Melvyl Brief Guide
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http://melvyl.cdlib.orgWhat is Melvyl? Melvyl is the library catalog of all campuses of the University of California Libraries, containing records for books, journals, archives, audio-visuals, computer files, dissertations, government documents, maps, music scores, online resources, recordings and videorecordings. It also includes library holdings of the California Academy of Sciences, California Historical Society, California State Library, Center for Research Libraries, Graduate Theological Union, Hastings College of Law, and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. The catalog contains over 23,000,000 records.
To find a book, journal or other material
- Select a type of search from the pulldown menu:
- Enter search terms.
- Check No or Yes under Words as Phrase. For example, League of Nations with Words as Phrase checked Yes will search for the exact phrase League of Nations. If you do not select Yes, the words will be searched separately and will retrieve items such as A History of the Nation's Major League Baseball Teams.
- Click on Search button, or hit the Enter key.
| Search Options | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type of search | When to use | Example |
| Title | if you don't know exact title | history time |
| Title (exact) | look up exact title | brief history of time |
| Journal Title | if you don't know exact journal title | cell toxicology |
| Journal Title (exact) | look up exact journal title | cell biology and toxicol* |
| Author (keywords in name) | search by author name in any word order | toni morrison |
| Author (last name first) | must use last name, first name | morrison, toni |
| Author-Organization | search by organization as author | audubon society |
| Author/Title | when searching for author and title together | austen pride |
| Subject | search for words in subject headings | bilingual education |
| Keywords | search for words in record | depression photography |
Truncation: add the truncation symbol (* or ?) to the end of a phrase to look for more words in the phrase. Add the symbols to the end of a word to look for word for word variations. Example: comput* looks for computer, computers, computerized, computing, etc.
To limit your search
- Library: Narrow your search to a specific UC campus or to a region or type of library.
- Format: Narrow your search by format of material such as
journals, online resources, maps, manuscripts.
- Limit your search to "online resources" if you want to get only items that are accessible in electronic format. - Language: Select from an initial list of nine languages, or select from a more complete listing.
- Year: Limit by year of publication. Enter a single year (1999) or a range of years (1990-1999).
To navigate among searches
After viewing a particular item from a list, go back to the entire list of items in your current search by clicking on Return to Search Results List. Go to previous searches by clicking the links for Most Recent Search, Previous Searches, and Saved Items at the upper right of the screen.
Most Recent Search: Your most recent search is re-run.
Previous Searches: The searches done during your current session
are displayed as a search history. At this point, you can redo a search, combine
searches, delete searches, save searches across search sessions, and create
an Update (for more information on Update, consult the Intermediate Guide to
Melvyl).
Saved Items: If you've saved items during your session, view
them by clicking this link.
To manage your search results
There are several different formats in which to display your records. They are:
| Full record | Use to find call numbers with all library locations and the full bibliographic record; allows you to access circulation status. |
| Short | The default record; author, title, publication information, format and library locations without call numbers |
| Long | Includes short record information plus notes, subject headings and other descriptive information; library locations without call numbers |
| Review | Best display for scanning records; includes author, title, and date of publication |
To print or email your results
- Save items by clicking in the boxes next to individual items, or by clicking on "select all." This selects all the items in your search results.
- Click the button.
- Select how you want the records delivered: by email or print. If email, insert your email address, a subject (optional) or note (optional).
- Select your records (all, selected, or a range).
- Select the print format (short, long, MARC, short or long tagged, or custom). If custom, select fields.
- Select the library location/call numbers you want to display. You may choose more than one.
- Select your preferred text format.
- If you selected Preview/Print, after selecting Go, you have the opportunity to view what will be printed.
- Now, either use your browser's print function to print the records, or download them to your computer.
Reminders
- To get online help, click the Help link in the upper right hand side of the screen, or click onscreen Tips.
- Melvyl will automatically timeout after 20 minutes of non-activity.
- Send comments or questions about Melvyl via the Comments and feedback link.
- For assistance with searching, go to a reference or information point at your campus library.