The High Plains Library District owns a fantastic number of books, movies, music, and more. However, it can be tricky to search all these resources. The purpose of this blog is to offer tips on how to search the library catalog1. In addition, I will use it to announce features that have been recently added and ask for your feedback on a particular enhancement or problem.
What is the library catalog?
Library catalogs were created to find books, movies, and other resources that the library owns. The High Plains Library District currently owns over 700,000 physical items. That's a lot stuff to wade through simply to find one book or DVD. Before computers, information on these items were typed up and filed in card catalogs. However, most libraries have replaced their card catalogs with an Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) which is one part of a larger Integrated Library System (ILS).
What can I find in the library catalog?
The High Plains Library District catalog contains records for:
What won't I find in the library catalog?
The High Plains Library district subscribes to many online resources that cover a wide range of topics that include magazines such as Consumer Reports, online foreign language tutorials, and automotive repair. Unfortunately, our regular library catalog does not have the ability to search these databases. Instead, you can use our 360 Search to search for articles on a specific subject, our Journal Title Search to discover which magazines are available online or just browse our list of database resources.
In addition, the library catalog does not contain general information about the library such as location and hours. To find this information, visit our main website at http://www.mylibrary.us/ or go to our website search page.
1Note for library staff: Unless otherwise stated, when I refer to the "library catalog" in this blog, I am specifically referring to HIP, the patron catalog found on our PAC computers and via the internet.
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