Catalyst is the shared online catalog of the libraries of Carleton College and St. Olaf College. It provides an access point to the books, periodicals, government documents, and electronic resources available at Carleton or St. Olaf.
Tips for book searching using Catalyst
There are many ways to locate books that are relevant to your research topic:
Search for books by doing a simple keyword search in Catalyst (in the search box above). Enter words that describe your topic (names, places, events, etc.).
When you find a book on your topic, examine its subject headings for relevance to your topic. Click on a hyperlinked subject heading to perform a subject heading search.
Conduct a virtual browse at the very bottom of a book record in Catalyst, to discover related titles.
Look at the bibliography of books you have already identified as useful.
Use the advanced search box below to search by subject.
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Search for library materials, especially books, that Carleton may not have. You can include searches for articles if desired. When you find something you want, order it through ILL by clicking on the "Request item through InterLibrary Loan" link.
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Full text electronic books on scholarly and popular topics, readable online or downloadable to your mobile device. Here is more information on using Ebook Central
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HathiTrust is a partnership of major research institutions and libraries working to ensure that the cultural record is preserved and digitally accessible. A major source of digitized books and other documents. Some of the collection if available for free to all, and additional content is available to Carleton faculty, staff, and students.
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A collection of popular fiction and non-fiction ebooks, readable online or downloadable to your mobile device on the Libby app. Read more about using OverDrive.
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A massive collection of out-of-copyright books, transcribed and downloadable in multiple formats. Free for anyone to use.
InterLibrary Loan (ILL) is a service that allows Carleton students, staff, and faculty to request items that Carleton and St. Olaf do not own from other libraries. NOTE: Items can take from 2 days to 2 weeks to arrive.