SCPL Online Catalog — Resources
Library Automation System - Resources
Searching the online catalog
Basic Search Tips | Advanced Search Tips | Placing a Hold
Basic Search Tips
You can select to search by:
Keyword - finds the terms you enter anywhere in the entire record for an item, including title, author, subject, and more.
Title - finds the terms you enter in the title of an item.
Author - finds the terms you enter in the author's name.
Subject - finds the terms you enter in the subject of an item
Series - finds the terms you enter in the title of a multi-part series.
Formats:
You can limit your search by format:
- Books
- Large Print Books
- E-Books
- Audiobooks (CDs)
- Video Recordings (DVD or Blu Ray)
- Music (music recordings on CD)
- Electronic Resources (CD-ROM)
You can also search the catalog directly from the library website at www.santacruzpl.org.
Advanced Search Tips
The Advanced Search Screen
- Do not use an AND operator to join search terms. An AND is automatically used to join all search terms.
- Boolean operators such as and, or, not are not considered special and are searched for like any other word. There are no stop words that are automatically ignored by the search engine.
- Don't worry about white space, exact punctuation, or capitalization.
- Enter your search words in any order.
- Search for an exact phrase using quotation marks " ".
Truncation
You can use * to truncate a search term, in order to to find results for multiple word endings. A search for "viol*" brings up results for violin, viola, violent, violet, and more.
Placing a Hold
If the item you want to check out is not available or is located at a different branch, you can place a hold on it. Placing a hold is easy!
Put an item on hold by clicking the "Place Hold" link.
You can click the “Place Hold” link right from your list of search results:
If you have already clicked on a title in your results list to get a more detailed description of the item, you can also click the “Place Hold” link from within the item record:
Entering your Information
Once you click the “Place Hold” link, you will be prompted to enter your library card number and PIN/Password:
- Enter your library card number (or username) into the appropriate box (shown next to the green arrow)
- Enter your PIN or Password into the appropriate box (shown next to the red arrow)
- Click on “Log In” button (circled in green)
You should now be logged in to your account. You should be able to see your name and a summary of the item that you wish to place on hold.
- Change where you pick up the hold by clicking on the drop-down menu and selecting the branch of your choice (shown next to red arrow)
- Click on “Place Hold” button (circled in red)
You should receive a notification that the hold you placed has been successful:
