Finding and Using Books from Galvin Library: 1. Search for books

The library catalog contains the books, journals, and other materials you can find within Galvin Library and beyond.

To search for a specific item, follow these steps:

1. Open the IIT Library Catalog.
2. In the search box, type in the information for your desired item. You may change the drop-down menu from Keyword to Title, Author, or Call Number for a more exact search. The below screenshot includes a Title search example.   
3. The search will retrieve the items that contain those words (or variation of the words) in the title. For an exact search, you can place quotation marks around the words you'd like to search. 
4. Locate the item you want in the results. If you see a box that states the item is "Available," that means that it is available to check out.                                           
5. Note the Call Number and the Location listed in the record. The Call Number is the number assigned to the item - for books, this appears along the spine of the book. Our books are classified according to the Library of Congress classification system, where books are assigned numbers, preceded by letters that signify the book's topic area. The Location is the general area within the library that you can find the book. Always write down (or text yourself) the LOCATION and CALL NUMBER to find the book on the shelves.  You cannot locate the item on the shelf without both pieces of information. 
6. Don't see your item? Try searching all "I-Share" libraries instead. Searching the I-Share catalog will retrieve items from our resource-sharing consortium. As an Illinois Tech student, you can request available items from these libraries. Unfortunately, due to licensing, we cannot borrow other schools' electronic books, also known as eBooks (see the Why can't I read eBooks owned by other schools?" box for more information about restrictions on electronic resources). To search all I-Share libraries, simply change the "Article and Books" drop-down option to "All I-Share Libraries." For more information about obtaining books and other items that IIT does not own, see the "Getting books that IIT does not have" page.
7. See the next page, "Locate the book in the library or online," for instructions on obtaining your items.

You'll likely come across eBooks or other online resources owned by other institutions in the I-Share or WorldCat catalog. Unfortunately, due to licensing restrictions, only current students, staff, and faculty at the university that owns the item can view them.