Quick Guide to MNCAT

This short guide is designed to introduce you to the University of Minnesota’s web catalog, MNCAT. The guide uses examples from the Law Library to show how much you can do with MNCAT. For quick reference, the guide is organized according to a list of questions.

In the examples below, sample searches are shown in italics.   Words from MNCAT screens are shown in blue.

CONTENTS

What is MNCAT?
Do I need to sign into MNCAT to search it?

How do I....

• Sign into my account?
• Find out whether you have a book I want?
• Find out what books you have by an author?
• Look for books by subject?
• Look for books just at the Twin Cities campus libraries?
• Look for books just at the Law Library?
• Limit my search to recent books?
• Search for journal articles?
• Find various forms of a word, like tax and taxation?
• Find CLE materials?
• Tell if something’s checked out?
• Make a list of books or other items I want?
• Find out more about how to use MNCAT?

What is MNCAT?

MNCAT is a web catalog of materials owned by the University of Minnesota libraries, including the Duluth, Morris, and Crookston campuses.  It includes books, journals, newspapers, government publications, electronic publications, audio-visual materials, and other items.

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Do I need to sign into MNCAT to search it?

No, you can search MNCAT without signing in. To do things like see what you have checked out, recall a book, or renew items, however, you’ll need to sign in.

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How do I sign into my account?

Just click on the Your Account button.  You’ll be asked for your Internet ID and password. This “Internet ID” is your U of M email name, and the password is your email password.
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How do I find out whether you have a book I want?

If you know the name of the book you want, the easiest way to find it is to use the Browse box.  Just enter the name of the book, skipping articles like “The” “An” or “A.”

Example: To look for Deborah Anker’s The Law of Asylum in the United States, enter law of asylum.
The title you enter will usually show up second on your results list.

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How do I find out what books you have by an author?

If you know the name of the author, you can use the Browse box to see what we have by him, her or it.* Use the drop-down menu to select Author begins.  Remember to enter the author’s last name first.

Example: sunstein cass.
*This search works for organizations, too.  If you want to find Amnesty International publications, just type amnesty international into the Browse box, and use the drop-down menu to select Author begins. The author you enter will usually show up second on your results list.

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How do I look for books by subject?

Your best bet is to start with a keyword search from the Basic or Advanced search screen. For example, to look for books on personal injury litigation, try entering personal injury as keywords. Don’t put your search terms in quotation marks.

If your search finds an item that looks useful, look at its subject headings (you’ll see the words Subject LC on the left-hand side). Click on the subjects that look relevant. You’ll get a pop-up box showing you some more ways to search.  Most often, you should just click on the top choice (All Subjects), and you’ll get a list of all the other items classified under that subject.

If the subject heading isn’t quite what you want, use the Browse a related headings list feature to find a better one.  For example, if you found the subject heading “Personal injuries – Minnesota” but were looking for national materials, you could browse the related headings list and find the heading “Personal injuries–United States.”

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Look for books just at the Twin Cities campus libraries?

When you access MNCAT, your default search is for all U of Minnesota campus libraries.  To restrict your search to the Twin Cities campuses, select Other Catalogs from the upper right-hand corner, and then select MNCAT/U of M Twin Cities Libraries Catalog.

How do I look for books just at the Law Library?

To limit your search to things at the Law Library, choose Advanced search. After entering your search terms, go to Limit search to on the bottom of your screen. Use the drop-down box to the right of Location and select Law Library from the list.

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How do I limit my search to recent books?

You might find it easier to run your search without choosing a date. If you have fewer than 600 results, they’ll be listed with the most recent ones first.

But you can also look for recent materials through Advanced search. After entering your search terms, go to Limit search to on the bottom of your screen. Use the drop-down boxes that say Year from and Year to.  Warning:  Date limitations can make your search take a long time.  If you want items from just the last two or three years, it is faster to search each year individually.

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How do I search for journal articles?

The quick answer is, you can’t search for articles in MNCAT. If you’re looking for the famous article on racial insults by Richard Delgado, Words that Wound: A Tort for Racial Insults, Epithets and Name Calling, you won’t find it listed in MNCAT. If you know the article appeared in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, you can check whether we own that law review by entering harvard civil rights-civil liberties law review in the Browse box.

To search for legal periodical articles like Delgado’s, you need to use an index to legal periodicals like LegalTrac (Current Law Index) or the Index to Legal Periodicals (ILP). The Law Library has these in paper format, but it’s easier to search electronically. Members of the Law School community can search LegalTrac and ILP from computers connected to the Law School network.  All users can search them from the Law Library Reference Office.

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How do I find various forms of a word, like tax and taxation?

To retrieve items with various forms of a word, use a question mark. Example: enter tax? to get tax, taxes, taxable or taxation.

To find words with variant spellings, use a pound sign. Example: enter labo#r to get labor or labour.

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How do I find CLE (Continuing Legal Education) materials?

Add the keywords legal education to your other search terms. Example: To look for CLEs on liens, enter lien? legal education.  You do not need to connect terms with the word "and"; MNCAT assumes that you want all your listed terms to appear.

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How do I tell if something’s checked out?

You can usually tell whether a book is checked out by looking in the Availability Link column of your results list. Click on the name of the library.  You’ll see whether the book is checked out, and, if so, its due date.

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How do I make a list of books or other items I want?

When you look at your search results, you’ll see a box on the left-hand side of each item. Just click inside the box if you want to mark a record for later use. After you've marked the records you want, click on Add to Basket. When you're ready to download or email your list of records, click on Basket on the top of the screen.

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How can I find out more about how to use MNCAT?

MNCAT has built-in help on every page. You can also find search tips on each search page--just scroll down.  For questions that you can't answer in MNCAT, please consult the Reference Office or call 612-625-4309.

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