USING UNICAT
Library’s on-line catalogue
Library and Information Centre,
University of Nicosia Library
E-mail: libithelp@unic.ac.cy
Tel: 22 444 772
Version: January 2012 (GC, KP, AP)
CONTENTS
1
2
3
Before beginning your search ................................................................................................................................................ 4
1.1
Viewing your library card............................................................................................................................................... 4
1.2
Renewing books ................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Performing searches .................................................................................................................................................................. 5
2.1
Basic search .......................................................................................................................................................................... 6
2.2
Browse search ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7
2.3
Advanced search ................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Results table................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
3.1
Locating books .................................................................................................................................................................... 9
3.2
Results sub-menus ......................................................................................................................................................... 10
3.2.1
Selected records ................................................................................................................................................... 10
3.2.2
Whole set ................................................................................................................................................................. 11
3.3
Viewing and accessing saved references .............................................................................................................. 13
3.3.1
4
Grouping saved references ................................................................................................................................ 13
Previous searches ..................................................................................................................................................................... 15
4.1
Crossing searches .......................................................................................................................................................... 16
4.2
Saving search-terms ...................................................................................................................................................... 17
2
USING UNICAT
UniCAT is the University of Nicosia’s on-line library catalogue of all material held in the University’s
libraries (Nicosia, Larnaca, Limassol and Medical). These consist of: books, DVD/videos and paper and
electronic journal articles.
UniCAT can be accessed through the University Library’s website: http://www.library.unic.ac.cy/ by
clicking on the UniCAT logo.
UniCAT opens in the “Basic Search” frame, with the main menu options located at the top of the screen
with the different search options below.
Main Menu
Search
options
Basic Search
Frame
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1 BEFORE BEGINNING YOUR SEARCH
“Sign-in” before you begin your search as this will give you access to more tools and privileges within the
system, e.g. save your searches, view your search history, renew your books.
To sign-in, click on “Sign-in” at the top of the screen. Enter your Student ID (for students)/ Library ID
(for staff) in both the “User ID” and “Verification” boxes. Then click the “LOG ON” button.
Enter Student ID /
Library ID in both
boxes
Once you click on the “LOG ON” button the screen will revert to the “Basic Search” frame but main menu
will change giving you more tools to work with.
1.1 VIEWING YOUR LIBRARY CARD
By signing-in you will also be able to view your items you have borrowed and renew your books on-line.
To access your library card click on “My Account” and this will open the Library Card frame. A sub-menu
will appear enabling you to view and edit your account details.
“My Account”
Sub-menu
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1.2 RENEWING BOOKS
UniCAT allows you to either renew your books individually or collectively. Sign-in and click on “My
Account”. Click on the underlined number showing the number of books on loan.
Renew all books at the same time
2) Click “RENEW”ALL”
1) Click number
Renew individual books
To renew individual books click on the underlined number next to “Loans” (same a “Renew All”) and then
click on the underlined number next to the book you wish to renew.
2) Click “Renew”
1) Click number
Having clicked “Renew” you are taken back to the list of loans with the due updated.
2 PERFORMING SEARCHES
UniCAT offers three types of searches:
•
•
•
Basic Search – finds items by keywords in: Title keywords, Author keywords, Subject keywords
and combined
Browse – searches alphabetical indices.
Advanced Search – works the same as Basic Search but allows you to use more
keywords/phrases and Boolean operators to refine your search.
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2.1 BASIC SEARCH
To begin your search:
• Type in your keyword or phrase, omitting articles (a, an and the)
• Then select the “Field to Search” in the drop-down list.
o Title keywords – UniCAT will search for your keyword/phrase in the titles of the materials
held in the library. Be careful, this will limit the results as the keyword may not be in the
title.
o Author keywords – Use if you are looking for a specific author.
o Subject keywords – These are subjects chosen by the University of Nicosia library
cataloguers to describe the book.
o Keywords anywhere – Searches for the keyword/phrase in all the above fields.
Keyword or phrase
Search field
•
Then click “GO”. This will take you to the results table (See section 3).
Useful tips for keyword formats
• Author Name Format: Type the surname first, e.g. Halsall, Fred
•
DVD/Videos: Enter the keyword or title of your search followed by [videorecording]
•
Journals: Enter the keyword or title of your search followed by [periodicals]
•
Language: To change from Greek to English or vice versa, press “Alt” and “Shift” on your
keyboard.
•
Wildcards: can be used when there is a variant in spellings or different endings, e.g. Catalog? will
return Catalog (American spelling), Catalogue (British spelling), Cataloguing, etc
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2.2 BROWSE SEARCH
The “Browse” option enables you to browse through the following indices, e.g. title fields, subject fields,
author fields and ISSN/ISBN fields. This option should be used when you know the exact subject, author or
title. Results are given in alphabetical order with the number of results. Click on the underlined text for
the results (see section 3 for explanation of results).
To perform a “Browse” search:
1) Type in search term
2) Select index
3) Click GO
You need to be careful when selecting the index you wish to search as they will yield different results, see
examples below:
Title Index Results
Subject Index Results
2.3 ADVANCED SEARCH
The “Advanced” search option enables you to perform up to three individual searches, which will also be
combined.
1) Type in keyword(s)/phrase(s)
2) Select search field
Individual search results
Combined results
3) Click GO
Upon clicking on “GO” UniCAT will display the number of results to the right of the search term and below
the combined results. To view the results click on the corresponding number and you will be taken to the
results table (See section 3).
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3 RESULTS TABLE
The results table, for all search types, provides you with the bibliographical details of the book, as well as
the Location that indicates where you can find it on the shelf. You can also see if an item is available (Item
status) and the “Collection” it is found in.
NB, search consisted of: Basic Search; Keyword: child psychology; Field to search “title”; Language: “English” and
the words needed to be adjacent
Clicking on the number to the left of the
reference will give you full bibliographic
details of that reference. The hyperlinks
(underlined text) allow you to do further
searches on any of these fields.
Clicking on location will give you a summary of the
“holdings”: borrowing status, due date or if it is
currently on the shelf, the collection found in and its
location on the shelf.
Main subject
areas covered
NB, if you click on the author or subject a window will
open enabling you to get more search results or access
Google for more information.
Borrowing
status
Due
Date
Location
on shelf
Collection in
the library
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3.1 LOCATING BOOKS
To locate a book, etc, it is necessary to check the Item status and to make a note of the Location number.
The Location number enables you to find the book on the shelves. The Item status determines what is
displayed in the Due Date column.
Item status
classification
Standard Loan
Not for Loan
3 hour loan, 1
day loan, 3 day
loan
Audiovisuals
Loan
In Cataloguing
In Binding
On Order
Item status description
The item can be borrowed for 10
days or 14 days depending on the
borrower’s status
The item belongs to one of the
following collections and can only
be used in the Library: Reference,
Rare, Journals, Audiovisuals,
Government documents, Oversize,
Law Reference, Cyprus Reference
The item is on Reserve (usually
course text books) and can only be
borrowed for that period
Due Date
display
Due Date description
On Shelf
The item is available for borrowing and can
be found on the relevant shelf.
Re-shelving
The item has recently been returned but is
still in the Circulation area and has not yet
been placed back on the shelves.
A date: e.g.
28/08/2008
The date which the item has to be returned
to the Library.
Requested
The loaned out item has been requested by
another user and should be returned to the
Library within 3 days.
Reserve
One week loan for audiovisual
material (for Lecturers only)
The item is being catalogued and is
not available for borrowing yet
The item was damaged and was
sent for binding
The item has been ordered but has
not been received yet
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3.2 RESULTS SUB-MENUS
SIGN-IN!!!!
The “Results” sub-menu appears below the main menu, which allows you to select/deselect references,
save, refine your search or add the results to your e-Shelf, where you can save your results and access in
the future when necessary.
Results submenu
3.2.1 SELECTED RECORDS
These commands only apply to the records that have been selected by clicking on the tick-box to the
left of the record.
3.2.1.1 VIEW SELECTED
The “View Selected” sub-menu option allows you to view the bibliographic details of the references that
you have ‘ticked-mark’. Only one reference can be viewed at a time. The bibliographic details of the next
reference can be viewed by clicking on “Next record”.
1) Tick-mark references
2) Click “View selected”
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3.2.1.2 SAVE/MAIL
The bibliographic details of the references in the results table can be either saved to your computer
or emailed. To save or email bibliographic, for either individual (by tick-marking them) or all
references, details click on “Save/Mail”, which will open a new screen enabling you to specify the
format, etc of the bibliography.
To send the record or list of records by e-mail:
1. Click Save/Mail.
2. Choose a record format, or create your own, select the encoding, and fill in the e-mail address
field. The Name, Subject and Text fields on the form are optional, and can be helpful in
managing your e-mail.
3. Click Send/Save.
To save the records on disk:
1. Click Save/Mail.
2. Choose a record format or create a format of your own.
3. Leave the e-mail address field blank. The Name, Subject and Text fields on the form are
optional.
4. Click Go. A Save file to PC screen appears.
5. Click Save Selected. You will be prompted with your options for saving and naming the file.
Note: “Add to Basket” option is not available.
3.2.2 WHOLE SET
These commands apply to all the records in the results table: Select All, Deselect, Refine, Add to my eShelf.
3.2.2.1 SELECT AND DESELECT
The tick boxes to the right of the reference enable to select or deselect your references. The Result’s
submenu enables you select or deselect all your references in one go.
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3.2.2.2 REFINE
If you find your initial search term produces a large number of results or the results do not exactly match
your research question the search can be reduced by clicking “Refine”. This will open up a search page
where you can add (using the “AND” Boolean operator) or omit (using the “NOT” Boolean operator)
keywords to your original search term. The “OR” Boolean operator enables you to expand your results by
keeping those that have been found, adding results from the new keyword and the results derived from
combining both keywords.
1) Select operator
2) Select field to search
3) Enter keyword
4) Click “GO”
The results table is then updated to include the new criterion.
3.2.2.3 ADD SELECTED RECORDS TO “MY E-SHELF”
You need to be signed-in before you can add references to your “e-Shelf”. Tick-mark the references you
wish to keep and click on “Add to My e-Shelf”. A window will open requesting that you put a note for
records.
2) Click “Add to My e-Shelf”
1) Select references
3) Add brief note
Once you click on the “GO” button you are returned to the results table with a message highlighted in
yellow stating that the selected items were added to “My e-Shelf”.
Note: “Add to Basket” and “SDI request” options are not available.
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3.3 VIEWING AND ACCESSING SAVED REFERENCES
Once you have saved references to your “My e-Shelf” you can retrieve them by first logging-in into UniCAT
and clicking on “My e-Shelf”.
If you wish to delete or save/mail a reference, tick-mark it and click on the relevant option.
3.3.1 GROUPING SAVED REFERENCES
To group your references in different folders use the “Folder Management” in the “My e-Shelf” sub-menu.
To use this option you need to be logged-in.
The “Folder management” screen is split in to two sections to the right of the screen are the references
that were added to “My e-Shelf” but have yet to be organised in folders. These references are stored in a
folder called “Basket”. The left of the screen is for managing folders and adding/removing references.
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3.3.1.1 TO CREATE A FOLDER
1) Type in folder name
2) Click “New”
When you click on the “New” button the name of the new folder appears in the box labelled “Folder” with
zero in brackets. The number in the brackets indicates the number of references that are in that folder.
The name of the folder also appears in red next to the label “Records in folder”. This shows what folder
you are looking. If there are any references in the folder they will be listed in the box below the folder
name in red.
•
•
To delete a folder ensure that the name of the folder that you wish to delete is visible in the box
labelled “Folder” and then click on “Delete”.
To rename a folder ensure the folder name is visible in the “Folder” box, type the new name in the
“Rename” box and then click on the “RENAME” button.
3.3.1.2 TO ADD REFERENCES TO A FOLDER
1) Select folder to add the references to
2) Tick-mark references
3) Click arrow pointing to folders
The arrows in blue circles
folders.
enable you to move references between the “Basket” and your created
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3.3.1.3 VIEWING REFERENCES SAVED IN FOLDERS
To view your references you need to be logged-in and then click on “My e-Shelf”. In the box labelled
“Folder”, click on the name of the folder and the table is updated.
You can view the bibliographic details of each reference by clicking on the number underlined to the left of
the reference.
4 PREVIOUS SEARCHES
“Previous Searches” is an option in the main menu which enables you to manipulate all the search terms
that you have used during your current session using UniCAT. Upon clicking on “Previous Searches” its
related frame is opened listing all the search terms you have used and the number of items retrieved
under each search.
“Previous searches”
Sub-menu
“Previous Searches” generates its own sub-menu which enables you to:
• View the results table of individual searches (by ‘tick-marking’ the search and then click “View”).
• Delete one or more searches (‘tick-mark’ the searches to be deleted and then click on “Delete”).
• Cross searches – enables you to combine two search terms.
• Save – allows you to permanently save your search terms to your account.
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4.1
CROSSING SEARCHES
“Previous Searches” allows you to cross (combine) two or more of your search terms using Boolean
operators.
Boolean Operators
AND
OR
NOT
Description
Results must include both search terms
Results can include either or both of the search terms
Results must include the first but EXCLUDE the second search term
To cross your searches you need to ‘tick-mark’ the searches you wish to cross. Then click on “Cross”.
1) Tick-mark searches
to be crossed
2) Click “Cross”
The screen changes asking how you want the searches you have selected to be crossed. Once you have
selected the appropriate Boolean operator click GO.
You are taken back to the previous searches screen with a message in the yellow box saying that the cross
has been successful and the new search appears at the top of the Previous Search table.
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4.2 SAVING SEARCH-TERMS
When you are performing searches the keyword / phrase (search terms) are automatically stored in
“Previous searches”. These will be deleted when you end your session or log-out. If you wish to keep them
you need to do the following:
Ensure you are logged-in, click on “Previous searches”. Tick-mark the references you wish to save and
then click on save. A message will appear indicating that the searches are saved in “History”.
To view your saved searches “log-in” then click on “History” in the main menu.
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