Goldmine FAQ

Questions

  1. Can I find magazine and journal articles in the library catalog?
  2. Do I have to erase my search in order to refine it?
  3. I want information about an author. When I do an author search I only get books by that author. Why?
  4. When I type in: "the grapes of wrath", I can't find the book. Why?
  5. When I type "john steinbeck", I can't find any books about him. Why?
  6. I'm looking for books in the Fairbanks public library or the UAA Consortium Library. Can I find them in the library catalog?
  7. I'm not sure how to spell a search word. Are there special characters that can be substituted?

Questions and Answers

  1. Can I find magazine and journal articles in the library catalog?

    No, you cannot look up individual articles in the catalog. However, you can look up journals and magazines by title to see if we own and/or subscribe to them. Search for a title using a keyword or phrase in the Periodical Title or use a BROWSE search to locate the exact title.

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  2. Do I have to erase my search in order to refine it?

    No. Use the Go Back button to amend your search without losing your search terms.

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  3. I want information about an author. When I do an author search I only get books by that author. Why?

    When you want information about an author you need to perform a subject search using the last name.
    (Example: "hemingway")

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  4. When I type in: "the grapes of wrath", I can't find the book. Why?

    When doing any title search do not use "A", "An", "The" (or their foreign language equivalents) if those words appear at the beginning of the title.

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  5. When I type "john steinbeck", I can't find any books about him. Why?

    Whenever you look for any information using a personal name, always start with the last name followed by the first name or first initial.
    (Example: "steinbeck john")

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  6. I'm looking for books in the Fairbanks public library or the UAA Consortium Library. Can I find them in the library catalog?

    No. The library catalog only lists books and other items located in the UAF system. You can, however, look for books located at both these libraries while still in library through Rasmuson Library or SLED.

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  7. I'm not sure how to spell a search word. Are there special characters that can be substituted?

    Yes. The catalog allows substitution of a missing character in a word with the ? symbol. Example: klond ?ke finds records containing "klondike" or "klondyke". Missing characters at the end of a word can be replaced by the $ symbol. Example: librar$ finds records containing "library," "libraries," and "librarian."

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