How to Use the Library: Catalog and placing holds

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Alachua County Library District Logo
The library's catalog is where you can find all the books, audiobooks, movies, and music CDs that the library has available to its users. Holds can be placed on items in the catalog for pick-up through our current curbside service. Library users can have up to 100 items on hold at a time, 25 of which can be DVDs.

If you are looking for a particular title, author, or artist you can do a quick search using the search bar. You can also specify to search by keyword, subject, title, author, series, fiction, or nonfiction. Search results can be narrowed down even futher by type of material, assigned branch, publication date, and more.

Many library-goers enjoy browsing the stacks for items when they do not have a particular title in mind. Browsing the catalog can take the place of this during times the library is closed. For example, say you want to browse DVDs owned by the library. Enter an asterisk (*) in the search bar and click the magnifying glass to search. Then you will want to narrow down the results by setting the "Limit by" field to "DVD" and click the magnifying glass a second time. This will now display all the DVD results in our catalog. If you are looking for only movies cataloged in the adult collection, you can click on "More Search Options" and select "Adult" under the "Target Audiences" field. When under "More Search Options" you always want to click "Set Search Options" before closing the window and this will automatically update your search results.

Check out the video below for a look at searching and browsing the catalog, as well as how to place a hold on an item once you have located it and wish to check it out.

By Sabrina on August 3, 2021