U S Library Of Congress Online Catalog

[Chieko Boteler]

NoWhile the Library of Congress collections contain over 162 million books, periodicals, manuscripts, maps, music, recordings, images, and electronic resources, the online catalog contains 17 million records describing these collections.

The Library of Congress acquires materials from all over the world in many different formats, in hundreds of languages, and in diverse subject areas. Materials enter the Library through six primary sources (each source is linked to fuller information online):

Although the Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, it does not have a copy of every item ever published, nor does it retain copies of every item submitted through the acquisition sources listed above for its research collection. The Library's permanent collections are shaped by Collections Policy Statements, with technical agricultural works acquired mainly by the National Agricultural Library and clinical medical works by the National Library of Medicine.

In addition, many items from the Library's special collections are not represented by individual entries in the Library's Catalog. These materials are instead described in aggregated records. Catalog records for many archival collections are also linked to more detailed Finding Aids. Specialized online catalogs provide access to prints and photographs, historic newspapers, audio recordings, and more.

Databases, ejournals, and ebooks (including items found in fee-based online services) are generally accessible onsite, in one of the Library's reading rooms, often through the Library's E-Resources Online Catalog. Records for works registered with the Copyright Office after 1978 are searchable in the Copyright Catalog. Card entries for some items cataloged before 1980 are only available to researchers onsite in the Library's Main Card Catalog.

Users of the Library's research areas, including Computer Catalog Centers, and Copyright Office public service areas are each required to have a Reader Identification Card issued by the Library. In addition to gaining access to the Library's research areas, a this card also allows access to the many subscription databases available at the Library, but only if you are onsite. This is also true of any other copyrighted or license-restricted resources.

The Library's freely-available digital collections and online catalog are accessible to all users via the Library of Congress website. The Library's E-Resources Online Catalog provides access to the Library's subscription databases for onsite users only, but also features a number of freely-accessible digital resources selected by Library staff that may be used by offsite users.

The Library of Congress holds one of the largest collections of moving image material in the world. Acquired primarily through copyright deposit, exchange, gift, and purchase, the collection spans nearly the entire history of cinema and television and contains approximately 1.2 million items. The Moving Image Research Center is your point of access to these holdings.

Please note when searching for moving image materials in the Library of Congress that subject is not our primary point of access. Most films, videos, and DVDs in our collection have not been fully cataloged, therefore TITLE is our primary mode of access. In addition, there is no comprehensive catalog for our holdings. Searching for moving image material in the Library of Congress may involve the use of one or more of the following resources:

To search the online catalog for moving image materials, you can use the BROWSE, ADVANCED SEARCH or KEYWORD search functions. All searches allow you to apply limits, but only the advanced search page provides multiple search fields.

Please note that neither the SET SEARCH LIMIT function nor the use of the MOVINGIM keyword will retrieve pre-1972 cataloging records since pre-MARC records do not identify moving image material by location. To retrieve pre-MARC records, substitute the term MOTION PICTURE for MOVINGIM.

MAVIS is an internal database that can only be accessed in the Moving Image Research Center at the Library of Congress; it does not have an online public interface. MAVIS was designed for the processing and management of audiovisual collections. This means that the database contains more physical information about an object than bibliographic information.

There is no definable difference between the items contained in the online catalog and the items contained in MAVIS. If you are unable to locate a title in the online catalog, contact the Moving Image Research Center and we will search MAVIS for you.

Yes! We still utilize card catalogs in our research room. The cards are organized by title. The production of new catalog cards ended in the late 1980s with the evolution of the online catalog. If you are unable to locate a title in the online catalog or see the phrase holdings information not available, please contact the Moving Image Research Center and we will search the card catalogs for you.

Our collection of published catalogs, finding aids and collection inventories cover numerous subjects. Several of these finding aids can be found on our website at //www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/findaid/mpfind.html.

The Theodore Roosevelt Association Film Collection: A Catalog (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1986).Describes 318 films relating to the life and career of Theodore Roosevelt. Full-Text

Finally, we have a number of finding aids and collection inventories that are not currently available online, but may be requested by contacting the reference staff. Subjects include World War I, Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights on TV, Womens Suffrage, among others. For additional information, please contact the Moving Image Research Center.

There are several approaches and strategies to employ when doing online research using the Library of Congress website. Starting with the single search box, found on the Library of Congress website, you will discover digital primary sources as well as research tools and guides created by librarians. Use the tabs below to learn more about how to search the Library's website, expand your search to include databases and online catalogs, and evaluate the results of your research.

Knowing where and what to search are just as important as understanding how to search; deciding where to start may depend on the topic you are investigating and on the kind of information you are looking for. Are you looking for historical newspapers, directories, journal articles... the answers to these questions will inform where you search.

A significant word or phrase in the title, subject headings (descriptors), contents note, abstract, or text of a record in an online catalog or bibliographic database that can be used as a search term in a free-text search to retrieve all the records containing it. Most online catalogs and bibliographic databases include an option that allows the user to type words that describe the research topic (in any order) and retrieve records containing the search terms in the data fields the system is designed to search whenever the keywords option is selected. One disadvantage of a keywords search is that it does not take into account the meaning of the words used as input, so if a term has more than one meaning, irrelevant records (false drops) may be retrieved.

There are a number of ways to view your search results (e.g., list view, gallery view, grid view etc.). It is also possible to sort, or re-sort, your search results by date or title. You can also narrow your search results using filters for year, subject, language, and more.

The Library of Congress Online Catalog is available at It is the primary search tool for discovering all types of materials in the Library's print and online collections. Search results will provide full bibliographic information for each collection item along with the location and call number needed to request and use that item at the Library. If the material is digitized, there will be a link to the primary source online.

Remember, when using the Internet for research, it's important to evaluate the accuracy and authority of the information you find on websites. Search engines, like Google, find sites and pages of all levels of quality. Try to keep these things in mind when deciding if a web page is reliable and appropriate for your research:

The Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog contains digitized prints and photographs of the Carlisle Indian School and its students. Images from the Johnston (Frances Benjamin) Collection show students in class and carrying out their daily activities. Other images include photographs of students and illustrations from publications. To search the online catalog select the link above and type "Carlisle Indian School" into the search box.

As users of Library of Congress Subject Headings, we acknowledge that certain terms in our catalog are harmful and offensive, and the UVA Library seeks to help to correct this through the Subject Access Enhancement Initiative.

We maintain a limited but growing reparative taxonomy that documents the changes that we have made in our catalog to this point. We engage with university expertise to build knowledge in a series of learning sessions to better understand the varied communities that we describe. Videos of past learning sessions are posted online:

Library catalogers describe topical information in resources by consulting lists and assigning predetermined terms called subject headings. These subject heading lists, or controlled vocabularies, are shared among catalogers to reduce duplicative efforts and standardize description across libraries. The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is a very popular controlled vocabulary used by librarians.

Creating catalog records with Library of Congress Subject Headings is time-consuming but it helps UVA Library visitors discover resources related to their information needs. For instance, researchers can browse or search the Virgo catalog by selecting a specific Subject Heading to retrieve additional resources on a topic.

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