Remember the good old days? Even if you were in an unfamiliar library and didn't know where anything was, you knew you had to find that piece of furniture known as the card catalog. Once you found what you needed there, you could find your books.
We may not have that particular piece of furniture--or cards--anymore, but we do still have a catalog. We refer to it simply as the catalog or online catalog these days. Most libraries give their online catalog a name. The name of our catalog is: CLICnet
Library Catalogs. First, let's review what a catalog actually is. (It can be easy to get it confused with all the other links on the home page.) Very simply, a catalog is a list of what a particular library owns. Technically, it's a database, not a list, but the key phrase in that description is: what the library owns. It lists all the materials the library owns, regardless of format: videos, cds, dvds, music cds, journals (not the articles that are in the journals, just the journal title itself), and, of course, books.
Bush Library's Catalog, CLICnet is all that and more. CLIC stands for Cooperating Libraries In Consortium. Both of Hamline's libraries, Bush and Law, are members. The other member institutions are: Augsburg College, Bethel College and Bethel Seminary, Concordia University, Macalester College, Northwestern College, The College of St. Catherine, and the University of St. Thomas.
CLICnet, then, lists all the materials owned by all the libraries of all these universities (many of them have more than one library). So, when you do a search, you will not only see Hamline's materials but books owned by, say, Macalester or St. Thomas, as well. And you not only see a list of those materials, but, as part of our CLIC membership, you also have access to the materials. With your Hamline ID, you can go to that library and check the material out. Or, you can use the CLICnet request feature to have it sent to Bush Library for you to pick up.
Searching Basics
The information in these demos build on lessons learned in the previous demonstration, so it's best to view them in the order listed. The search strategies demonstrated in the Subject and Keyword viewlets can be applied to any online database you search. Once again, click on the bus to the left of each type of search.
CLICnet Basics: Author Search and requesting materials
Subject Search
Keyword Search
E-books
Before you go to the next lesson, spend some time playing in CLICnet.
Go to Lesson Three: Finding Articles
2003
Kate Borowske/Kristofer Scheid
Last Updated 2006
