How to Interpret the Information Given on the Screen
When you click on the title of a book or other item in the UL Libraries Catalog, you will be shown a display like this.
This is the complete information the Catalog gives for a single item (book, video, DVD, government document, etc.).
The first part of the record gives the bibliographic information: Author, Title, Imprint (place of publication, publisher, year of publication), and sometimes other basic information such as Edition.
The boxed-in area in the center of the display gives the information you need to find the book or other item. This area tells you the book’s Location, Call # (Number), and Status.
Location - tells in which campus library and in which collection the book is kept. In this example, notice that the book is located in Bierce (Library). Since no particular collection is specified, you can assume that the book is located in the circulating collection (the books that are permitted to be checked out). Please click here for examples of different locations.
Call number - the sequence of letters and numbers which appears on the spine of each book. The call number is like the address of a book giving the location of the book on the shelf. This book, which has the call number E83.876 .S24 1993, will be located on the 2nd floor of Bierce (this is the floor on which the circulating books beginning with "E" are found). Please click here for more information on finding a book by its call number.
Status - tells you if the book is available to check out, already checked out, or non-circulating. In this example, the book is "Available." Please click here for examples of different status indicators.
Now let’s look at the lower part of the screen.
Phys descry, “physical description,” tells us that the book has 312 pages, is illustrated and includes maps, and has a height of 24 cm.
Series identifies the series, Great Campaigns, of which this title is a part.
Bibliog, “bibliography,” tells us that this book includes a bibliographical references and an index.
Subject gives us the Library of Congress Subject Headings assigned to this particular book. You can search for other books on similar topics by clicking on these subject headings. (For more information about using subject headings, please click here).
The OCLC (Online Computer Library Catalog), ISBN (International Standard Book Number), and LC (Library of Congress) Card numbers identify this particular publication nationally and internationally.