Tag Archives: MIDCAT

Problems with Format Limits (“Scopes”) in MIDCAT (library catalog)

MIDCAT, the Library catalog, is currently experiencing some problems with searches limited to certain media formats (“scopes” in library lingo).   This problem is affecting searches limited to formats selected from the drop-down menu as well those selected using the tabs across the top of the search screen:

MIDCAT limits not currently working

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Specifically:  searches using AUTHOR, TITLE, etc., indexes in combination with the format limits are NOT working properly (we definitely have CDs with “Beethoven” as the author!):

 

 

 

 

 

The easiest way to work around this might be to simply use a KEYWORD search.  KEYWORD searches in combination with the limits (scopes) seem to be unaffected:

 

 

 

 

 

If a KEYWORD search returns too many results, or is undesirable for some other reason, another way to work around this issue is as follows:

1) Perform a search of any kind WITHOUT using one of the media limits.  This search can be a search of a specific index (e.g., AUTHOR, TITLE, SUBJECT, etc.) or a KEYWORD search.

2) Once you receive your results, click either the “Modify Search” button (if you searched by KEYWORD) or the “Limit/Sort Search” button (if you searched using an AUTHOR, TITLE, etc. index)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) From the next screen, you can choose a format limit and click “Submit”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We apologize for the inconvenience this is causing, and hope to have this corrected soon.

Terry Simpkins
Director, Discovery & Access Services
Davis Family Library 135A
Middlebury College
110 Storrs Ave.
Middlebury, VT 05753
802-443-5045
tsimpkin@middlebury.edu

Upcoming library catalog (MIDCAT) downtime – June 12

In preparation for our migration of the Middlebury and MIIS library catalogs to a new version of Innovative Interfaces, Inc., software, the library catalog (MIDCAT) will be unavailable on Tuesday, June 12, 2018.

The library will remain open, but you will not be able to check out, return, or renew materials until the system upgrade is complete.  We do expect Summon (go.middlebury.edu/summon) to remain functional if you need to search our journals and databases, or if you simply want to use it to lookup an item to see if the library owns it.

Thank you for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Terry Simpkins
Director, Discovery and Access Services
Davis Family Library
802-443-5045

MIDCAT downtime tomorrow, Tuesday, 3/6/18

Hello again

This is another reminder that MIDCAT will be unavailable on Tuesday, Mar. 6, between 4AM-8AM.  This includes staff client side functions as well as the webPAC (go/midcat/) and includes all lookup and checkout functions, among other services.

Thank you for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Terry Simpkins
Director, Discovery and Access Services
Davis Family Library
802-443-5045

What’s With This “Quick Search” Thing…?

As new students arrive at college campuses everywhere, we all know the first thing they do is … check out their library’s web page (go/library)!

So, once you do that, you might wonder: what’s with this “library quick search” thing?

The library quick search allows you to easily look for various types of materials by selecting the different tabs above the search box.

Specifically, you can think of the different tabs this way:

Summon is the “one-stop shopping” tab.  It searches 90+% of all library resources, including the items we physically own, online journal articles, and digital collections.  Totally lost and about to start weeping?  Start here!

Midcat+ provides a way to search the materials physically held by the library, as well as selected online resources such as eBooks.  This tab also lets you search NExpress, the combined catalog and holdings of 7 New England college libraries, and which you can use to borrow things Middlebury doesn’t own.  If you are looking for a specific book, movie, or CD that you think Middlebury or one of our partner libraries might own, try using this search.

Journals A-Z and Databases A-Z provide a way to look up specific journal or database titles, and see exactly which issues we provide access to.  You can also use a keyword to find all journals or databases containing a specific word in the title or description, e.g. “jazz” or “biology.”

Reserves is a easy way to view course reserves by class or professor name.

Videos searches our DVD and VHS holdings.  Check out the “browse videos by genre” function if you’re looking for, say, film noir or romantic comedies.

And, if you get stuck, there’s always a librarian around to help you figure things out.  Welcome to Middlebury!

Welcome to our summer students

Welcome to the summer Language School and Breadloaf students.

  • Find useful tips on the LIS pages (go/lis), (go/lib), and (go/helpdesk)
  • Use (go/subjectguides) for links to databases, CDs, video and more
  • Begin your research, searching for articles across both databases and MIDCAT (the library catalog) with Summon.
  • The music collection has moved into the Davis Family Library, link here to view a map depicting the updated location of materials.
  • Study Carrel Suites have been set aside for use by specific Language Schools; individual carrels within the Language Suites are available on a first come, first served basis and may not be reserved; the Language Suites are intended for the exclusive use of the language specified. MAP
  • If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to Ask a Librarian.

MIDCAT search alerts

Are you interested in receiving automatic weekly updates for new library acquisitions? The easiest way to do this is to set up a preferred search in MIDCAT and select the option to Mark for Email. This generates a weekly email listing any new materials matching your search criteria. Note that if no new materials match your search terms for a given week you won’t receive an email. You may set up multiple search alerts, as needed.

For example, to receive notice of all new Jazz CDs I would:

Log into My MIDCAT
Click on MIDCAT to search the catalog
Choose a format, like Music Recordings (in Advanced Search I may choose other parameters – like language, publication years, etc.)
Enter search term in a keyword box, e.g. Jazz
Submit search – it will bring up every Jazz item we have currently in that format
Click “Save As Preferred Search”
Go back to my “Patron Record” and click on “Preferred Searches”
Check the “Mark for Email” box

I will now receive an email notice for any new materials that match those search parameters. Check out the LIS Wiki page for more information about setting up or adjusting MIDCAT search alerts.

Tip: Want to get notifications about ALL of a particular material type (not just things matching a certain genre or keyword)? Use an asterisk (*) as your search term!  E.g. to find all DVDs (in order to set up a search alert for all new DVDs) perform an Advanced Search for Any field = * and limit to Material type = DVDs.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me here in the comments, or to contact a Librarian at x5496 or via email at Ask-A-Librarian.

Middlebury faculty authors: finding in MIDCAT

The Cataloging department has added a genre/subject field in MIDCAT records for books that have been written, edited, or contributed to by Middlebury faculty.

Try doing a MIDCAT genre search for Faculty authors, and you’ll see all the titles that currently appear on the shelves of the Davis Library faculty authors section.

We’ve probably missed some titles, so faculty members, if there is a title missing from this list, let me know, and I’ll add the field to the record.

Richard
rjenkins@middlebury.edu