How to Search for Books on a Topic
What IS the Library Catalog?
Each of the NOVA libraries has thousands
of books on many different topics. NOVA’s Library
Catalog, called VCCSLinc,
lists the books available at all the NOVA libraries and will tell you exactly
where to find them. The Library Catalog also lists DVDs, CDs, videos, and
print periodicals owned by the six libraries. Most of the books listed in
the catalog are only available in print, but there will be a few online books
listed there as well.
In the Library Catalog, the record
for each book provides just a few pieces of information about the book: It
will tell you:
Sometimes the Library Catalog will list the table of contents for the book,
but not always. To see the book itself, you will need to find it on the shelf.
We’ll talk more about how to do that later in this unit.
To get to NOVA’s Library Catalog, start at the library home page (www.nvcc.edu/library)
and select “Books and More.”
The search box defaults to a search
that will look for your search terms ANYWHERE in a book’s catalog record.
“Anywhere” does not mean “Everywhere,” though! When you type in your topic,
the Library Catalog will look for those words in only certain fields, including
the title, author, publisher, and subject heading fields. If the table
of contents for a book is included in the record, the catalog will look for
your words there as well. The Library Catalog does NOT search for your words
in the complete text of the book; the catalog also does not guess at what
you mean, so often we need to try different words to express our topics.
VCCSLinc
Search Tip: An asterisk (*) placed at the end of one of your search
terms will tell the library catalog to search for any words starting with
the letters preceding it. For example,
Computer*
will find records in the catalog that have the words computer or computers.
Child*
will find records with the words child, children, childlike, child’s, etc.
Most library databases,
including ones that will be covered in Unit 5, allow you to use an asterisk
to truncate your search terms in this way. Check each database’s Help
screens for more details.
If you know the title or the author
of the book you’re looking for, you can select those options on the Library
Catalog search screen:
As mentioned earlier, the books listed
in the Library Catalog are mainly just available in print format. However,
some of the books listed in the catalog will be online versions that NOVA
has purchased. NOVA libraries buy other online books that aren’t currently
listed in the Library Catalog. These books can be found in the following
databases (use your NovaConnect username and password to log in from off campus):
eBooks 
Did you know? The books described above – both print and online
– are generally not available for free online. NOVA has purchased these print
and online books, and they are available to you because you are a NOVA student.
To use the online books from off campus, you will need to log in with your
NovaConnect username and password.
The relatively few books that are available
for free online tend to be either government publications or older books whose
copyrights have expired. Here are a couple of websites that provide free
access to books:
– Project
Gutenberg
– Bartleby.com
