The library search is one of the primary ways to find sources of information available to you as a student at Case Western Reserve University.
Since this searches everything that KSL has access to it's important to understand where you're searching and how to filter results appropriately. The screenshot below shows you what the search bar looks like. In additional boxes below, you can learn about specific ways to search through the library's resources to find exactly what you're looking for.
Searching by a book's title or author can be one of the simplest ways to find what you're looking for, depending on how unique those identifiers are! To search a book by title, type it into the search bar and click the drop down to specify in the title.
If the title is used for multiple items, you may get different results than you expect.
If this happens you can also try searching by the author's name. Type the author's name into the search bar (last name, first name) and change the drop down option from in the title to as author/creator.
Note that this search also works for videos and DVDs! You can search by title for a movie, or by author for an actor or director.
Searching by subject is the broadest way to access sources and is a great option if you're not sure what exact item you need. This will search for the words you enter anywhere within the record- in the title, subject headings, table of contents, notes fields, etc.
When to use subject
Subject search is best used when you have a topic to search, particularly if you are unsure of the official Library of Congress Subject Heading for that topic. An example might be "climate change". The search results will be returned sorted by relevance. Click on date or title links to sort by those fields. Click the link below to see what books we have on this topic!
Since these searches include everything that CWRU has access to these results will include other types of sources than just books. It's important to use the filter on the left side to filter for the specific source type you're interested in, in this case Books. This does include both physical and digital books.
You can access your library card on the home page of the library website or while searching! Below are screenshots where to find your account on either page.
After logging in, you'll be able to see and do several things related to your library account, including: