How to Find a Book

Find a book when you know the author or the title

To find any book when you know the author or title, search for it using GalterSearch on the library website.

1. Use either the Search Box in the website banner or click Search in the main menu, and go from there. Both options will produce the same results.
2. For a search by title, enter the first few words of the title in the search box, choose “in the title” from the Search which fields? drop-down and click Search.
3. For a search by author, enter the last name of the author name in the search box, choose "in author/creator" from the Search which fields? drop-down and click Search.
4. If you do an exact title or author search, you will probably find the book you want quickly. If you still have a lot of results, use the Refine by options on the right-side of the results page to limit to books, author, online, etc.
5. A keyword search looks for either words in the title or the broad subject area for the book you're seeking. It does not search inside the book. For searches across a collection of books, use a book collection such as Access Medicine, MD Consult, Stat!Ref or Books@Ovid.

If you don't get the result you expect, check your search terms or try a search of the online catalog, NUcat.

To search the online catalog, NUcat:

1. Click NUcat under Popular Links
2. For a search by author, change the default search from Keyword to Author
3. Enter the author's name (last name, first name) and click Search
4. For a search by title, change the default search from Keyword to Title
5. Enter the first few words of the title (remove beginning articles such as the or a) and click Search

You can check out any available book at the Galter Library or other Chicago campus libraries with your WildCARD or library card. Circulation policies vary from library to library. If the book you want is available at an Evanston campus library or is not in the online catalog at all, you can request it using our interlibrary loan service.

Find a book by topic or subject

To find any book by subject, search for it using GalterSearch on the library website.

1. Use either the Search Box in the website banner or click Search in the main menu, and go from there. Both options will produce the same results.
2. Recommended: Do a subject search. Enter your search term and select "in the subject" from the Search which Fields? drop-down.
3. If you have a lot of results, use the Refine by options on the right-side of the results page to limit to books, author, online, etc.
4. A keyword search looks for either words in the title or the broad subject area for the book you're seeking. It does not search inside the book. For searches across a collection of books, use an electronic book collection such as Access Medicine, MD Consult, Stat!Ref or Books@Ovid.

If you don't get the result you expect, check your search terms or try a search of the online catalog, NUcat.

To search the online catalog, NUcat:

1. Click NUcat under Popular Links
2. A keyword search will look for your search term(s) in the title, subject or notes of the catalog record. A keyword search may retrieve many results, only some of which may be relevant.
3. A subject search will look for your search terms in the subject headings of the catalog record. Often this is more precise than keyword searching, but may retrieve fewer results than you want.

You can check out any available book at the Galter Library or other Chicago campus libraries with your WildCARD or library card. Circulation policies vary from library to library. If the book you want is available at an Evanston campus library or is not in the online catalog at all, you can request it using our interlibrary loan service.

To find books recommended by Galter librarians, check out the Librarian-Created GalterLists to see if your topic is covered. Remember, this is just a subset of the books available in the Northwestern University Libraries system.