LIBRARY SERVICES

Catalogue

Related links

About the Library Catalogue

Overhead shot of monitor, mouse and keyboard

Go to the Library Catalogue (http://www.lib.bristol.ac.uk/ALEPH/)

Information on this page:

About the Library Catalogue

The online Library Catalogue is available at http://www.lib.bristol.ac.uk/ALEPH/

The Library Catalogue is a key part of the library's Aleph computer system, and will help you to use the library effectively.  Using the Catalogue you can find whether the library has a particular book or printed journal; search to find books on a subject or printed journals covering a subject that are held; find where in the library system an item is and whether it is on loan; reserve an item that is on loan; or reserve a Short Loan Collection (SLC) item for a particular time slot in the future; monitor your loans and other use of the library via 'My account'; and make Inter-Library Loan requests. 

The Card Catalogue Online holds details of some pre-1978 items which have not yet been added to the online Library Catalogue.

Back to top

Coverage of the Library Catalogue

The online Library Catalogue includes details of most of the printed books and journals, and non-book materials such as videocassettes, DVDs, CD-ROMs, microforms, in the University of Bristol Information Services library system. Access to a wide range of electronic journals and other electronic resources is provided through separate catalogues which can be reached via via MetaLib.

  • In February 2008 we started adding ebook links to the Library Catalogue, beginning with 36 textbooks in the JISC National eBooks Observatory project.  Links to these ebooks appear in a new column on the Search results screen headed "Electronic version", and on the Full view of record page next to the words "Electronic location".  Please note that many more ebooks can be accessed through our eBooks page. 
  • In October 2008 the Library Catalogue was enhanced with links to Google Books, providing images of book covers and links to Google book previews, which may contain sample pages, a summary and a table of contents. In some cases a full-text option is available.
    • If Google books holds the relevant information the library catalogue will show the following information:
      an image of the book's cover on the search results page and the full display
    • a Preview via Google Books link will appear in the 'Electronic Version' column on the results list and on the full display
    • a View full-text via Google Books link will appear in the 'Electronic Version' column on the results list and on the full display

    Please note that Information Services has no control over the accuracy and availability of Google Books information, and we do not assume liability for material provided by third parties. There is no subscription cost for this service.

Please note the following limitations of the Library Catalogue:

  • The Library Catalogue does not include details of some of the pre-1978 books held in the library system. The Card Catalogue Online holds details of some pre-1978 items.
  • Few of our Government Publications or archives are itemized on the catalogue:
  • The catalogue does not detail the articles in the journals, or the chapters in the books held. Consequently, searching the Library Catalogue is not equivalent to searching the literature of a subject. To find details of journal articles, use one or more of the databases, abstracts or indexes that are available from MetaLib. Then use the Catalogue and our electronic journals catalogue to see if we have the relevant journal titles in print or electronic form. Advice on finding information, including journal articles, can be found on the Information Services website at http://www.bris.ac.uk/is/library/findinginformation/

Back to to

Library Catalogue guides, handouts, video tutorials and quizzes

Online help is available in the Library Catalogue by clicking the Help link on the right hand side under the top navigation bar. The following Library Catalogue guides are available in print in each branch library, or for download here:

If you would like help, or wish to make comments or suggestions, please see our Contacts and help for the Library Catalogue page.

Back to top

Deep linking to a particular record in the catalogue

Deep linking allows you to provide a link in a web page, or application such as Blackboard, to an individual book or journal record in the Library Catalogue.  The syntax of the link to individual records on the catalogue is:

  • http://137.222.10.2/F?func=find-c&ccl_term=ISBN=0198559615 (book record)
  • http://137.222.10.2/F?func=find-c&ccl_term=ISSN=0276-7333 (journal record)

To find the ISBN for a book, or an ISSN for a journal, look at the Full display for the record on the Library Catalogue.

Back to top

Note: some of the documents on this page are in PDF format. In order to view a PDF you will need Adobe Acrobat ReaderGet Acrobat Reader