Catalogue.plus: Help

Basic and Advanced Search

The basic search is available from our homepage or from the catalogue home page. The default search field is "All Fields". Here you can search for persons (authors, editors, translators etc.), titles, subjects, institutions, ISBN or ISSN in one go. All terms can be entered in any order. They are also case-insensitive, so you can enter all terms in lower case.

The "All Fields" search will often get you to your goal quickly and easily, i.e. to a list of results where you can find what you are looking for. However, you can also search individual fields (e.g. title) in the "Basic search".

Clicking on "Advanced" to the right of the "Search" button will take you to the advanced search. Here you can search in additional search fields and combine search groups. For example, you can perform a search that requires certain search terms to appear in the "Person / Institution" and "Title" fields, but excludes another search term. You can also limit your search to a language, a format (e.g. book or DVD) or a publication year / period like "books published 2020 onwards".

Please keep in mind: In the "Library Catalogue" section - unlike in search engines such as Google, or in the "Articles and more" or "BASE" sections of Catalogue.plus -, you won't be able to find the titles or authors of chapters of books or articles of journals, or to search the entire contents of a book. In many cases you can only find the title or the author / editor of the whole book or journal.

Title Recommendations

If you enter at least 3 characters, matching titles will be displayed. If you select an entry from the list, a search for this entry is directly started.

Search for Titles and Topics

When searching for a title, enter 2 to 3 keywords separated by spaces. All keywords you enter have to appear somewhere in the title / document. This is usually sufficient to narrow down the number of hits. The more words you enter, the smaller the number of hits, but the quicker it can happen that you do not find the title you are looking for because the spelling is different.

You are looking for books by Albert Einstein on the theory of relativity, and all books on Albert Einstein's theory of relativity by other authors.

Enter: einstein theory relativity in the search field "All Fields".

Using placeholders

If you do not know the exact spelling of a word, use the question mark (?) or the asterisk (*) as a placeholder in the middle or at the end of a term (the question mark replaces exactly one character, the asterisk replaces any number of characters).

In some cases, other word forms or similar terms are automatically searched for during the search. The prerequisite for this is that the word and all other word forms are stored in a dictionary. This is often not the case for non-English terms. If you use a wildcard, the automatic search for other word forms or similar terms is switched off. It is therefore possible that you will find fewer hits if you set a wildcard than without a wildcard.

Phrase searching

If you are searching for phrases like "media literacy" or "sports marketing" enter both search terms in quotation marks - this will only return records that contain the exact phrase (i.e. all words in this exact order).

Search for Titles by a Specific Author

If you are looking for all books by a specific author, enter the author's surname or the name in the form surname, first name (e.g. einstein, albert) in the simple search field "Person / Institution". You can also find institutional publishers here, e.g. authorities, universities, clubs, companies, associations, foundations or congresses.

Example: Search for Person Albert Einstein

You are looking for books exclusively by Albert Einstein with the title Theory of Relativity.

• Switch to the advanced search.
• Enter einstein in the first search field and select the "Person / Institution" field to the right.
• Click on "Add search field"
• Enter theory relativity  in the second search field and select the "Title" field to the right
• Click on Search at the bottom
• Show sample hit list

Alternatively, after searching for a title or topic, you can use the filter options in the hit list (on the right or below the hit list) to restrict the hit list to a person.

Search Journal Articles

If you are looking for an article from a journal, there are several ways to find it. In a reference list, you can often identify journal articles by designations such as "In:", by numbers, volumes, and page numbers.

Example for a journal article:

The Critical Effect: Exploring the Influence of Critical Media Literacy Pedagogy on College Students' Social Media Behaviors and Attitudes. In: Journal of Media Literacy Education. 2022 14(1):1-13.

Many journal articles are published online in E-journals. In this case, you can search directly for the journal title in the library catalogue or for the journal article in the "Articles and more" section. If we have purchased a license for access, you can access the title/article directly. You can also find freely accessible journals (titles and articles) worldwide in BASE.

Search journal articles for which you know the exact source

If you want to search for journal articles for which you already know the exact source (journal title, year, volume and page number) proceed as follows:

• Search in the section "Library Catalogue"
• If you know the 8-digit ISSN of the journal (e.g. 0036-8075), search for this number in the "All fields" search field or in the "ISSN/ISBN" field. You can omit the hyphen or use wildcards, e.g. you can enter the ISSN as 0036-8075, 00368075, 0036807? or 003680* and you will get the same results (in this case you will find the journal "Science")
• If you don't know the ISSN, enter the title of the journal in the search box and submit the search
• If you get too many hits or you can't find the journal title in the hit list, there are several options:
  • Click on the checkbox "Periodicals only" at "Refine your search" on the right-hand side (on your smartphone, click on the "Refine Results" link between the search box and the list of results, then tap on the "Periodicals only" checkbox).
  • Restart the search but limit the search to the title by selecting "Title" instead of "All Fields" in the selection box next to the search box
  • Restart the search but enter the complete title of the journal and place quotation marks at the beginning and end. This will only search for the exact title, in the exact order (phrase search)
  • If you cannot find the journal, it is possible that we do not have it in stock
• In the hit list of the library catalogue, journals are indicated by the tag "Journal" or "Serial". E-Journals have an additional tag "Electronic".
• Click on the title of the journal in the hit list.
• If it is an e-journal, look for the line "Online Access" or "Additional URLs" and click on the link. Because there are sometimes multiple access options (multiple publishers or websites), you may see multiple links here. When in doubt, try all the links. Please also take a look at our information on Shibboleth / VPN to learn more about accessing electronic resources.
• If it is a print journal, scroll to the bottom of the page in the results list to the "Copies" section. Here you can see the location of volumes from 2021 and the current issues of the current year. Older volumes (up to 2020) can be viewed by clicking on the "View volumes" link. You will get a list of all volumes (sorted by year, most recent first). Under "Call number" you can see where the title is located in the library. If you do not see the shelf mark here, but the entry "Multiple entries", click on the title of the journal volume you are looking for and go to the bottom of the page to the "Copies" section..

Examples: 

• E-journal
• Printed Journal
• Volume of a printed journal

Search journal articles on a specific topic

If you want to search for a journal article on a specific topic and do not know the exact source, e.g. the title of the journal, proceed as follows:

• Click on "Articles and more"
• Enter your search terms in the search field "All fields"
• "Articles and more" contains several hundred million entries (approx. 100 times more than the library catalog): If you find too many or too imprecise hits, see if the "Also search within the full text of the articles" is checked and uncheck it or change the search field to "Title" and click "Search" again
• Alternatively, try the search in "BASE". Here you will mainly find freely accessible journal articles.

Please note:

• Unlike the library catalogue, "Articles and more" and "BASE" are reference databases, which means that not all publications you find in "Articles and more" or "BASE" are also directly available as fulltext (PDF) or in print at our library.
• For licensing reasons, many references from "Articles and more" can only be displayed at the PC workstations in the library, via the university Wi-Fi (Eduroam) or via VPN / Shibboleth. You can also only access licensed e-books and e-journals at the PCs in the library, via Eduroam or VPN/Shibboleth.
• BASE can only be used when you are on campus, via Shibboleth / VPN, or after you have logged in via the "Login (Loan Account)" link. Free access to BASE (without login) from outside the campus is possible at www.base-search.net.

Thematic Searching / Browsing / Exploring Content

If you are looking for literature on a topic but do not yet know a specific title, enter your search terms in the basic search or in the advanced search in "All fields" or "Subject". Here, you can enter terms that describe the content of the document you are looking for. However, the terms do not necessarily have to appear in the title. Alternative: As an approach to a thematic research, use Explore Channels or Browse the Catalog or search the classification. In the classification (available in German only) you can search for classification codes for a subject area and thus determine where books on a subject are located in the library.

Search for a Specific Copy

The search fields "ISBN/ISSN", "Call number" or "Barcode" are suitable for a targeted search for a specific copy that you already know is in the library.

Some Search Examples

You want search for publications about the topic "media literacy".

Depending on whether you search for keywords, enter both search terms in quotation marks (this will only return records that contain the phrase "media literacy"), restrict your search to more recent literature (from 2020 onwards) or only search in the title field, you will receive different sets of results. In the library catalog, you will generally receive significantly fewer hits than with “Articles and more” or “BASE”, as these databases are much more extensive.

After starting a search, you will see the search results in a hit list below the search mask.

The hits from the search sections "Library catalog", "Articles and more" and "BASE" are displayed in different tabs, between which you can switch directly.

Which kind of Information can I see in the Hit List?

In the hit list, you will find the most important bibliographic information for each record (title, author, year of publication, etc.). You can also see the format of the publication (Book, E-Book, Journal, DVD etc.). For titles that are available online, you will see the label "Electronic", too.

For printed publications from the library catalogue, the call number and the location (subject collection, departmental library) is shown, if there is just one copy of the publication or all copies of a publication can be found at the exact same location. You can see how many copies the library owns and how many are available (not on loan). Check that at least one copy is available before you go to the book shelf.

Click on the title to go to the record display, where you will find more information on the title, the online access options and/or the exact locations of all copies of the publication in the library.

For licensing reasons, many references from "Articles and more" can only be displayed at the PC workstations in the library, via the university Wi-Fi (Eduroam) or via VPN / Shibboleth. You can also only access licensed e-books and e-journals at the PCs in the library, via Eduroam or VPN/Shibboleth.

Export, Print or Save Hits

To export, print or save entries, proceed as follows:

• Select one or more titles from your hit list by clicking the checkbox to the left of the hit number. You can also click "Select all entries" above the hit list to select all hits of one result page.
• By default 20 results per page are displayed. If you want to save more hits at once, change the number of hits in the "Results per page" selection box in the advanced search.
• Click on one of the links above the hit list to send a link to this hit list by e-mail, export the bibliographic information to a reference management system, to get a printer friendly version of the selected hits, to save hits permanently to an individually created list of hits or to add hits temporary to your book bag
• You can also save a hit to an individually created list of hits or add a hit to your book bag directly by clicking on the "Save to List" or "Add to Book Bag" link next to a hit.
• To access items you have saved via "Save" / "Save to List" click on the link "Your Account" in the top of the page. On this page you can find the items on the right hand side in the block "Your Lists". These items are saved permanently. If you don't see the link "Your Account" you have to login first by clicking on "Login (Loan Account)".
• The "book bag" is a temporary cache. You can access it via the link above ([x] items) and save, print or export titles from there. The book bag is deleted as soon as you end the session in the catalog, e.g. by closing the browser window

Too many Hits Found?

If you get too many hits (or too many irrelevant hits), there are various ways to reduce the number of hits

• Enter more search terms. The more search terms you enter for a search, the smaller the number of hits will be! Only titles containing all the terms you enter will be found.
• Add the author's last name
• Search in the "Title" search field instead of "All fields" . All search terms entered must then appear in the title of the publication
• Leave out placeholders (asterisks)
• In the hit list you can "Refine Results" to a format (e.g. e-books only), subject collection, person / institution, language or year of publication / pubication period (e.g. only publications from 2020 onwards)

No (Matching) Hits Found?

Even if you do not find any (suitable) hits, this does not necessarily mean that there are no suitable titles at all:

• Check that your search terms are spelled correctly. If you do not know the exact spelling, use wildcards or pay attention to the search suggestions that you receive when you enter at least 3 characters.
• Use more general or fewer search terms. You will then find more hits at first, but you can reduce the number of hits in a second step via "Refine Results".
• Use search terms in a different language (e.g. English instead of German).
• Use the search in the "All fields" field if you cannot find anything when searching by title or author.
• Check whether any filter settings from a previous search are still activated in the catalogue (e.g. for journals or e-books) and remove them.
• Use encyclopedias (e.g. Wikipedia) to find relevant search terms. Use these terms to search the catalog.
• As an approach to a thematic research, use Explore Channels or Browse the Catalog or search the classification. In the classification (available in German only) you can search for classification codes for a subject area and thus determine where books on a subject are located in the library.
• Resolve abbreviations of journal titles.
• Take a look at the hit lists from the "Articles and more" and "BASE" sections, especially if you are looking for very new literature, journal articles or book chapters.
• Follow the search tips that are displayed if your search yield no hits at all.

If a search is still unsuccessful, the title you are looking for is probably not listed in the Catalogue.plus! In this case, you can then send us a purchase suggestion. You can also use the interlibrary loan to order a book or a journal article from other libraries.

"Articles and more" contains literature from more than 70 subject databases. In addition there are several subject databases in which you can find literature specifically for a subject area, that are not included in "Articles and more". You will find all databases for your subject via our subject information portals. Select your subject and click on the link "databases".

Our reference staff at the service desk of the Library Service Center (BDZ) will help you with your research (also online via e-mail and chat). Get in touch if you get stuck!

You can access a page with detailed information for a record by clicking on the title of the record in the hit list.

On the record display page you will find all the bibliographical details of the record (author, translator and other persons, edition, publisher, year of publication, edition, ISBN / ISSN, language, subjects, volume information, URLs to full texts or table of contents, etc.). In some cases, a summary of the contents (abstract) is also displayed directly under the title.

In the "Articles and more" or "BASE" section, you will also find access to the full text or reference (either in the URL or DOI field, under the "Cover" or at the end of the bibliographic details).

Library Catalog

Access to E-books and Full Texts

You will find the link to the fulltext to an e-book, e-journal or other item in the the row "Online Access" and in "Additional URLs". Licensed (purchased) e-books and e-journals can only be accessed at the PC workstations in the library, via the university Wi-Fi (Eduroam), or via VPN / Shibboleth.

Finding the Location of Printed Books

For printed titles, you will find the subject collection and the departmental library at the bottom of the page in the section "Holdings" in the line "Location". The exact location within a departmental library is shown in the line "Call number". In the line "Status" you can see whether the title is available (at the location), whether it is on loan, whether it is currently being processed and has not yet been placed on the shelf or whether it just has been ordered and still has to be processed. Check that at least one copy is available before you go to the shelf.

Detailed site maps in the departmental libraries on site or the link "Site Maps" at the bottom right of Catalogue.plus will help you, find the exact location within a subject collection. If you have troubles finding the exact location, just ask the library staff.

Finding the Location of Printed Journals in the Library

The issues from the latest volume of a printed journal can be found in the journal flaps in the departmental libraries. At regular intervals (usually annually), the issues are bound together to form a journal volume. The volume is then placed on the appropriate shelf in the library.

Reserve borrowed books

If you have a library card / UniCard, you can use the link "Place a hold" to reserve a copy if all printed copies of a title are on loan. A reservation is always free of charge.

After clicking on the link, you must first log in to your loan account via the "Login (loan account)" link. By clicking on "Order", the title will be reserved for you or ordered from the stacks. At this point, you can also change the date by which you no longer need the title (the reservation/order may be cancelled if the title cannot be made available to you in time). For titles that consist of a book and a DVD/CD-ROM or several DVDs (e.g. film collections), you must select whether you want to reserve the book or the CD-ROM or which DVD you want to reserve. You can view your reservations/orders in your loan account under "Holds and Recalls" and also cancel reservations from here. As soon as the title is available for you, you will receive an e-mail. Check your e-mail address in your loan account under "Profile" if it's entered correctly (Where can I change my e-mail address?).

If you see the link "Order" under "Copies", you can click on the button and log in to your loan account to suggest the title for purchase. The title will then be obtained as quickly as possible and reserved for you to borrow. This service is free of charge.

Similar Items / Staff View

The "Similar Items" tab (next to "Holdings") shows you covers for thematically matching titles. Clicking on the cover will take you to the results display in the catalogue for this title. The “Staff View" tab shows you a detailed display of all available bibliographic information in the cataloging format.