The Catalog is your primary tool for finding books in the Princeton University Library. You can also use the catalog to find other materials, including videos, sound recordings, Internet sites, and journals (the journal subscription -- not individual articles).
Keyword searching is best used when you don't know the exact title, author's name, or subject heading. Use keywords especially when you want to discover what items the Library has for your topic, as this allows you to express the topic in your own words. For more tips on using the Catalog see the FAQ.
You can combine search terms with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and by using the pull-down menu options. You can also limit your search to particular fields, such as the title, author, subject, and publisher. Break up your topic up into its component concepts and construct searches for each concept individually, then combine the conceptual searches together to approximate your topic.
When you get some results, click on the item's Title to display the full record. Displaying the full record exposes more detail, including the subject headings that were assigned to that item. Look at the subject headings and see how they describe your topic. You can do follow-up searches using these subject headings to get related items.
When you find an item you'd like to obtain, be sure to pay attention to the location, call number, and status as indicated in the catalog record. See the list of branch libraries for help in knowing in which library collection the item is held. The call number shows where in the collection the item should be, and the status tells you whether the book is available or not. For more information on the Firestone layout and the call numbers used at Princeton, or for help with locating a book in Firestone, see the Library Call Numbers & Locations page.
Use one of the services below to obtain access to books not currently available at Princeton University Library.
If you want to suggest a purchase for PUL, please email me: gjk@princeton.edu or submit a request here: https://library.princeton.edu/help/recommend-purchase
