Vol. 36, No. 2
June 2006

THE LIBRARY'S ONLINE CATALOG

Do you know that you can find the Library’s catalog online and that you can order books, put books on your request list and review your account online?  There were some changes to the catalog that came with the software upgrade in March, and now it’s better than ever!  Here are some basic guidelines for using the online catalog, which can be found at http://www.lib.az.us/braille.

If you want to request or reserve books or review your account with us, you will need a user i.d. and password, which your reader advisor can provide to you.  Once online you have the option to search for books by author, title, or subject, or you may also request books by their book numbers.  After you select the books you would like, you simply click ‘Add to Bookbasket’.  At that point you have the option of ‘rushing’ three books to go out the next day.  If you do not click the ‘rush’ button, then the books will simply go on your request list for a later date.  The last step is to ‘Proceed to Checkout’.  At that point, if a ‘rushed’ book was available, the screen will tell you it has been shipped.  If you simply requested books or a ‘rushed’ book was not available then the screen will tell you that your order was processed and the books added to your list.  A ‘rushed’ book is a higher priority than a requested book, so if it was not available, you will get the next available copy.

Prior to the software upgrade you would automatically get a few of the books you ordered online, but now you have to actually select the ones you want first and click the ‘rush’ button before any are mailed to you.  Some patrons had complained that they simply wanted to add books to their request lists without books being sent at that time.  Now we can accommodate them.

Also, you do not need to enter an entire title or name in order to search.  Even one word from a title will bring up every title with that word in it and the fewer words you enter the better your chances are of finding what you need.  Correct spelling is a big plus!

If you have any problems accessing or using the online catalog, please call the library for assistance.