Unit 2 Catalog Search Tips

The following links will take you to specific sections of the NVCC Library and Information Skills Tutorial.
Pre-Search Activities	ask yourself what type of information you need - general vs specific, scholarly vs popular, brief vs in-depth, current vs historical develop a list of key words or synonyms related to your topic visit the online catalog and identify a few reference sources to begin your search
Getting Started	VCCS Linc Basics and important search tips.
Search Methods	Keyword Author Title Subject
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Item Availability	Once you have a list of results in VCCSLink, the "Campus" column will tell you which campus(es) own each item. The numbers in paretheses indicate how many copies each campus owns, and whether or not the item is checked out. For example, if you see "Northern Virginia - Alexandria (1/0)" in the "Campus" column, this tells you that the Alexandria campus owns ONE copy of the title you're interested in and that it is NOT checked out. If you see "Northern Virginia - Alexandria (1/1)", this tells you that the campus owns one copy of the item and that it IS checked out. You can click on that link to find out when the item is due back.
Post Search Activities	did you find the information that you needed? what information do you still need to locate? what resources have you not yet tried? repeat the presearch activities and keep searching if you need assistance, consult a librarian