This section of the guide is intended to help you lay your hands on full books, not just their reviews or summaries of them in selective lists.
It gives specific instructions for finding books by title, author, and subject, and it describes how to find specific genres of books.
To find children's books in a library, you use the Library's online catalog. You can use the Library Catalog of the Mundt Library to find children's books in the Mundt Library, in the Madison Public Library and in many other libraries in South Dakota.
When you need a book that is not in the Mundt Library, the library will borrow it for you from another library. Learn more about requesting items by going to the Interlibrary Loan webpage.
NOTE: Distance students may request the Mundt Library to send books to them by requesting the item using the Library's Interlibrary Loan service. Or distance students may be able to find children's books at their local public library. Some children's books are available on the Web at sites such as the International Children's Digital Library.
Continue below to learn how to:
To find a known title in the Library Catalog:
1. Type keywords from the title in the search box
a. For example, type: little red riding hood
2. OR select the “Traditional Catalog” using the link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window.
a. Do a "Title word/s" search
b. Use keywords from the title
1) Example: To find Little Red Riding Hood, type:
red riding hood
or
little hood red
Or some other combination of keywords from the title
2) Example: To find The Cat in the Hat, type:
hat cat
or
cat hat
Or some other combination of keywords from the title
To find books by author
1. Type keywords from the author’s name in the search box.
a. For example, to find books by Dr. Seuss, type: seuss
b. For example, to find books by Beverly Cleary, type:
beverly cleary
or
cleary Beverly
2. OR select the “Traditional Catalog” using the link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window.
a. Do an "Author word/s" search
b. Use just the last-name or use names in any order
1) Example: To find books by Dr. Seuss, type:
seuss
2) Example: To find books by Beverly Cleary, type:
cleary beverly
or
beverly cleary
or
cleary
To find something similar
1. Having found an item that you like, use its subject headings to find other items with the same subject heading(s)
a. Example:
1) Enter keywords from the title in the search box for the book Henry and Mudge and the Long Weekend
2) Look at the subject headings assigned to this book.
3) Click on "Dogs--fiction" to do a new search in which the results show all of the books with that subject heading which are the fictional books about dogs.
2. OR select the “Traditional Catalog” using the link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window.
a. Example: Do a "Title word/s" search for Henry and Mudge and the Long Weekend
b. Look at the subject headings assigned to this book.
c. Click on "Dogs--fiction" (and then on Search General Subject dogs—fiction) to link to other fictional books about dogs.
To find books by subject
1. In the search box, enter words that describe the subject and, also, include the word “juvenile” to limit your results to the children’s collection of books.
a. For example, to search for children’s books about animals, type:
animals juvenile
2. OR select the “Traditional Catalog” using the link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window.
a. Do a "Word/s Anywhere" search
b. Use words that describe the subject; then limit to the "juvenile" collection
c. Example: To find children's book about animals, type:
animals
Then, click on the "Limit Search" button and limit to the collection called "juvenile."
Searching for children's literature in a certain category or genre (for example, realistic fiction) can be difficult when the genre name you are familiar with is not used as a subject heading to describe books in the Library Catalog. In other words, doing a search for the phrase "realistic fiction" will not lead you to children's books in the realistic fiction genre.
To successfully search for literature by genre, you will need to know what subject headings are likely to have been assigned by the library. [Note: The library selects subjects from a subject heading list provided by the Library of Congress. You can examine this list of subject headings to find alternative subject headings not mentioned below. See Library of Congress Subject Headings, a 5-volume set in the library, or the online version at http://authorities.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First].
Below you'll find suggested subject words to use to locate books in a specific genre and you'll find examples.
Instructions for finding various genres:
Begin by going to the Library Catalog. You can always find the Library Catalog by going to to the “Database Quicklinks” dropdown menu in the upper right corner of the Library’s home page and selecting “Library Catalog” in the database list.
1. Picture books
a. There may be many picture-books that are not actually given the picture-book subject heading.
For example, Anno's Journey (at the Madison Public Library) has the subject headings Europe--pictorial works and Stories without words
b. To find picture books,
1) click on the link to “Advanced Search” in the Library Catalog
2) in the “Subject” search box on the left side of the screen, enter the following subject headings (in separate searches):
picture books for children
stories without words
c. OR select the “Traditional Catalog” using the link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window.
1) Then, do a "Subject word/s" search of the following subject headings:
picture books for children
stories without words
2. Traditional literature such as folktales, fairy tales, legends, etc.
a. To find these genres,
1) click on the link to “Advanced Search”
2) in the “Subject” search box on the left side of the screen, enter the following subject headings (in separate searches) [Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, limit to the children’s collection by including the word “juvenile”]:
folklore juvenile
folktales juvenile
fairy tales juvenile
legends juvenile
mythology juvenile
fables juvenile
b. OR select the “Traditional Catalog” using the link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window.
1) Do a "Subject word/s" search of the following subject headings. [Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, use the “Limit Search” button to limit to the juvenile collection]
folklore
folktales
fairy tales
legends
mythology
fables
3. Fantasy
a. To find fantasy,
1) click on the link to “Advanced Search”
2) in the “Subject” search box on the left side of the screen, enter the following subject headings (in separate searches) [Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, limit to the children’s collection by including the word “juvenile”]:
fantastic fiction
fantasy
science fiction
b. OR select the “Traditional Catalog” using the link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window.
1) Do a "Subject word/s" search of the following subject headings. [Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, use the “Limit Search” button to limit to the juvenile collection]
fantastic fiction
fantasy
science fiction
4. Poetry
a. To find poetry,,
1) click on the link to “Advanced Search”
2) in the “Subject” search box on the left side of the screen, enter the following subject headings (in separate searches) [Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, limit to the children’s collection by including the word “juvenile”]:
children's poetry
poetry
[poetry combined with a subject -- example: friendship poetry]
b. OR select the “Traditional Catalog” using the link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window.
1) Do a “Subject word/s" search of the following subject headings. [Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, use the “Limit Search” button to limit to the juvenile collection]
children's poetry
poetry
[poetry combined with a subject -- example: friendship and poetry]
5. Realistic fiction
a. To find this genre,
1) There is no equivalent subject heading. Do a search that combines your topic with the headings stories or fiction. [Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, limit to the children’s collection by including the word “juvenile”]
Some examples:
animals stories
donkeys stories
friendship fiction
twins fiction juvenile
self-perception fiction juvenile
motorcycles fiction juvenile
b. OR select the “Traditional Catalog” using the link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window.
1) There is no equivalent subject heading. Do a "Subject word/s"
search that combines the topic with the headings stories or fiction.
[Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, use the “Limit Search” button to limit to the juvenile collection]
Some examples:
animals and stories
donkeys and stories
friendship and fiction
twins and fiction
self-perception and fiction
motorcycles and fiction
c. However, these searches could also produce items that are not realistic
fiction, so you will have to use your knowledge of realistic fiction to judge the
items found.
6. Historical fiction
a. The subject heading "historical fiction" is only used for materials about historical fiction.
b. To find works of historical fiction, search using names of events or people with the heading fiction. [Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, limit to the children’s collection by including the word “juvenile”]
Some examples:
United States civil war fiction juvenile
slavery fiction juvenile
c. OR select the “Traditional Catalog” using the link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window.
1) To find works of historical fiction, do a "Subject word/s" search using names of events or people with the heading fiction. [Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, use the “Limit Search” button to limit to the juvenile collection]
Some examples:
United States and civil war and fiction and juvenile
slavery and fiction and juvenile
7. Biography
a. The subject heading “Biography” is also used for items that are individual biographies, so to browse a list of biographies written for children, you will need to use a person's name as subject to find biographies of them. [The subject “biography” may sometimes be seen in items about biographical writing]
b. To find biographies,
1) click on the link to “Advanced Search”
2) in the “Subject” search box on the left side of the screen, enter the person’s name. [Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, limit to the children’s collection by including the word “juvenile”]:
Some examples:
benjamin franklin
helen keller
c. OR select the “Traditional Catalog” using the link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window.
1) Do a "Subject word/s" search using the person's name.
[Note: where a subject may also apply to adult
literature, use the “Limit Search” button to limit to the juvenile collection]
Some examples:
benjamin franklin
helen keller
d. Alternatively, you may search for items using the name of a profession. For example:
Astronauts
8. Informational books -- that is, nonfiction
a. To find informational books,
1) click on the link to “Advanced Search”
2) in the “Subject” search box on the left side of the screen, enter a subject. [Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, limit to the children’s collection by including the word “juvenile”]:
Some examples:
moon juvenile
frogs juvenile
united states revolution battles juvenile
b. OR select the “Traditional Catalog” using the link in the black bar at the top of the Library Catalog window.
a. Do a "Subject word/s" search on the subject.
[Note: where a subject may also apply to adult literature, limit to children's lit
by adding the term "juvenile" or by limiting to the juvenile collection]
Some examples:
moon and juvenile
frogs and juvenile
united states and revolution and battles and juvenile
To find award winning children's books in the Mundt Library, use the Library Catalog.
Do a search for the award name (e.g Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Printz, Prairie Bud, Prairie Pasque) and limit the search to the Juvenile (children's) collection by including the word "juvenile."
For example, in the Library catalog search box, type: newbery juvenile
