Find Books, Articles, and More in WorldCat
The setup may look a little different, but the process of searching Blount Library's holdings hasn't changed.
WorldCat is Blount Library's official search engine. The search box is in the middle of the main page, and now defaults to searching all of the items - both digital and physical, both books and articles, etc - that are available directly from Blount Library.
More complicated searches (by author, by subject, etc) can be performed by clicking 'Advanced Search' in the lower right of the box.
All patrons may opt to use Google Scholar if they prefer. Simply click the "Google Scholar Search" tab to switch.
This is a Fully Functional Search Box; Feel Free to Test the System Here
Performing a basic search
Simply typing your search term into the box and pressing the "Search" button will return a list of all relevant results accessible to Blount Library patrons.
(You may put initial limits on these results by selecting to search exclusively for "Books" (both physical and digital), "Articles," "Video," or "Journals" by clicking the appropriate tab prior to typing in your search term.)
Once you press the "Search" button, WorldCat will return all possible results, organized from most to least relevant
Assuming you have too many results to work with, the list of toggle options to the left of your results provide numerous means for fine-tuning the results.
Some of the more useful toggles are:
- Type / Format: Assuming you searched for "Everything" you may use the toggles to restrict results by type. For example, you may select to view only eBooks.
- Publication Year: You may restrict by publication year. You may, for example, only want scientific research published within the last five or ten years.
- Subject: Clicking 'subject' (which is a collapsed menu in the attached image) will list all areas that returned results. This can be a useful toggle if, for example, you want results for the television series "Doctor Who," and not results from medical papers in which the words "doctor" and "who" both appear.
For more detailed advice on successfully using search terms to find useful academic articles in your field, see our various research guides and tutorials.
Borrowing physical items remotely
Although a significant amount of material is now available instantly in digital editions, occasionally a fully online student will want access to an item which Blount Library only owns physically. We are more than happy to ship physical items to our faculty and students. Simply send us an email or use our chat function to get in touch with us.
Keep in mind, however, that certain items cannot be shipped due to circulation restrictions. Reference volumes and periodicals do not circulate and are for use in the library only. Certain other items - DVDs most notably - only circulate for three days at a time, which precludes borrowing by mail.