Help Contents

Overview
Recommended Web Browser Software
How to Search

Basic Search
Advanced Search
Searching for Periodicals
Search Tips
Shortcuts

Search Results

What is a Call Number?

Sorting the Title List
Printing the Title List

Full Record

Additional Links
Available Copies

Placing Hold(s)

Review Search History
Saving, E-Mailing, and Printing Records
Personal List Manager

Saving Your Personal List to Disk
Sending Your Personal List via E-Mail
Printing Your Personal List

Patron Information (Items Checked Out, Overdue, Lost, Holds, Fines)

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Overview

CARLWeb  is a graphical user interface which gives you access to your library catalog and enables you to view your library card information, such as items checked out, items placed on hold or overdue, fines, etc.

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Recommended Web Browser Software

The CARLWeb  development team has made its best effort to support all browsers; however, some browsers do not support all of the features used in CARLWeb.

We recommend:

• Netscape 4.n or higher
• Internet Explorer 4.n or higher

Using other browsers may result in error messages, formatting problems, or reduced functionality.

Because this is a web-based product, it uses hypermedia and employs links. Whenever you see any blue underlined text or when the mouse pointer turns into a hand as it passes over a button or text, you can click on that text or button and you will be taken to another page of items related to those links.

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How to Search

The Basic Search Page lets you construct a search. You may simply enter words from a title, author's name, keyword, or a subject in the empty text box and click the "Search" button. CARLWeb automatically executes your search term(s) against the keyword, name and subject indexes, as well as let you choose a browse link for title, author, or subject.
CARLWeb is not "case sensitive." You may use upper (capital) or lower case (small) letters.

You may also select a search type (see below) from the Select a search type pull-down menu.

Search Types:
A description of the search types is listed below. If you do not choose a search type (i.e. leaving it defaulted to the "Select a search type--optional" selection), the system will perform a search which is automatically executed against the keyword, author and subject indexes. The search type options are:

Keyword: If you are unsure of the exact title or subject, type key words. You may type one word, or several words in any order. The result will be a list of titles which contain your keywords anywhere in the record.

Subject Browse: Type words from subject headings in any order. The result will be a list of subject headings that contain your subject words.

Word/Name(s) in Subject: This will result in a title list in which the word/names entered appear in the subject, rather than a list of subject headings. If you are familiar with subject headings but not quite sure of the exact subject, this option may work for you.

Title Browse: If you know the exact title, type it in. Do not include leading articles (a, an, the) in any language. Most punctuation does not have to be included within the title, with the exceptions of apostrophes and exclamation points. If you are uncertain about the exact title, use a Keyword or Title Word search.

Word(s) in Title (Title Word): If you know some of the words of a title, you may wish to perform a title word search. This will search for words in the title in any order. Keyword also works in this way, but searches the entire record as well.

Author or Name Browse: Use this search to browse an alphabetical listing of name headings. For personal names, type last name first, a comma, a space, then the first name, i.e., Steinbeck, John. For corporate names, type the name in direct order. The result will be a list of name headings beginning at, or closest to, the name you typed.

Author or Name: Use this search to find authors or names (can enter name in any order) anywhere in a record. This search results in a title list containing the author or name entered, rather than a list of author or name headings.

Series: Use this search to find titles which are published as part of a series. Type in as much of the series title as you know, i.e., Sunset Books. Exclude the leading article (a, an, the) in all languages. The result will be a list of titles that contain series headings beginning at, or closest to, the first word you typed.

Call Number: If you want to search the collection as it is shelved, type in as much of the call number as you know. Call numbers should be spaced as they appear on the books, videos, etc., and include any decimal points, for example, entering VIDEO 791.4372 T will give you an alphabetical list of feature films that start with the letter "T".

ISBN/ISSN: If you know the ISBN of a book or an ISSN of a magazine/periodical, you may enter that and be directed to the item's record if it is contained in CARLWeb.

Optional Limits:
For keyword and author/name searches, you may wish to initially limit your search by a specific format, such as DVD's, Books on CD, or Large Print books, for example. Additionally, you may also choose to limit your keyword or author/name search to a specific library by clicking on the Limit by Library Location button. This will take you to a new screen where you can select the library and then click the search button. Your search terms will transfer to this new screen so you do not need to retype them. See More Search Options below for more information on limiting a search.

You can change your search at any time by scrolling to the bottom of the page and typing in new search terms in the enter terms box and can change the search type with the Choose search type drop down list.

More Search Options lets you perform a keyword, author, title word, subject word, or series word search. You can combine these choices choosing "and" "or" or "not" between the search boxes, and also further limit by Format (e.g. videos) by language (e.g. Spanish), and/or by date(s) of publication. These examples demonstrate some of the advanced search features:

To find the videorecording of "Gone with the Wind", enter "gone wind" as the search terms in the keyword box, then scroll down and click the Limit by format field and choose "Videocassettes". Now click the "Search" button next to your search terms.

To find math books for children written in Spanish, enter "mathematics" as the search term, scroll down and click the "Limit by format " field , choose "juvenile", then click on the Limit by Language field and choose "Spanish". Now click on the "Search" button next to your search term.

To use the date limiting feature*, after entering your search term(s), scroll down to the Limit by Date section. . To limit the results of a search on "cancer treatment" to titles published since 1997, enter 1997 in the Year is later than field, for titles published in 2000 enter 2000 in the Year is equal to field. For titles published prior to 2000, enter 2000 in the Year is earlier than field, and for titles published between 1997 and 2000, enter 1997 in the first box, and 2000 in the second in the Year is between fields. Click on the "Search" button next to your search terms.

*Date limiting is applicable to search results of 500 titles or less.

You can further limit your search by selecting a library in the Limit by Library Location box. Only one library can be selected per search. Leaving the Only show items currently on shelf? radio button selected as "no" will return everything for the library selected, whether it is checked out or not. Changing this to "yes" returns only items contained in that library that are currently showing as "on shelf" (i.e. available to be checked out now).

Searching for Periodical Titles:
Records for periodical titles (magazines, journals, newspapers, etc.) are maintained in the catalog and can be found very easily in a couple of different ways. The first thing to remember is that searching for periodical titles is not the same as searching for articles. To search for and locate magazine or journal articles, the best place to start is through one of our many electronic databases. Many of these databases also provide the full-text articles right there. If you find an article which is not available to read in its entirety, note the title and/or the ISSN (International Standard Serial Number--the equivalent of an ISBN to a book) of the periodical it is contained in, and do the following to search for the periodical title in CARLweb.

Searching by title:

• From the Basic Search screen, enter the title in the search box and choose Keyword as the search type. Under the Optional Limits, select Periodical and then click search.
• From the More Search Options screen, enter the title in the Keyword(s) field, choose Periodicals in the Limit by Format pull-down menu, and click search.

Searching by ISSN:

To find a periodical title by its ISSN (an 8 digit number), you must use the Basic Search screen. Enter the ISSN with the dash in the search box (e.g. 0892-6514), choose ISBN/ISSN as the search type, and click search.

See below for instructions to place holds on individual issues.

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Search Results

The Results page will present you with a list of the number of matches resulting from each index searched (such as keyword, author, name and subject). You will also be given the ability to try your search term as a browse, with links to browse titles, subjects, or names. The following is an example of a search in the Contra Costa County Library database for cats when not selecting a search type.

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You can click on the blue, highlighted, Keyword matches link, which will take you to the Title List page, or you can click on the blue, highlighted, Author, or Subject matches links to be taken to a list of authors or subjects containing the search term(s). Clicking the Browse links will return a list of results in those indexes starting alphabetically with the term(s) searched. If nothing in the category begins with these words, the results start alphabetically at the closest point

NOTE: If your search term did not retrieve results in the Keyword, Author, or Subject indexes, you will not see links on the results page.

If you have chosen a search type, the results returned will pertain to the specific index searched. For example a keyword search will return only a list of titles of items containing the term(s) searched:

You can change your search at any time by scrolling to the bottom of the page and typing in new search terms in the enter terms box and can change the search type with the Choose search type drop down list.

What is a Call Number?

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Search Tips

By narrowing your searches to under 1000 items, you can sort results by Author, Title, Call Number, or Date, . Try 2 or 3 search terms that best describe your search, or try some of the methods described below:

1. Narrow your search by using the words AND or BUT NOT

2. Expand your search by using OR between search terms:

3. Truncation

You can use an asterisk * with part of a subject or name to expand the search. This also helps if you don't know the exact spelling of an author or subject. The * character may be appended to the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word.

4. Wildcard searching

You can use a question mark ? with part of a subject or name to expand the search by a specific number of characters. The ? wildcard character can be appended to the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word.

5. Date Limiting

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Shortcuts

Combined Author and Word searching

** Shortcut searches can only be conducted from the Basic Search screen **

Authors or names can be combined with title or subjects in a single search. Type //n followed by the name, then a / followed by words from the title or subject. The search must be formatted as name/word. For example:

Other shortcuts

You can change your search at any time by scrolling to the bottom of the page and typing in new search terms in the enter terms box and can change the search type with the Choose search type drop down list.

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Title List

The Title List displays the titles of your search results. From this page, you can View the Full Record, Display checked records this page, activate the Personal List Manager feature, or Review Search History .

Sorting the Title List

The default sort for the list of titles is reverse chronological order, that is, the most current items first. If your retrieval set is less that 1000, you may also choose to sort your list by author, title, call number, or date.

Clicking on the Display checked records this page (assuming you have checked the boxes by some or all of the titles on the page), displays continuously on one page the Full Records for the checked titles.

You can change your search at any time by scrolling to the bottom of the page and typing in new search terms in the enter terms box and can change the search type with the Choose search type drop down list.

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Printing the Title List

To print the Title List page (which contains up to ten titles), while the Title List page is displayed, click on your browser Print button at the top of the page. If you want to print a list longer than the page displayed, use the Personal List Manager.

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Full Record

To view the Full Record, click on the blue underlined title link.

At the Full Record page, to view another record, either return to the Title List to select another Title, or click on the Next or Previous link at the top or bottom of the page to take you to the next or previous Full Record.

From the Full Record page, you can go Back to Results page, Back to Title List, Check for Available Copies, Place hold(s) activate the Personal List Manager, Review Search History, Save record(s) to disk, or E-mail records.

You can change your search at any time by scrolling to the bottom of the page and typing in new search terms in the enter terms box and can change the search type with the Choose search type drop down list.

To print, save, or e-mail Full Records, see  Saving, E-Mailing, and Printing Records.

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Additional Links

Most Full Records have links to enable you to look at other records, which have a common element with the Full Record. For example, you may find links in the Name field, the Author field, the Subjects field, the Other Entries field, etc. Clicking on one of these links will initiate either a browse or a search on that index.

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Available Copies

Click the Available Copies button on the left side of the Full Record or Where to find it button at the top of the records to link to the holdings information for the item. By clicking a highlighted library name link you will arrive at the Library's information page. This page provides pertinent information about a specific library such as its address and phone number. To go back to the Full Record, click your browser's Back button.

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Placing Hold(s)

To use the Place hold(s) function, you must have a Contra Costa County library card in good standing.

To place a hold on a single item:

• From the Results List click on the blue underlined title.
• Select the hold option by clicking the Place hold(s) button on the left-hand side of the screen*.
• Type your library card number and last name.
• Option: check the box to Remember my login if you plan to go back to the Catalog to look for more materials.
• On the next screen, select the library location for pick up.
• Click the Place Hold button at bottom of page.

Date options: The system default is to leave the hold request pending for one year.

• “Not needed after” date can be changed if you want to cancel a hold before the automatic expiration date of one year ahead, e.g. you have a school assignment within the next few months and you won't need your request processed after this time. Changing the date does not guarantee that you will receive the item within a shorter time frame.
• “Not needed before” is useful to choose a future date if you don't want the item right away, e.g. you will be on vacation for a period of time or you have many requests pending and don't want to receive all of them at once.

The item will be placed on hold if available for reserve. Your place on the hold list and how many copies are available will appear. If a hold may not be placed, you will get a message indicating this and to contact library staff.
When the item you requested is ready for pickup, you will be notified by a phone call or e-mail (if you have registered for e-mail notices). If both of these methods fail, you will receive a notice in the mail.

*The Place hold(s) button won't appear if you check the box next to the title and choose the Display checked records from this page button

To place holds on multiple items at one time:

• Check the items you wish to hold from the title list by clicking the box next to the titles.
• Choose the Add checked records from this page to list button under the PERSONAL LIST MANAGER heading on the left side of the screen.
• When you have your list completed, click the View Personal List button.
• When your personal list appears, click the Place holds on all items on this page button.

Changed your mind about some of the items? From your personal list, check the items you want to place on hold and click the Place holds on checked items from this page button.

To place holds on individual issues of periodical titles*:

Towards the bottom of every record for periodical titles is Subscription Information. The current year of what issues are available are diplayed, with previous years below if applicable. These can be collapsed to hide the issues or expanded to display all of them by clicking on the triangle next to each year.

Next to each issue is a checkbox. Check the box next to each issue you would like to place a hold on, then click the Place Hold(s) button and follow the steps above to complete the process.

Please note: It is important to check the box next to the issue(s) of interest before attempting to place a hold. Not doing so will result in the wrong or no issues being sent to you.

*The most current issue of any periodical title is not available for holds.

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Review Search History

You can review the searches you have entered during your current session by clicking on Review Search History, which appears on the Title List and Full Record pages. Your Search History will be listed within each database in the order searched. You can click on any of these links to reinitiate a previous search.

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Saving, E-Mailing, and Printing Records

There are three ways to save and print records:

1. To print a single Full Record, view it on the Full Record page and click on your browser Print button at the top of the page.
2. To print, e-mail or save 1-10 Full Records which appear on the same Title Page:

3. To print, e-mail or save 10 or more Full Records, see  Personal List Manager.

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Personal List Manager

The Personal List Manager enables you to capture and store your search results. You can cumulatively add a maximum of 1000 records to your Personal List during a CARLWeb session.

To create a Personal List, from the Title List, you can

• select specific records by clicking on the checkboxes to the left of each title, and then clicking Add checked records from this page to my list.
• select one or more titles from the Title List page by clicking Add all records from page to my list, or
• Add all records from this search to my list. Add all records will add a maximum of 200 records from your search.

After you have selected and added the titles to be stored in your Personal List, you can click on View my list.
You can sort your list by Title, Author, Call Number and Date. From this page you can go Back to Title List, Save record(s) to disk, or E-mail records or print your list.

The titles you select from various searches during one session of CARLWeb will all be added to the same list. You can Delete Records (will delete ALL records) from your list at any time during the session.

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Saving your Personal List to Disk

While you are in View my list, you have several options to save your Personal List:

• save the list as a file on diskette or CD (from a library computer)
• save the list as a file on your personal computer's hard drive
• send the list an e-mail address.

To save your records electronically, click on Save Record(s) to Disk on the left side of the Personal List Manager - Title List page.

Note: If you are working on a computer in the library, you must save the list to an external device that you provide, such as a floppy disk, a CD, or a thumb drive.

On the Personal List - Save to Disk page, click on the following selections:

• Choose Record Type: Title List or Full Records
• Choose Record Format: Plain Text or HTML Format

For efficiency in processing, records are downloaded from the database provider in sequential groups of 10. After each group is downloaded, you will be given the opportunity to download 10 more. Each group of 10 will append to the previous group so that all of the downloaded records will be saved to one file.

If you are using Netscape:

After you click on Click here to stop and save the downloaded records to disk, a browser-generated window entitled Unknown File Type will appear.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT  CLICK on More Info or Pick App, as these selections do not relate to CARLWeb.

DO   CLICK on Save File (or Cancel if you have changed your mind about saving).

A Save As window will appear. Save as you normally would save a file in a Windows or Macintosh application. The default file name will be records.txt or records.html.

If you are using Internet Explorer:

After you click on Click here to stop and save the downloaded records to disk, your record(s)will be displayed as a page in your browser. Click on the File drop down menu at the top of the screen, Save as, and name your file.

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Sending your Personal List via E-mail

After you have selected the Records you would like on your Personal List, click on View my list.

To e-mail your records, click on E-mail records on the left side of the Personal List Manager - Title List page.
Fill out the following boxes:

• Send to: your own or someone else's e-mail address. Be sure to type in the complete e-mail address, including the domain name.
• Subject:
• Comments:
• Record Type: Title List or Full Records
• Record Format: Plain Text or HTML Format

If you select the HTML Format, the message will be received as text with the HTML code displayed. By saving the e-mail message as an HTML file after receipt, the records can then be viewed with browser software or e-mail readers that interpret HTML.

So that your records will be downloaded from the database provider and e-mailed efficiently, they will be sent in sequential groups of 10 per e-mail message. After each group is sent, you will be given the opportunity to send the next group of 10.

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Printing your Personal List

To print one page of your Personal List - Title List, view the page, and click your browser's Print button at the top of the page.

To print one Full Record from your Personal List, view the record, and click your browser's Print button at the top of the page.

To print the entire Title List or the Full Records from your Personal List:

1. E-mail the list to yourself (see  Sending Your Personal List via E-mail ) and then print the e-mail after you have received it; or
2. Save the Personal List to disk (see  Saving Your Personal List to Disk) and print the file after it is saved.

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Patron Information
(Items Checked Out, Overdue, Lost, Holds, Fines)

From your library's home page,

• click on Library Catalog. Once CARLWeb loads, click on the View my account button on the left-hand side menu.
• Enter your library card number and last name as requested on the Patron Validation page. You will then be taken to the Patron Information Summary page.
• Click on any of the blue, highlighted links for summary information on items checked out, overdue, lost, holds, or fines. Blue, underlined, links on these summary pages will lead to further pages containing details on each item.

Renewing Checked Out Items

To renew all items that you have checked out:

• Click the Renew all button on the PATRON INFORMATION SUMMARY page.
• A confirmation screen will appear to confirm your renewal(s) and show you the new due date(s), or will let you know if the item(s) cannot be renewed.*

To review and select items for renewal:

• Click the blue, underlined, Checked out link on the PATRON INFORMATION SUMMARY page.
• This link will take you to a summary of all the items that you currently have checked out.
• From the Checked Out Summary screen, you can renew all checked out items at once or you can renew individual items by checking the box next to the title(s) you wish to renew and choosing the Renew selected items button on the left hand side of the screen.
• You will get a message telling you the item(s) has been renewed and the new due date. It will also tell you if the item(s) has not been renewed.*

*Some reasons an item may not be renewed:

• The item has been requested by another borrower
• computer software, and magazines are not renewable
• You have exceeded the renewal limit
• You have fines on your record that exceed the limit
• You have overdue item(s) on your record

Canceling a Hold

If you have placed a hold on an item and have decided that you no longer need the item to be held:

• Click the Holds link on the Patron Information Summary page. This link will take you to a summary of all the items that you currently have on hold.
• Click on the blue, underlined title of the hold item that you want to cancel to go to the Holds detail screen.
• On this page, you can click the Cancel this hold button to cancel the hold.
• A confirmation screen will appear to confirm your cancellation. Items already in transit or waiting on the hold shelf cannot be canceled. (Please call the library to remove the hold in these instances.)

To ensure the privacy of your record, click the Exit or Logout button at the top of the page to return to your library's home page. Do not exit by clicking the browser's Back button or by closing the browser.

Session

By checking the box for CARLWeb to remember your login session, you will be able to place multiple holds without being prompted to re-enter your library card number. The login information is remembered for one session only. When you exit the catalog and go back in, it counts as a new session and you will have to re-enter your card number and last name.

This login feature works differently from other sites, i.e. commercial vendors, where your login is stored and remembered on a particular computer every time you enter that site. As people share computers in the library, it is important to protect everyone's privacy and there is a need to prevent people from accidentally accessing other patrons' accounts. There is not another option for people accessing the catalog at the Library vs. people using their own computers.

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