New Online Catalog Debuts

Washington, D.C. has been the setting for a number of Hollywood movies in recent months. If this were Hollywood, we would be announcing the premiere of "George: The Sequel." But, since this isn't showbiz, let us introduce you to the new GEORGE, the library's online catalog.

In the August 1993 edition of this newsletter you read about the new look for the library, with the complete renovation of the main floor and the building's heating, ventilating and air conditioning system. While this work was in progress, the library staff and outside experts were also installing a new computer system that includes the library's catalog, circulation, and acquisition systems, and has many features which the first GEORGE lacked. The system comes from Innovative Interfaces, Inc., whose product name for the library application is "Innopac."

The Database

735,000 book titles in the Lauinger, Science, and the National Center for Bioethics Literature libraries are included in the GEORGE database. Most journals and other serials are also represented. Records for federal government publications in our collection and Woodstock Library materials acquired since 1988 were to be added by the end of 1993. The database features subject and personal name cross references.

Three major microform sets have been added to GEORGE. They include over 40,000 records for material included in "Spanish Drama of the Golden Age," "Three Centuries of English and American Plays," and "Early American Imprints, Second Series."

New Searching Features

The online catalog has simple, yet powerful, searching features. As with the previous online catalog, the options available to the users at any point are displayed at the bottom of the screen. Once a desired book is found, the user has the option to search the nearby shelves electronically, or to search for other books on the same subject. Should the desired book not be found, a keyword search may be in order.

Keyword Searching

Keyword searching is a new GEORGE feature. It allows the user to search for specific words, or combine specific words, thus tailoring the search to a particular interest. The keyword index includes all words in titles, subject headings, contents notes, or corporate authors. (Personal author names are not included.) Terms can be combined using the connector "and." For instance, "Jordan and water" will find those records in which the words "Jordan" and "water" appear. Another connector, "or," allows the combination of synonyms. "Big or huge or large" will retrieve any record which has any one of those three synonyms.

Limiting

Another way to narrow and refine a search is "limiting" by a number of characterisitcs, i.e., by words in the author, title of subject fields and by various characteristics of the publication, for instance the year of publication, the type of material, language, publisher or library location.

Circulation Features

The new online catalog also allows the user to view his or her circulation record to ascertain what books are checked out. A user connected to GEORGE from outside the library can, through the online catalog, ask the library to check the shelves for a book and hold it at the circulation desk for pickup.

Connect to Other Databases

The new GEORGE allows the library to make other databases available to its patrons. Currently available are:

• CARL UnCover, a databse of 4,000,000 articles listed in the tables of contents of over 14,000 journals.
• ALADIN, the catalog of the Washington Research Library Consortium and hundreds of other library catalogs
• OCLC's FirstSearch, which includes many periodical databases, as well as the OCLC database (called WorldCat)
• LOCIS, the Library of Congress' online catalog
• GULLIVER, the GU Law Center's online catalog
• The GU Medical Center's online catalog

The students are voting their approval of the new online catalog by their use; usually most of the workstations are in use.

CallGeorge

Patrons may use GEORGE in the library, or they may dial in using a computer with a modem. To dial in, set your modem to no parity, full duplex, 8 data bits and 1 stop bit. Dial (202) 687-1887 or 687-5967 for 2400 baud, and (202) 687-6296 for 1200 baud rates. Do not hit ENTER until you see the connect prompt. When LOGIN: appears, press ENTER, and press ENTER again when PASSWORD is displayed. When LOGIN: is redisplayed, type "GEORGE." You should see the main menu of the catalog. If you need further assistance, please call the Reference desk at (202) 687-7452.