In the beginning...
We used to have a card catalog. You may notice that whenever I write a pass for a student, it is on a little card with a hole in it. That is what is left of the card catalog. Now we have an OPAC - an online public access catalog. Ours is named Athena, after the goddess of frustratingly fruitless searching - I mean, wisdom and the practical arts.
The Athena catalog tells what books we have, where they are located in the library and if a book is available. However you can't view Athena's holdings outside the library.
We do belong to a consortium of school libraries called MassCat and our holdings can be viewed in their catalog. We are also in a pilot program wherein we can borrow holdings from other libraries. So if you are searching the catalog and see something you would like, feel free to come ask me to get it for you! Or if you are feeling especially adventurous you can request it yourself by clicking the "request this item" link.
The catalog I use the most and that I tell students to use is the NOBLE catalog. This is the North Of Boston Library Exchange. There are so many resources available here that you will be shocked.
You can also access the Boston Public Library's OPAC online. As a matter of fact, just about every public library has their catalog online. Since there are standard subject headings in library catalogs browsing is extremely easy when looking for books or media on a specific topic.
The Athena catalog tells what books we have, where they are located in the library and if a book is available. However you can't view Athena's holdings outside the library.
We do belong to a consortium of school libraries called MassCat and our holdings can be viewed in their catalog. We are also in a pilot program wherein we can borrow holdings from other libraries. So if you are searching the catalog and see something you would like, feel free to come ask me to get it for you! Or if you are feeling especially adventurous you can request it yourself by clicking the "request this item" link.
The catalog I use the most and that I tell students to use is the NOBLE catalog. This is the North Of Boston Library Exchange. There are so many resources available here that you will be shocked.
You can also access the Boston Public Library's OPAC online. As a matter of fact, just about every public library has their catalog online. Since there are standard subject headings in library catalogs browsing is extremely easy when looking for books or media on a specific topic.
posted by Barb Fecteau at
6:20 AM
