AML 3273 - Beat Literature & Mid-century Writers (Fogarty)

Primo is the name of the UCF Libraries' Catalog. Use Primo to locate books, eBooks, videos, journals, and other resources owned by the Libraries. To begin, click on the Primo tab in the center of the Libraries' homepage:

Enter a keyword, title, or author in the search bar. You can select books, videos, articles, or journals is you want to limit your results to a specific format.

Search Scope: Also note the "Pick search scope" option next to the search bar. There are fours options with this:

The options are important:

Everything in Primo: This will search beyond the UCF catalog and retrieve results for resources not owned by UCF but that can be requested via Inter-Library Loan. this is a good option if you watt to be comprehensive in your searching and see everything that's available.

Available Now: Excludes items that are not readily available such as books or videos that are checked out.

Library Catalog: Searches for books, videos, and other resources that are in the UCF libraries' collection and that may be available to check out or access online. This search excludes journal articles and book chapters.

Course Reserves: Searches for items that instructors have placed on reserve. these items are only available to students in designated classes.

CMC Catalog: Searches only for items located in the Curriculum Materials Center in the education complex. these will mostly be education, young adult, and children's titles.

If you don't select a search scope, the default setting will be an everything, which can be changed once you're in Primo. Here's a sample search on the Beat Generation limited to books in the UCF collection:

This search yields 438 results. Note the filters that appear in the sidebar to narrow your results by location, publication date, language, document type, and subject. Those are there to help refine your search results.

Advanced Searching: There is also an Advanced Search option located below the main search bar on the Libraries home page:

This option will allow you to conduct a combined keyword search while applying other search limiters for a more refined results list. For example, here's an advanced search for "Beat Generation" AND Gender limited to books within the UCF Libraries' collection:

Note that you can add a new line to add a third keyword and select languages and date ranges.

Virtual Browsing: Once you get a list of results, click on any one of the title to get the fill record, which will include additional information such as the location within the library, including the call number as well as an abstract or summary, related subject terms, and a table of contents. At  the bottom of each record is a virtual browsing area where you can scroll through a list of related titles that would appear on the physical shelf along side the book you're looking for:

This feature helps recreate the experience of browsing shelves in library stacks, which can often lead to the discovery of new books related to your topic.

Because the Hitt Library is undergoing an extensive renovation, many of the books from our general collection have been transferred into the Automatic Retrieval Center, or ARC for short. The Arc is located behind the Hitt Library and it is not accessible to patrons. Therefore, materials located in the RC need to be requested. Here's an overview of how that process works.

Note in the examples above that every title says "Available at UCF ARC Main..." To initiate a request, click on the title look for the "Sign in to see request options" on the record page. For example: 

We can see from this record that the item is in place and available to be requested by clicking the sign in option where you'll enter your NID and your NID password. Once you do that, you'll be directed to a page to complete your request:

The final step is to select a pickup location from the menu:

Then submit your request. Requests placed during hours of operation are generally filled in 15-20 minutes. You'll receive an email notification once your book is ready and it will be held at the location you selected for one week.

For more information about the ARC, see this guide, which includes a video of the ARC in action:

We have an extensive collection of eBooks that will be listed alongside physical books in Primo. In these cases, look for the Online option in the location line, then follow the prompts to access the book online. For example:

Note that each vendor has their own platform and eBooks books can range from single user, which means a title may be inaccessible while someone else is using it, to unlimited access. If you are having an issue with an online book, please use our Ask Us feature for more assistance.

There will likely be time in which you need to request a book or article that we don't have direct access to. In those cases, you'll need to place a request through our InterLibrary Loan services. Even if you have never used this service before, you can log into your account with your NID and NID password:

Once you log in, you'll be asked to set up your account by entering your contact information, then you can requests books, book chapters, articles, and other resources. You can also link directly to ILL from Primo and our databases... more about this will be discussed in the database section below.