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Library Catalogs Electronic library catalogs are the successors of library card catalogs, and although they perform a similar function (i.e., locating material in the library), they do it quite differently. If you have just finished the section on searching the Internet you may want to pay particular attention to how electronic library catalogs and indexes differ from Internet indexes. Electronic library catalogs and indexes are much more structured than Internet indexes and include only those resources selected by librarians and indexers. Electronic library catalogs and indexes can also be searched by subject headings, which describe what a book or magazine article is about. Electronic library catalogs first began to appear in libraries in the 1970's. At first they were no more than an automated version of the old library card catalog. Patrons were limited to looking for material in their own library by author, exact title, or exact subject heading. This situation began to change in the late 1980's. Many of today's electronic library catalogs allow a patron to search for material by keyword (which searches for the words in the title, subject heading and note fields of an item record). Libraries are now beginning to enter the Table of Contents of books into the catalog record as well. This allows patrons to locate information in a particular chapter of a book. Some libraries are even beginning to catalog Internet resources, which makes the library catalog similar to an Internet index like Yahoo! More and more library catalogs are becoming sophisticated search engines that link people to both print and electronic resources. The Minneapolis Community & Technical College Library uses a library catalog called PALS which is accessed using a Web browser. PALS is an acronym that stands for Project for Automated Library Systems. PALS was developed at Minnesota State University-Mankato in the 1970's and became the electronic library catalog for the State Universities in Minnesota. Over time more and more libraries joined the PALS system. Today PALS has a membership of over 70 libraries which include the entire Minnesota State College and University system (MnSCU), many private college libraries, and state agency and special libraries. Until 1997 PALS was a command driven system, which meant that patrons had to type specific commands to tell PALS what they wanted it to do. In 1997 PALS developed a World Wide Web user interface that allows patrons to click links on the PALS screen. The WebPALS interface has made searching PALS much easier for most patrons. However, to use PALS, or any other library catalog well, you must understand how to construct a good search and you must understand how the database works. The WebPALS interface may be easier to use, but searching for information is still a very complex process. It is time to proceed to the lesson on using the WebPALS Library Catalog. During the course of your studies you may very well use the library catalog at your local public library. This catalog will probably look quite different from PALS. However, if you understand the concepts of searching the PALS Library Catalog, you should have little trouble applying them to your public library's catalog.
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