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How to search when Barton is down

• Use the Barton test server. Caveat: The test server is not current and will not include new books or current circulation items.
  http://walter.mit.edu/F
• Use Library of Congress classification listing at:
  http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html
  http://www.tlcdelivers.com/tlc/crs/lcso0001.htm
• To find out if we own a book or journal, use WorldCat (http://libraries.mit.edu/get/worldcat) (we cannot be sure which divisional library owns it). See How to Search WorldCat.
• Search the Library of Congress Catalog.
• Don't forget that we may own a journal in electronic format as well as print! Check VERA (http://libraries.mit.edu/vera).

How to search WorldCat

• Go to WorldCat (an international catalog of library collections, including the MIT Libraries).
• Go to the Advanced Search to look up the item (use any type of search you like: keyword, author, title, etc.). You can choose to search only items in the MIT libraries by checking the limit box.



• If the MIT Libraries own it, will appear next to the record.


• Click on the underlined title to see the full record. Near the bottom of the record is the "Class Descrpt: LC" followed by a call number.

• The MIT call number is likely to be P106 (it will usually be close enough to find the item on the shelf).

CAVEATS:

WorldCat will not know which library at MIT has this item - or if it is checked out.

There are some areas in which MIT does not catalog material the way that other libraries do:

• Literature (the PA-PZs - the letters/numbers up to the first "." (e.g. PQ 6000) should be the same as in WorldCat, but the rest may be different for authors collected before ca. 1988)
• Visual arts & architects (the Ns - same as for literature)
• Music books (same as for literature)
• Music scores & recordings (unique to MIT)
• Conference materials (ongoing conferences are together by call number, changing only the year)
• Bibliographies (older ones may be in a homegrown system whereby a "Z" was placed in front of the non-bibliography class number for the subject, e.g. "ZTK6143.B4" for a bibliography of Alexander Graham Bell (whose class number is TK6143))
• If we catalog a series item by item instead of as a series, our numbers may differ.