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Locating Books, E-Resources, & Primary Sources

Finding Titles in the University of Toronto Libraries Catalogue

Arguably, the interface of the UTL catalogue is a bit more complicated than the interface of popular search engines. But don’t be intimidated! This section of the guide contains accessible, step-by-step instructions on how to effectively search the catalogue to find primary and secondary sources.

Please note prior to searching: there are significant differences between keywords (which are commonly used to search the Web) and subject headings. For more information, please consult Search Tips.

In the following example, we will find resources using the subject heading Germany History 1933–1945. This is a broad subject heading that we will narrow down.

  1. Go to the main page of the UTL: http://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca/.
  2. On the left-hand side of the page, you will see the following search box:step 2
  3. Click on the Catalogue tab. Type Germany History 1933–1945 into the search box and select subject from the drop-down menu. Click Search.step 3
  4. On the next page, you will be presented with a list of results retrieved from the catalogue: 3,162 items, including ninety online resources.step 4
  5. Don’t be overwhelmed! You can narrow down the results to your particular area of interest, library location, language, author, and format by clicking on the categories under Refine Results on the left-hand side of the screen.
    6. step 5
  6. For instance, if you are interested in the history of women under the Third Reich, under the Subject menu, click View more.
    7. step 6
  7. Subjects are listed alphabetically. Scroll down and click on Women.step 7
  8. The catalogue shows that there are thirty-six sources on the topic.step 8
  9. You can continue to further refine your results by using the filters on the left-hand side as we just did.
  10. In addition, it is also possible to sort your results by relevance, title, author, and publication date. These filters are also located above the list of titles:step 9

Image source: “Rally on the Königsplatz.” California State University World Image Kiosk.