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Hello! And welcome to this video to help you find books using NovaCat
the NSU libraries' Catalog.
Anytime you go to the Alvin Sherman Library homepage
you'll see a quick search box for it on the center of the screen.
Just make sure the tab is on "NovaCat."
Towards the left side, you will get a drop down option
with various ways to search for books including:
keyword, author, title, subject and ISBN number.
The default is keyword searching, which we'll do in a moment.
You can also see additional options including a box you check
if you only want to look electronic books.
This is particularly handy if you are a distance student or
just don't have time to come into the library.
You can see what books the library has available that you can get on your computer screen.
Advanced search lets you do more detailed searching if you prefer to do it that way.
We are going to do a quick sample search for Florida History.
When you do a search in our catalog the total number of results will show up in red
on the center of the screen.
A little bit about the catalog screen...
You can always modify your search by clicking the "modify your search" button.
Towards the top of the screen you get a "My NovaCat" option
which lets you login to your own account in NovaCat to see what books you have checked out
and to renew items as well.
Towards the right side of the screen, you can pick where you want the books to be located.
If you only want books for example in the Alvin Sherman Library you can click that option
and click search as well.
You also get an option to sort by relevance, date and title as well.
Your search screen will located below with what titles that it found for your search.
If you scroll down below, the title and sometimes author, will always be the blue link you can click on.
The ingredients that you are usually provided with are:
location, call number and status.
Location is what building the book is in.
Call number is a very important ingredient you will need.
It will tell you where in the building the book is located. For example,
the Alvin Sherman Library primarily uses Library of Congress call numbers.
Which are made up of letters and numbers. For example, most of the books you are seeing here
start with the letter "F" and some number in the 300s.
That gives you a general idea of where books on Florida and Florida history are probably located.
And then the status is an important feature because it will
tell you whether the book is currently available or not.
If you want a more detailed look at a book...
you can always click on the title.
That will give you some more detailed information about the book.
For example, by clicking on the title you see the author, the title, the publisher
and other features including detailed subject listings as well.
They also have additional features in the buttons located below the call number including:
How to hold a book for pick up,
and a button if you are a distance student if you want the book pulled for you
and sent to your particular location.
Because the call number is how you find a particular book
you can text the call number to your phone if you'd like.
by clicking the "send to your phone" option as well.
If you have any additional questions about finding books at NSU...
you can always contact a librarian at the NSU reference desk
their phone number is 954-262-4613. They can also be reached by:
email, chat and text.
Thank you and have a great day!