Library Catalog Introduction: Basic Searching in WestCat

WestCat is the online catalog system used  to provide access to the llibrarires collection of books, journals, multimedia, and other resources. This catalog serves as the primary tool for students, faculty, and community members to search, locate, and retrieve materials held by the library.

This guide is designed to help you navigate the system and gain access to the various tools and services you need.

Searching the Catalog

• The WestCat catalog features a search bar where you can look up items by title, author, subject, keyword, or other criteria.
• You can refine your searches using various filters such as material type, publication date, language, and location within the library.
• The search results will display detailed information about each matching item, including its availability status and call number.

Accessing Materials

• If an item is available, you can click on the record to view its full bibliographic details and location within the library.
• For physical resources, make note of the call number and visit the appropriate section of the library stacks to retrieve the item.
• For electronic resources, the record will generally provide a direct link to access the full text or digital file.

Account Management

• Users can create a personal WestCat account to track checkouts, renew items, place holds, and save searches or reading lists.
• Your account also allows you to customize preferences like notification settings and saved searches.

Getting Assistance

• If you need help navigating the WestCat catalog or locating specific resources, the library staff are available to provide personalized support through the Ask-A-Librarian link.
• The library's website also offers guides, tutorials, and FAQs to assist with using the WestCat catalog effectively.

To find the call number of a book in the WestCat Library catalog, first search for a book.  If the initial search does not show anything relevant to what you're working for, try adding the author's last name to the end of the search. Once the book you are looking for shows up in the search results, the call number should be shown in the results like this:

If the call number doesn't show up for a book and instead the record says more than one version is found click on "See All Versions" to find the call numbers of the different editions we have available.

Finally, some books are available online. If you see this click the link to locate the item. Sometimes there will be restrictions on the number of people viewing the book simultaneously. Also, there may be a limit on how much content you can download from the full-text to single chapters.