Psychology Subject Guide

Searching for books in Catalyst

Catalyst is the online catalog for both St. Olaf and Carleton College. Use Catalyst to search for books, specific journals, videos/dvds, musical scores, maps, etc.

So, one good strategy for searching Catalyst might be:

1. Search using keywords to find at least one item of interest.
2. Select that item to get to the screen of information about that item.
3. Use the subject links at the bottom of the screen to find other items the Library of Congress librarians deemed to be about your topic even if the exact words weren't used in the title.

• Note: When you use a huge catalog like World Cat, it's good to search using subject terms you identified in Catalyst rather than by keyword. This will keep the number of relevant items to look at to a manageable size.

Finally, If your book is at Carleton, you can request it directly from Catalyst by clicking on the Request button.

Encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and other reference works provide background reading on your topic and related issues, bibliographies, names of authorities and important works in the field. Use them to get a sense of the scholarly vocabulary used to talk about your topic and remember to check the bibliographies that follow the entries for other relevant resources.