FAQ: CardCat
Q: What is CardCat?
- CardCat is our catalog of public access materials:
- Books, including popular reading, reference and research materials
- Periodicals, including magazines, journals, and newspapers
- Media, including videos, DVDs, and music CDs
- Online resources such as e-books, etc.
Q: How do I search for things on CardCat?
- Start with what you know
- Choose an index
- Author = author, performer, editor, etc.: Type in last name first
- Author/Title = special index that combines a name (see above) and words from the title
- Call number = number on cover of book, DVD, etc.
- ISSN/ISBN = standard numbers for periodicals or books Contact Reference Desk for more information
- Keyword = word or words that occur in a title
- Periodical title = special index that searches only titles of magazines, journals, and newspapers
- Subject = specialized terms describing content. Contact Reference Desk for more information
- Title = title of book, periodical, etc., and sometimes title of chapters or essays in books . It does not cover titles of articles
- Tips
-
- Names: enter last name first, then first name
- Titles: ignore initial articles (e.g., if the title starts with “A”, “An” or “The” skip that word and start with the next word in the title
- Right truncation: If unsure of the spelling of a name or word, type only as much as you know: CardCat does not require and exact match
- Wildcard: For keywords another way to truncate is to use “*” or “?” at the end of the word fragment
- Choose a collection
- View entire collection = searches entire catalog
- Archives = searches only materials in Archives and Special Collections, including honors theses, etc.
- CDs & Audio Tapes & Phonorecords = search only for all types of sound recordings
- Children’s Books: search only the 4th floor children’s books (picture books through YA)
- Electronic Resources: search only materials available full text online, such as e-books
- Music Scores: search only sheet music, performance editions and scores
- Reference Collection: search only books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. in the 1st floor Reference area
- RERC Children’s Literature: search only children’s books housed in the RERC Library
- RERC Collection: search all materials housed in the RERC Library
- RERC Media: search all non-book materials (videos, etc.) housed in the RERC Library
- Videos & DVD: search only videos and DVDs in the Library
- Tip:
- When selecting a collection, all of the indexes described above (author, etc.) search only the collection you have selected
- Modify your original search
- Limit/Sort Search
- Location = specific collection/locations (e.g., if you search using the “CDs & Audio Tapes & Phonorecords” using the Limit by Location for “Media-Audio CDs” reduces the search results to only CDs, excluding LPs and cassette tapes)
- Material type = specific physical format (e.g., if you are looking for a book but are not sure what collection it is in, the limit by type “Books” will weed out non-book materials
- Language = primary language of print or media materials (e.g., in searching for the subject “operas” it is possible to limit the results to scores and recordings of the opera in Italian, etc.)
- Year of publication = ability to limit results to items published after or before a certain year.
- NOTE: this covers publication date, not date of content (e.g., a song recorded in 1975 on a recording published in 2004 will use the 2004 date. Likewise, a book on the Revolutionary War published in 2007 will use the 2007 date)
- Words in the…
- Author = limit a search by names of authors, editors, performers, etc.
- Subject = limit a search by terms found in assigned subjects
- Title = limit a search by words that occur in the title of the item
- Sort results of results by
- Author
- Call Number
- Material Type
- Title
- Year (old to new) or Reverse Year (new to old)
- Expand your search
- The MeLCat button will execute your search on the MeLCat online catalog. Made up of collections from participating Michigan libraries, current faculty, staff and students can then request available materials to be delivered directly to Zahnow Library (see MeLCat FAQ for more incormation)
Other CardCat features
Save Records
- Within a session, or when logged into “My Library”, this feature saves a copy of the catalog record for later review
- Once saved other options appear
- Remove from Book Cart = reverses saving that specific record
- View Saved = permits you to look over what you have saved, and to print or export (via email, on screen, or to a disk) in a range of formats:
- Full display
- Brief display
- Pro-Cite formatted
- End-Note/RefWorks formatted
- Library MARC tagged format
- Multiple Requests = permits you to request a hold on multiple items (see below for more information on Holds)
Request a hold
- Permits you to request that an item be retrieved from our collection and held for you at the Circulation Hold Shelf (it will be held for two days from the time the email notification is sent out before being returned to the regular shelf)
- To request a hold you must be registered in CardCat (for current faculty, staff and students this is done automatically at the start of each semester. Contact the Circulation Desk for assistance).
- Use only your SVSU username and password to use this feature
- TIP : This feature is not connected to Document Delivery services for faculty, staff and Off-Campus students. Use ILLiad to request materials for Document Delivery
“My Library” Features
- To access these features patrons must be logged in to My Library Record.
My Reading History
- This feature keeps track of books that patrons have checked out from the point that they “Opt In”. Only the patrons themselves have access to this information. Patrons may “Opt Out” at any time, but must delete all saved records before doing so.
Update Personal Information
- This feature allows patrons to edit the address, telephone number or email address that is displayed in their library record. The changes take place instantaneously and also affect the staff view.
- Click on Modify Personal Info.
- Make desired changes.
- Click on Submit.
Preferred Search Alerts
- This feature notifies patrons by email when new materials that match their preferred search criteria arrive to the library. The emails are produced once a week on Mondays at 4:00 a.m.
- Click on Preferred Searches
- Check box(es) to Mark for Email.
- Click on Update List.
My Ratings
- This feature allows patrons to rate library materials between 1 and 5 stars. Patrons may delete ratings at any time.
- Click on Search Catalog.
- Perform desired search.
- Click on Full Record.
- Click on the appropriate star for the desired rating. (For an Explanation of the Ratings scale click on the Rating link.)
- Click on My Ratings.
- Check the box(es) to delete the rating(s).
- Click on Delete Marked.
Q: How do I Correct the Diacritics (Font) Display Issue With My Web Browser?
- Various Non-English alpabets may have characters that won't be recognized correctly by your web browser, which will output 'empty boxes' in their place. This issue has been corrected with the latest release of FireFox but still might require a fix with Internet Explorer.
- To correct issue in Internet Explorer (Versions 5-7), select > Tools > Internet Options.
- Select > Fonts
- For Webpage Font on the left column, select Arial Unicode MS
- For Plain Text Font, select Courier > OK
- Now Select Accessibility > and check > Ignore Font styles specified on webpages > OK
- This should correct any font issues you may have with Non-English characters
