General Information:
The UCF Library Catalog can be used to search for any item the library has access to, such as books or journal titles (not individual articles), and to determine which journals are available online.
To begin your search in the library’s catalog, start at the UCF library homepage (library.ucf.edu) and click on the tab Books/Catalog.
Search Tips:
Basic Search – this is the default screen
- Some of the options you can search by include title, journal title, author, or subject heading.
- If you know the item you are looking for, you can type in the title and change the drop down arrow to title.
- Try an Anywhere search using the major concepts of your topic to locate material on your topic.
- You can search for exact phrases by placing quotation marks around your terms. (e.g, “global warming”).
- To search for a journal title (note: not an individual article title) from the Basic Search page, click on Journal Title and type in the title of the journal.
Advanced Search – Click on the Advanced search option to allow you to search more precisely
- You can restrict the search by format, language, or location. (For example, you can select a location from the drop down menu and search for items held at that particular location only.)
Search Results
- The results from your search will be sorted by Relevance to your search terms. Other options for sorting them are available by using the Sort By drop down on the upper right hand side of the page. Results can be sorted by Publication Date, Call #, Title or Author.
- Look at the left hand side of your results page to further narrow your search. There are suggestions given as to location(Library/Collection), format, and various subject areas among others.
- Use the txt feature to send the title and location of an item to your mobile phone.
- Use the Cite this feature you can have your search results cited for you in various styles like APA, MLA, and Turabian, etc. Verifying the resulting citation is a good idea.
- Use the Add feature to select items from any search results page and add them to a list. This list will track the items you are interested in as you continue searching.
- You can have the books delivered to your home (exclusively for students at some regional campuses) or a nearby UCF campus if you prefer by using Interlibrary Loan. Information on Interlibrary Loan can be found in a subsequent section. As an alternative, if you are near another Florida State University System (SUS) university library, you can check to see if the item is available there. You can check books out from any SUS library using your UCF ID card.
For More Help
Click on Help in the upper right hand corner.