You have a general topic in mind to research. How do you search that topic in the library catalog?

This part of the tutorial offers practice in using subject headings to search the catalog for books and other circulating items. Librarians also use a system called Library of Congress Subject Headings to describe books based on the topics that are covered in each book. Subject headings appear in the item record, along with the title, author, publisher, date and place of publication.

Did You Know?

Library of Congress Subject Headings are used by libraries all over the world, so you know that you will also find the same subject headings in every library.

You can also use these strategies to search databases and indexes (more on that in Part 3).