In order to locate most material within the Yale Library collections, you need to consult one of the Yale Library Catalogs:

• Orbis
• Card Catalog in Sterling Memorial Library
• Specialized Library Catalogs
• Morris (Law Library Catalog)

Use these catalogs to determine the location and call number of books, journals, manuscript collections, sound recordings, databases, and any other type of material in the library's collections. For research in mass media and popular culture, Orbis is the primary research catalog. For Pre-1977 titles, it may also be necessary to check the Card Catalog in Sterling. Finally, any law-related topics should be researched in Morris as well as Orbis.

The best way to search for books and other materials on a specific topic is to use Subject Headings (more information below). Keyword searches can also be useful, but they may bring in too many irrelevant items.

Once you have determined in the catalog that Yale owns the item you are seeking and that it is located in Sterling Memorial Library, check the Sterling Memorial Library Call Number and Stack Directory to determine on which floor it is located. If it is in another library (Cross Campus Library, Arts Library, etc.), find more information about that library in the Libraries and Collections A-Z or check out the list of Library Hours.

Subject Headings are used to describe the content of materials with consistent terminology. They are drawn from a "controlled vocabulary" produced by the Library of Congress. For instance, the correct Library of Congress Subject Heading for "commercials" is Advertising. Sometimes it is important to search several subject headings, such as both Copyright and Intellectual Property. Always look at the subject headings in any catalog or index to make sure that you are searching with the most relevant terminology. Many of the pages in this Subject Guide list some of the possible subject headings for that topic.

TIME SAVER: You can often save yourself work by looking at existing bibliographies, which often include both books and articles. Criticism never goes out of date, and you can locate the most recent research by using article indexes and Orbis.

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Orbis

Connect to Orbis
Orbis Searching Guide
Orbis Tutorial

The collections of the Yale University Library are represented in multiple online catalogs and card catalogs. Together, Orbis, Morris (the Law Library catalog) and the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) catalog constitute the Yale University Library online catalog. Orbis is available through the Internet on the Library Home Page.

• Use these catalogs to determine what materials (books, journals, archival collections, etc.) are held by Yale, and where these items are located.

• Materials published prior to 1977 that do not appear in Orbis can be located using the "union" card catalog in Sterling Memorial Library.

• There are also numerous Special Library Catalogs that provide unique access to the Yale Library collections. For example, Government Documents and Maps are NOT represented in Orbis or the SML card catalog.

• The Law Library maintains a separate online catalog called Morris.

• Additional materials purchased cooperatively are available through Interlibrary Loan from the Center for Research Libraries (CRL).

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The SML card catalog

See also the Guide to the SML Card Catalog

The union card catalog in the nave of Sterling Memorial Library contains 11,986 drawers, representing over 100 years of cataloging records for the fourth largest library in the United States. It contains cards for material in most, but not all, formats held by most, but not all, libraries in the Yale University Library system represented on a combination of handwritten, half-height cards; typewritten cards; and computer-produced cards.Check in the card catalog for library materials published before 1977 by author's last name, title of work, or in the subject card catalog.

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Special Library Catalogs in the Yale University Library

Guide to Special Library Catalogs

Although the card catalog in Sterling Memorial Library is commonly thought of as the Yale Library's "union catalog", it does not contain, in fact, records for all materials in all formats. Over the long history of the Yale Library, many special catalogs have been created to describe those collections not otherwise represented in the "union catalog" or, in more recent years, in the online catalog Orbis. These special catalogs have been created in a variety of ways: as handwritten indexes, in traditional card format, as published book catalogs, and more recently, as database files. For manuscript and archival collections, finding aids have been created to provide access to this type of material. Other special catalogs have been created to provide access to specific kinds of information about the collections: e.g. tracings for bindings, provenance information, imprint files, etc.