Use the Libraries' online catalog, to search for any item in the library collection. You can search through either the Basic Search or Advanced Search pages. Here are some tips for using the Basic Search:

Searching by Collection: It is important to choose what collection you want to search if you want to find books.

• All Loyola Collections-includes material in both Books, Articles, Journals, DVD/Streaming Video
• Books: This collection only includes materials from Loyola Libraries.
• Articles and Journals- This Collection includes selected article databases.
• DVD/Streaming Video: Includes DVDs and streaming videos from databases. 

Choosing Your Search Field: You can search by Keyword, Author or Title

• Keyword-This searches for words everywhere in a book's record.
• Author- This searches for the names of the authors or editors of materials.
• Title- This searches for words within the title of the book or its chapters.

When you look up an item in the Catalog, find the call number so you can locate the item on the shelf. Like most academic libraries, Loyola uses Library of Congress call numbers.

Once you have the Library of Congress number, you need to find out which floor of the library that number is on. 

Most library catalogs and databases are governed by Boolean logic. This refers to a relationship between search terms. To do a keyword search in the Catalog and many of the databases, you must combine your search terms using Boolean operators - AND, OR, & NOT.

Examples:

College OR University

Urban AND Crime

Dogs NOT Poodles

As a general rule, combining terms with OR will get more results, while combining terms with AND will get fewer results. Also, remember that if you want to search for a phrase, such as "high education," you need to put quotation marks around the phrase.

WorldCat is an online database that lets you search the catalogs of over 10,000 libraries. WorldCat is the largest bibliographic database in the world, so you should be able to find just about any book by searching here. Use WorldCat to search for books that we may not have at Loyola, and then request them through Interlibrary Loan.

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a service by which students, faculty, staff and administrators may request books and dissertations or journal articles not owned by any of the Loyola Libraries.  If the item you are looking for is not located in any of Loyola's databases or the Catalog, you can go to https://illiad.luc.edu/illiad/IAL/logon.html to login to ILLiad.  To fill out this form and place an interlibrary loan request you must log into your ILLiad account. If you do not have an ILLiad account you will need to register first.