the words. In this case the words pollution, polluting, pollutant, health, healthy, healthful, etc. would be found if we used the asterisk to truncate those words as follows:
pollut* health*
Third, simplify the search to get the largest return for your search terms. In this case, we’ll eliminate the term “United States” just in case some relevant books don’t specifically have the words “United States” somewhere in the record.
Under the drop-down menu where KEYWORD appears, click on Advanced Search to bring up the Advanced Search menu screen.
Now enter the terms like this:
“>
Enter pollut* in the first entry space. We can leave the adjacent drop-down menu showing Any Field. In this menu, you could select Title, Subject, Keyword, etc. to indicate where you want the term to appear, but Any Field assures the term will appear anywhere in the book record.
Enter health* in the second space.
Note just below the Search Terms area, you can Limit Your Search in several ways. Let’s assume you want the most recent published research, so we’ll enter 2000 in the Published After space, to locate books that have been published in the last five years.
Click on the SUBMIT button, and the following result screen will appear:
“>
On this screen you can view the title, author, publisher, date, and the call number for records 9-12 of the 50 books found in your search. Just click on the title to see the following detailed record for that book:
Note that in addition to the complete title, author, publisher and date, the detailed record displays the CONTENTS or NOTES area. There is usually valuable information in this part of the catalog record that may include a summary of the book contents, or individual chapter headings. Note that the search terms we used in this search are highlighted in red throughout the book record.
How do I find the book in the library?
The above screen will give you the LOCATION, CALL NUMBER, and STATUS (availability) information you need to actually find the book in the library. Please note that although the STATUS for this item reads “AVAILABLE”, the location indicates that this book is in the Reference Collection and cannot be checked out. Call numbers, all locations and availability information will be discussed in further detail in the next chapter.
Limiting/Modifying Your Search
In addition to using the Advanced Search feature, there are other methods to specialize your searching. For example, a common search request is how to find out if the library has a video (or DVD) on a specific subject. Here, we’ll use the example of rain forests:
Start with a Subject search: rain forests. Then in the drop down menu above, where Material Type appears, select Video/DVDfrom the pull-down menu. This menu allows you to limit your search to specific formats or parts of our collection.
You may also want to limit you search using other criteria such as LOCATION, LANGUAGE or PUBLICATION DATE.
Another way to limit your search is to use the Modify Search command that appears at the top of the LOLA screen after your initial subject or other type of search. This will allow you to revise your search with different terms or add new limits.
There are many ways of searching the online catalog. If you need assistance, ask for help at the Research Desk!
Review Questions
-
Who wrote Dude, Where’s My Country? ________________________________________
What is the Location? ________________________________
What is the Call Number?_____________________________
- Does Lamson Library own a video or DVD about meditation? ___________
[Hint: start with a subject search and use the limiting techniques discussed in this chapter.]
Write down the title and call number of one video:Title:_________________________________________________________________________
Call Number:_____________________________________
- Find a biography of Rachel Carson. List the title, author, and call number of this biography.
[Hint: You are searching for a work ABOUT, not BY, this person; therefore, a Title search or an Author search is not the correct approach.]Title:___________________________________________________________________
Author: ________________________________________________
Call Number: ____________________________________
- Can you also find a book written BY Rachel Carson?
Title:_______________________________________________________________
Call Number: _________________________________
- What is the title of a REFERENCE book on oceanography?
[Hint: Use the Limit or Modify command discussed in this chapter]Title:_______________________________________________________________
What is the Call Number: ____________________________________
ANSWERS:
- This is a simple TITLE search. This book was written by Michael Moore.
Location: (LOWER LEVEL)
Call Number: E 902 .M65 2003 -
Start with SUBJECT search on meditation, then open the drop-down menu where “Entire Collection” appears, and select Video Recordings & DVDs. Of three videos listed, first title is:
Alan Watts, the Art of Meditation
Call Number: BF637.M4 A42 1994 - To find biographies, do a SUBJECT search on the person’s name: carson rachel (remember to invert the name). There are 6 books that show up, and any will do, but scroll down in list to see:
The house of life: Rachel Carson at work, by Paul Brooks
Call Number: QH 31 .C33 B7 1985
(or)
Rachel Carson: A Biography, by Arlene Quaratiello
Call Number: QH 31.C33 Q37 2004 - Of 10 entries found by doing an AUTHOR search for carson rachel, her most famous work is:
Silent Spring
QH 545.P4 C38 2002 - Start with a SUBJECT search on oceanography. Then, click on LIMIT/SORT SEARCH. Using the LOCATION pull-down menu select REFERENCE. Nine reference titles will appear, the first one is:
Practical handbook of marine science
Call Number: (REFERENCE) GC11.2 .P73 2001
