LOCATE searching will likely begin with this search engine:

Found either through our Books and E-Books link, or directly at ccis.searchmobius.org

A basic search will allow you to search for single terms, subjects, authors, etc. As you can see, once you have arrived at LOCATE, you can do a basic search for a keyword, the title, author, ISBN, ISSN or subject. You can also select to do an Advanced Search from the drop down menu.

Once you have determined what you are searching for (for example, you want to search for the author Jane Austen so you would select Author from the drop down), enter your search terms in the Search Library Catalog box. In our example, we can choose Author from the drop down, and then enter either Austen, Jane or Jane Austen and we will see the physical items related to the author Jane Austen in the Columbia College library:

Once you find a title you are interested in viewing and potentially borrow from Stafford Library, simply click on the the title of the item, or click on the View Details link under each title. Doing so points you to the record that shows the availability, where the item is located and it's call number.

As you can see, a basic search is relatively simple and is efficient at quickly grabbing a list of items that are broadly related to the topic you are researching. Oftentimes, this is enough to find the appropriate physical books you need. However, there are times where you may want to search our catalog for a more specialized subject and you will want to take advantage of Advanced searching to return an accurate list of titles.

Our shelves are arranged based on the Dewey Decimal Classification system. This unique numbering system tells you the exact location of a book in our library. Depending on the subject, the book will be placed in a numbered section. Our librarians and student workers are more than happy to help you find a book, but you can also consult the chart below as well.