Learn how to use the Piper Catalog to search for items in the library.
The Piper Catalog lists the books, multimedia, current journal subscriptions, and electronic resources like e-books that the Carnegie-Vincent Library or the Abraham Lincoln Library & Museum owns.
If you’ve ever searched one of the old paper “card catalogs,” the Piper Catalog is simply an electronic version of the university’s card catalog. Info is updated daily, including whether or not an item is checked out and when it returns.
The Carnegie-Vincent Library Piper catalog is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week from any location. Simply go to http://piper.lmunet.edu or visit our library Website and click on “Search Piper.”
Click on each image below for a better view.
The Advanced Search page
To search for an item in the library, type the name of the item in the search box and click, “Search.” It is important to leave out the word “and” when searching. Remember to omit the word “and” because it is implied.
For example:
To search for, “Pride and Prejudice”
Type: “pride” in the first box.
Type: “prejudice” in the second box.
Click: “search.”
The Results Page
The results page list all the items that have the keywords “pride” or “prejudice”. Items with the word “Videorecording” in the title are DVDs or VHS. Items with the word “online” are electronic resources like electronic books. You might also see the words “NetLibrary” or “Greenwood.” This indicates a type of electronic book. Items with the word “available” are in the library and ready to be borrowed. Items with the word “unavailable” are already borrowed, also known as checked out or “charged.”
The Library of Congress call number and the location of the item is also listed. See the image below for more of the same list of results:
The Biblographic Record
By clicking on an item from the results page, you will be brought to the individual items record. It is simply a listing of title, author, subjects, and other information about the item. Some of the information is hyperlinked. For instance, by clicking on a subject heading, you will be brought to a “subject browse” list. From there you can find other books with the same subject.
Setting Limits
Click on the “Limit” button at the bottom of the Advanced Search screen. On the search limits page, choose an option to narrow your search. In the image above, I’ve chosen to limit to Video, DVD, or other audiovisual materials. In the next image, I’ve limited to the archives and rare book collection.
There is so much more to learn about the Piper catalog. Please contact any librarian for help!
-Laura Slavin
8/7/08< >< >< ><–>
