Skip to Main Content

FYS 120: The Creative Learning Workshop

Research guide for the Creative Learning Workshop

LibKey Nomad

Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts

Profile Photo
Karen Olson
she/her/hers
Contact:
Christiansen Hall of Music 147 (Music Library)
& Rolvaag Library 306
507-786-3362
Website

Catalyst: The Library Catalog

You can find most library materials, including books and recordings, using Catalyst, the online catalog. You can find both electronic and physical resources using Catalyst.

The Catalyst search interface appears directly on the library's homepage. 

Screenshot of the search interface in Catalyst.

Keyword Searching

The fastest way to search Catalyst is with a Keyword search.  A keyword search essentially googles the entire catalog to see what comes up. Catalyst defaults to a keyword search unless you use the drop-down settings to specifically look for authors, titles, or other parameters.

  • Keywords can be general terms: embodiment, ergonomics
  • Keywords can be a person's or institution's name: Fred Astaire, American Ballet Theatre
  • Keywords can be genres or styles: polkabreak dancing, ring shout

The advantage of a keyword search is that you are casting the widest possible net to get the most possible results. This is a great way to see what kind of material is available.

The disadvantage is that you will likely get many results that aren't useful to your project.

Advanced Searching

If you want more control over your results, click the Advanced Search option. This will let you control many more parameters than simply keyword-googling your search terms.

Screenshot of the Catalyst search interface. The button for "Advanced Search" is marked.


The Advanced Search interface will let you pre-set the kind of material you want -- use the buttons along the top.

Screenshot of Catalyst's advanced search interface.


Advanced Search also lets you look for individual authors, titles, or subjects. Subject searches are especially effective, because instead of giving you every result that happens to mention "hip-hop" (or whatever your search term was), it only returns results that are tagged as having "hip-hop" as the main topic.

Subject searches require specific phrases, called headings. The best way to find a good subject heading is to click into a record for an item you think will be useful, and look for the Subject section. The subject headings are hyperlinks -- click them to search Catalyst for all the other items tagged with that subject. 

The record below shows the subject heading for the Nicholas Brothers. Clicking that link will bring up every item tagged with "Nicholas Brothers" as a main subject.

Screenshot of the details in a Catalyst record for a book about the Nicholas Brothers. The subject heading "Nicholas Brothers" is marked in red.

You can also combine subject searches for even more specific results. For example, maybe you are interested in the Nicholas Brothers in the context of racism in Hollywood movie production.

Screenshot of a Catalyst advanced search. The first line is set to "Subject contains 'Nicholas Brothers'." The second line is set to "AND Subject contains racism."