"There's Nothing in the Catalog on My Topic!"

Or, What to Do if at First You Don't Succeed

Blame the Library of Congress. The problem is that you and they have a different sense of how things should be organized and labeled.

For example, if you are looking for material for a paper on the Civil War, you would probably type in "Civil War" in a "Browse Subject" search and get this as a result:

Nothing here looks like books about the Civil War. "United States Civil War" or "U.S. Civil War" fare no better. By looking closely at these results, you may see the technique, or how to get the answer. Think you know the how?

If you're not sure, or if your search doesn't make it obvious, try a Guided Keyword Search. (First click on Guided Keyword Search on the Navigation Bar.)

A Subject Keyword Search looks for all of the words in the "Subject" section of the item's description. You will get many things you don't want, but some that you do. Find a good result and select it:

You can then use the "Subjects" heading for the book or item to clue you in to the best ways to search. This item reveals that beyond the main heading, United States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865, users should also look for more specialized subject headings.

In the library, the Library of Congress Subject Headings guides can help you identify the appropriate subject headings for certain topics, but this strategy will enable you to discover much of the same information yourself. You can apply the same skill to any database to see how the database builders have classified a particular concept or topic.

And REMEMBER, if you have trouble with this, or any other stage in the research process, you can ask for Help! Ask your teacher! Ask Librarians! If you need to, just hit the PANIC button!

For information about this, or any other Library Web Page, contact the Library.
©Ruth B. Lindemann, 2003 Danville Area Community College
1/21/03
Revised 7/21/04