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Library Notes The New CUNY Web-based CatalogBy Prof. Francine Egger-SiderThe Library's online catalog has a new look. CUNY, under contract with Ex-Libris, a library database vendor, has implemented a new web-based union catalog called Aleph 500. What does this change mean for LaGuardia students, staff, and faculty? First and foremost is the availability of the LaGuardia book catalog as a separate, searchable catalog. This enables us to say goodby to the extension "and lg" at the end of keyword searches. The first point of access will always be the LaGuardia collection. If a search needs to be broadened to all CUNY libraries, or another CUNY library, simply click on the corresponding link on the main menu. Two types of searches are offered on the opening screen: a keyword search for which the default is "All Fields" but which can be limited to a particular field, such as author, title, or subject. In this search AND between words is implied, but you can use the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT to narrow or broaden a search. The second option is a "browse" search which allows you to search an alphabetical list of phrases either by title, author, or subject. An advanced searching capability entitled ‘Guided Search' allows you to limit searches by format, language, date, and library. Other subtle changes will be available to customize a search. Records can be marked to be set aside in a folder. The selected records can then be saved to a disk or e-mailed. If a search results in an unwieldy numbers of records, a subset can be created by marking the records first and then clicking on "Create Subset". The records in the subset can then be added to your folder, eventually to be saved or e-mailed. Another factor in customization is the ability to change the sort order of a Results List. Once you put in a successful search, a Results List is displayed. That list can be arranged in three different ways: by date of publication, alphabetically by author or by title. That order can be changed to suit your particular needs. From the Results List, a searching can be refined by clicking "Refine" on the main menu. This new catalog is a web-based catalog, which means it is available from home, from work, from wherever there is an Internet connection. It is available from the Library's homepage, the URL of which is: www.lagcc.cuny.edu/library. While we hope the new catalog makes for easier end-user searching, Library faculty are ready to assist you in person, by phone or e-mail whenever necessary. To get a preview, take a look at our home page and click on the icon entitled: "New Catalog".
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