Call Number

Think of an item's call number like its address: It tells you where the item lives in the library.  For most items, the letters correspond to a subject area  and the numbers that follow indicate a subsection in that subject area. For example, the book “The Old Man and the Sea” has the call number PS3515.E37 O52 1996. “PS” indicates that the book is categorized in the system as American literature and the rest of the call number helps you locate the book within the PS section. You can find a book's call number by searching for it in our catalog, Catalyst.

Catalog

A catalog is an inventory of nearly all the items held in a library's collection. You can search a number of ways, including by an author, title, subject or keyword. Carleton and St. Olaf libraries share a catalog called Catalyst. In addition to being able to find physical material like books and films for example, you can also use Catalyst to search across all our library holdings (physical/electronic). You can access Catalyst from the Gould library homepage.

Course Reserves

The library has print and media reserves, which is material set aside solely for the purpose of being used in a designated class. Reserves can be checked out at the library circulation desk for a limited amount of time.  The circulation desk is the first desk at the library entrance.

Database

Is a collection of research material compiled by subject in one place. Databases can include peer-reviewed/scholarly articles, book chapters, reports, conference proceedings papers, and primary sources. The library subscribes to hundreds of databases in all subject areas taught at Carleton. JStor is a very popular database at Carleton (but certainly not the only one).

Interlibrary Loan

Whenever there is a book, journal article, or dissertation that you need, but is not owned by Carleton, you can always request it via interlibrary loan. Our InterLibrary Loan request system is called ILLiad.  Log in with your Carleton username and password to request items, to track requests you’ve already made, or to renew items before they are due.

Journal 

Also known as a periodical, a journal is published as part of an ongoing series. Journals might be published anywhere from once a week to once a year, and are typically numbered by volume and issue. Carleton’s print journals are stored on the 3rd floor, but we have access to many electronic journals (e-journals) as well. You can find e-journals in our databases and through our catalog, Catalyst. There are many different types of journals (i.e academic journals, newsletters, magazines, and newspapers). 

• Scholarly/Peer-reviewed journals:

  • Publish articles who have been vetted by specialists in a field
  • Include full citations
  • Include author information
  • Can contains ads -- usually for academic publishers, books, or databases
  • Examples: The American Historical Review, Journal of Black Studies, The Chaucer Review

• Trade journals:

  • Keep practitioners up to date in their industry (education, healthcare, media)
  • Include editorials, job postings, organizational news, and information about continuing education
  • Plenty of advertising
  • Example: Chronicle of Higher Education.

• General interest magazines: 

  • Provide information to a broad audience, not just to scholars
  • Content is typically written by a member of the editorial staff, a scholar, or a freelance writer  
  • Include some advertisements
  • Often have a political slant
  • Examples: National Geographic, The Atlantic.

• Popular magazines:

  • Written almost exclusively for entertainment purposes
  • Articles are usually short, but there are sometimes longer essays
  • Author credentials are not present
  • Sources are rarely cited
  • Often have large amounts of advertising
  • Examples: Vogue, Seventeen.

Monograph

A monograph is an academic book written about a scholarly subject, often published by a University Press. It usually has one author (i.e. each chapter isn’t written by a different person), and it’s not a reprinted primary source or a piece of fiction or poetry.

Permalink

Also known as a persistent link or a stable URL, a permalink is a static hyperlink that gives you permanent access to a specific citation or a webpage. You can generate a permalink from Catalyst and some databases.

Research Guides

The library has many online guides to help you with your research. Examples include course guides, which have resources tailored to a specific course; subject guides, which correspond to academic departments; and general guides, which include information related to a wide variety of specific topics.

Sources

A source is anything you use to build your argument in your research. Examples include books, journal articles, newspaper articles, and websites. You will most likely use a variety of sources when writing a research paper. 

• Primary Sources

A primary source is an original work that scholars analyze in order to produce insight. These works can include correspondence, diaries, fiction/poetry, data sets, news media, phenomena, artwork, patents, artifacts, illustrations, manuscripts, and photographs. In the sciences, It can also include some peer-reviewed journal articles that report original research.

• Secondary sources

Are the publications such as a monograph or peer-reviewed journal articles in which scholars present their analyses, insights, and claims. On occasion, things that were originally published as secondary sources can be analyzed by future scholars as primary artifacts about what scholarship was like at the time of the original publication. 

• Reference Sources

Are also known as tertiary sources. In most cases, a reference source is a book or database that allows you to build context for a topic by offering broad overviews,  definitions, or descriptions of topics. They are very useful for beginning a research project because they allow the reader to get acquainted with the vocabulary of a topic.

Stacks

The stacks are the bookshelves that store the library’s print collection. At Carleton, we store our physical journals and books in the stacks. They are stored by call number and sorted into sections by subject. Our stacks are open, which means that anyone can browse them and check them out.

Style Manuals

Our most common citation style manuals include MLA, APA, and Chicago. When writing a paper, find out what style your professor wants you to use!!! Ask your liaison librarian to help you use the proper citation style.

WorldCat

Allows you to view the collections from other libraries. Use this to identify and request items (primarily books) via interlibrary loan that Carleton and St. Olaf libraries don't own.