Welcome

Welcome to your Library's Public Access Catalog (PAC).  The PAC will assist in helping you get around your library instead of going up and down the aisles searching for that book, looking where YOU think it might be. The PAC will let you know if the item you want is available or on hold.  Through the PAC you can change your patron information, such as your phone number and e-mail address.  You can also check on fines, or print out your loan history.

A search is easy to do if you have some information, such as the title or the author, but even without any information you can still search for what you want.  Once you enter your search information, a result set is returned with information about your search.  If your item was not found on the first try, you can alter your selections and try again.  

How Does It Work?

Have you ever wondered where the information comes from when you get the result back from a search?  The information found in the PAC starts with what is called a MARC record.  A MARC record is composed of many different fields.  There is a field for the title of the item, whether it is a book, DVD, CD, or otherwise.  There are also fields for the author, the publisher, who illustrated it, along with subject information and notes about the item.  All of these fields make up the MARC record and this information is processed within PAC to give you the results you see that match the items in your Library.  Thank your librarian.  It is their hard work that makes the PAC work.   

So, let's roll up our sleeves and get started.

Where do I begin?

The first thing is to understand how to navigate the Help.  It is written to assist you with the easiest task or the most complicated search. You will also find out how to access your patron record to help yourself.  To learn about getting around the PAC, see Navigating the PAC.  If you are pretty good at getting around the PAC, then head straight for Search Overview and find that book!

See also PAC Toolbar Overview for additional information about getting around the PAC.