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Bentley Library Orientation: Getting to Know the Bentley Library

Get to know the Bentley Library through this general introduction to our resources & services.

Understanding a Library Catalog Record & Finding a Book

Use Library Search

Library Search is the Bentley Library's discovery service. You can use it to search almost everything the library has, including books and e-books, audiobooks and digital audiobooks, DVDs and streaming media, and articles.

Take a look at some helpful view Library Search tips.

How to Read a Catalog Record & Find a Book

Look at the catalog record below, which is for a book that is available in hardcopy and as an ebook. The record gives you all the information you need to find this item in the library and online. Scroll down below the image to learn more:

About this book:

  1. The Bentley Library has the book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (2006 edition).
  2. The book's availability, location, and status information appears underneath the title. In this case, we can see that the book is available in print (as noted by the location and call number) and online. Information includes:
    • Print Book details:
      • This book is Available at the Bentley University Library, which means the library owns the book and it is currently available to borrow.
      • It is located in the Stacks, which means it is part of our circulating collection and may be checked out.
      • The book can be found on the shelf using its Call Number: HB74 .P8 L479 2006.The call number describes the exact location of a book on the shelf. The part of the call number before the decimal point identifies the subject of the book, and the part of the call number before the date identifies the exact book. Books whose call number begins with the same letter and number combination sit near each other.
    • Available Online: Indicates that we have the ebook (full-text) online through a database we subscribe to. Click the link to get more information about your online options.
  3. Send to: provides options for emailing the book record to yourself, saving a permalink, printing, exporting, and citing. 
  4. View Online: This section provides links to the online version of the book.
  5. Get It > Request:
    • If the book is available (on the shelf):
      • If the book is available and you are in the library, you may to go the stacks to retrieve it. Please ask library staff if you need help finding a book on the shelf.
      • If the book is available and you are not in the library, you can click the Request link to place a hold on the book. Library staff will pull the book for you and notify you when it is ready to be picked up at the Library Services Desk. 
    • If the book is unavailable:
      • If the book is unavailable, you can use the Request link to place a hold - this will put you on a waiting list for the book.
      • If the book is unavailable, you can use the Request Through Interlibrary Loan option - this will place an ILL request for the book from another library. It can take up to 10 business days for a book to be delivered via ILL.
  6. Get It > Location Items: This section displays the location of the book, it's current status (available or not available), and tells you how long the book may be checked out for.
  7. Subject headings: You could click on the subject headings to search for similar books.