FYS 120R: American Stories

St. Olaf and Carleton both list their materials in Catalyst, so sometimes you might find something you want that's over at Carleton.  Never fear -- you do not need to go to Carleton to get it.  You can ask Carleton to send it to St. Olaf. The libraries send material back and forth every day, M-F, so it won't take long.

Step 1. Be sure you're logged in.  Look for a yellow bar with the sign-in invitation.

Once you're signed in, your name should appear in the upper right corner of the webpage.

Step 2. In the record for the item, there should be a "Request for Library Pickup" link. (If there's no link, the item is not eligible to be sent out. That's mostly for reference books.) Click the link!

Step 3. Tell us where you want to pick it up, Rolvaag or the Music Library. Then hit "Send Request."

Step 4. You'll receive an email when the item has arrived. Go to the circulation desk and ask for it!

You'll mostly use Resource Sharing when you find materials somewhere other than Catalyst. You might, for example, find something in a research database that you want to read.

Step 1. If the material isn't available in fulltext in the database itself, look for the Find It button and click it. This will search in Catalyst to make sure we don't have access to it somewhere else.

Step 2. If we do have access to the material, you will either be taken directly to the article or you will be routed to a Catalyst record for it that has all the information for how to access it. For example, we might have a journal both in print and online.

Step 3. If there is no way to access the item from the Catalyst record, skip to Step 2 in the section below, "Requesting Materials Not in the Databases."

As you do your research, you might find a citation for an article or book you would really like to see. For example, you might find the perfect resource listed in the bibliography of an article you already found. Here's how to request that item using Catalyst.

Step 1. Look for the item in Catalyst, just to be sure we don't already have it. If we truly do not have it, you'll see a message like this saying "No records found." If that happens, click either of the links that offer to expand the search to other libraries.

Step 2: Catalyst should pull up a record for the item, but it will indicate we do not have it. Under the "Get It from Other Libraries" header, make sure you are signed in to your library account. Use your St. Olaf username and password.

Step 3: Once you are signed in, you should see buttons detailing your options for accessing the item. A common option for journal articles is to request a scan. Click the button and fill out the form that appears. You will receive an email when the scan is ready for you to download.