LibrarySearch Help

To find a print book on your topic, you need to use Unitec LibrarySearch catalogue to find its location and call number.

Step One: Find the book in the library catalogue.

1. Fully understand your topic, and decide what are the main keywords you need to use when searching the catalogue.
2. Go to Unitec LibrarySearch catalogue. Type your keywords into the search box and button as below:
3. You will see a list of items that contain your keywords. These can be books, ebooks, journals and other physical items.

Step Two: Find its location and call number

1. If the item shown has a green colour under the title, it is available for you to now see the location of the item. For example, the book above is available at Te Puna (Mt Albert) and you can use the call number 658 SAM to find the book on shelves.
2. Write down the call number on a piece of paper, or bring your mobile device with you, to make sure you always have this number when looking on the shelf.

Step Three: Get the book from the shelf

1. Find the shelf that includes your call number. The call numbers that are available on each shelf is indicated at the end of the row. For example, call number 658 SAM is on the shelf which includes items from 657.044 to 658.048. Check our floor plan to see how our shelves are arranged in the library.
2. Understand how items are ordered on a shelf. Call numbers are ordered from left to right, top to bottom within each bay of shelves.
3. Find your book on the shelf. Scan the row, level by level, bay by bay to find the first three digits of the call number (for example 372 in 372.210993), and then treat the rest part of the number as a decimal (for example 372.210993 should between 372.2 and 372.3). After you have found the correct number, you need to look for the letters shelved in alphabetical order (for example PEN in 372.210993 PEN). Now, you should see your book.

Sometimes, you may find a very useful book on your topic and you want to find more similar ones. You can do this in several ways.

Option One: Subject Heading

1. Click Details under the title of the book

Option Two: Virtual Browse

If the original book is a physical book, you can use the virtual browse function to find more books close this this call number.

1. Click Virtual Browse tab under the title of the book.
2. Use the Previous and Next buttons at the bottom to browse the virtual shelf.

Option Three: Browse the physical shelf

Books are organised by subjects, so you can always find similar books on the same shelf.

Copies of some student research assignments called "Student Reports" are kept by the Library. These reports are held in storage and you will need to request them.  You can find these as follows:

1. Go to LibrarySearch
2. Search for the topic or course or department you are looking for
3. Scroll down the results page on the left under "narrow my results" > Collections
4. Click on the Unitec student reports collection
   

You can tell a book is available in any one of these three ways:

1. You can find Available at, in green colour under the title of the book, indicates that the book is available.
2. Click Get it tab or Available at location, it says 2 copies, 2 available.,
3. In the book's record, its Status is Item in place.

There is an auto-citation function within LibrarySearch. Follow below steps to access the auto-citation function.

• Click on Send to tab on  aside (Export to Ris (Zotero, Mendeley) Citation, permalink e-mail)
• Click the Citation button to fetch the auto-citation function

  

• the window appear down, select the citation style in the left column and the relevant citation details will appear in the right column.
  


• Verify this citation details using our professional Referencing and Citing Guide.

Note*: the auto-citation function is not accurate. It is just a starting point which gives you some idea on how to cite the material. Please use our Referencing and Citing Guide for more professional examples.

A call number is found on the label on the spine of a book, facing outward on the shelf. It is the combination of a number and letters that you can use to find the specific book on library shelf. Items are shelved in call number order.

All physical items in Unitec Library are organised using the Dewey Decimal Classification System. Every book's call number starts with a three-digit number, followed by various letters and/or number combinations. The numbers indicate subject areas. The letters are based on the surname of the author or the first word of the title. See a summary of the Dewey Decimal Classification.

You can find the call number of a book in LibrarySearch, the library catalogue. It is located under the title and it follows the availability and location details.