Library Catalog (Minerva)

Minerva is the library's online catalog. It contains a record for each item the library owns, including books, journals, newspapers, videos, DVDs, cassette tapes, CD-ROMs and selected vertical file materials.

Minerva DOES NOT contain individual journal articles. Full-text articles and citations of articles are accessible from the various databases available from the Online Resources and Journal Indexes page.

Author Search

Use an Author search to learn what books the library has by a specific author.

• 1. Choose Author from the dropdown list in the "Type of Search" box.
• 2. Type the author's name (last name first) into the "Enter Search Terms" box.
• 3. Press <enter> or click the "Go" button.

If the library owns more than one book written by the author, you will be shown an alphabetical list of titles. Click on the title link and you will be taken to the full record for the item. If the library only owns one book by the author, Minerva will take you directly to the full record.

You need to look at the full record for an item to find its location and call number (in order to find it on the shelf), as well as its availability status.

If a record for the item you are searching for is not found, you will see a list of authors that come alphabetically before and after the name you searched for. If the terms you entered don't exactly match the actual author of the item, you may find the author you are looking for in this list. If you do, click on the author's name link and you will be taken to the list of books written by this author.

Title Search

Use a Title search when you know the title of the item you want.

• 1. Type the title into the "Enter Search Terms" box.
• 2. Press or click the "Go" button.

If Minerva finds only one record that matches your search, you will be taken to that item's full record, which shows its location and call number (in order to find it on the shelf), as well as its availability.

If Minerva finds more than one record that matches your search you will see a list with all the titles. Select the title that you want and click on the title link to be taken to its full record.

If a record for the item you are searching for is not found, you will be shown a list of titles that come alphabetically before and after the title you searched for. If the terms you entered don't exactly match the actual title of the item, you may find the title you are looking for in this list. If you do, click on the title link and you will be taken to the full record of the item.

Subject Search

Use a Subject search when you want to know what material the library owns related to a particular topic.

• 1. Choose subject from the drop-down list in the "Type of Search" box.
• 2. Type the subject term/phrase into the "Enter Serch Terms" box.
• 3. Press or click the "Go" button.
  Minerva will display the subject term searched for (as well as other subject heading terms that follow alphabetically) and the number of items found about that subject in a separate column.
• 4. Click on the subject term link to be taken to an alphabetical list of titles.
• 5. Click on a title link to be taken to the item's full record where you will find its location and call number (in order to find it on the shelf) as well as its availability status.

When a subject heading is followed by the term "—See" and then another subject heading, the second subject term or phrase is the official one used in Minerva. Clicking on the second term will take you to a new list based on that subject heading and the library material that contains that subject in its records, e.g., "Women Actors-- See – Actresses."

If the term "—See Also" followed by a subject heading is displayed, you may click the subject heading for a list of item records that contain the related subject.

Keyword Search

Use a Keyword search to look for words anywhere in the item's record.

• 1. Choose word from the drop-down list in the "Type of Search" box.
• 2. Type the words into the "Enter Search Terms" box.
• 3. Press or click the "Go" button.

Minerva will display an alphabetical list of titles that contain the words you searched for. Click on the title link to see the item's full record which shows its location and call number (in order to find it on the shelf), as well as its availability status.

NOTE: If you enter more than one keyword into the textbox, Minerva will place the Boolean "AND" operator between the terms. A search for the words "women scientists" would find records where the words "women" and "scientists" were both in the record, though not necessarily next to one another. To search for the words "women scientists" as a phrase, with the words next to one another in the same order that you entered them, place quotation marks around the words.

**For more advanced searching tips, please speak to a librarian.