Searching H-Cat

Successful businessman and former CEO of General Electric Jack Welch was once quoted as saying, “Change before you have to.”
We here at the Harrison LRC have put those words into action. Although our former LRC Catalog, Polaris,
provided great service to our patrons, we decided to stay ahead of the curve by anticipating the future trends of our patrons’ information needs.
Sure you want print resources, but you also want instant access to articles, video, and materials from around the globe, not just the corner.
And you want it all in one place. So, we searched, and searched … and finally found our new catalog,
The H-Cat. Now, let me formally introduce the two of you.
You can access the H-Cat (short for Harrison Catalog), in two ways.
You can get to it directly by going to http://harrison.worldcat.org/, or, you can simply
start at the Library Home Page, at www.harrison.edu/lrc, and use the search box there.
Let’s take a look at what happens if we start from the Library Home Page first. Notice that you can limit your search on this page to different formats:
Articles (which searches some of the LRC databases for your topic),
Books (which includes both print and eBooks), DVDs, and then Video (which includes all formats,
so you would use this if you wanted to include DVD and other formats, such as electronic video, VHS, etc.)
And then there is the “Everything: which like it says, searches all of these formats and is the default search on this screen.
Okay, let's type in your search, First Aid Procedures, and pick your format, and hit Go!
You may be prompted to sign in to your Harrison College account (the same one you use to access your student email, portal, or
online classes), in order to have full access to our databases and other resources.
And, now you will see your results in the center of the screen. On the left-hand side of the screen, you can see several options
that will help you refine your search. Let's take a look at some of these options. You'll see one of them listed is to choose your format.
In this instance my search returned over 1,000 book results, 1,000 article results and around 300 video results.
If I put a checkmark in one of the boxes it will limit my results to just show items from that format.
If I'm only interested in ebooks and articles, I'd put a checkmark in those fields,
and now I'm left with only eBooks and articles in the middle of my search screen.
Many of with are full-text and I can view right from my computer. Who doesn't love instant access to library resources!
There are also other choices listed along the side top help you refine your search, so feel free to click through those as well if your search isn’t
quite what you intended it to be.
Now, let me show you have to access some of the resources!
Since we were just talking about instant access and still have the articles here, let’s take a look.
Any time you see the red “View Now” link below an article, that means that we have that title available in full-text.
All you need to do is click the “View Now” link and choose which option you would like to use (
if there is more than one listed). If it is an EBSCO database, you will sometimes be taken to a page that looks like this.
You will need to click on the “PDF Full Text” link on the left to open the document in the full-text.
If you don’t see the “View Now” link, that means that we do not have that item in full-text.
You can do one of two things. You can use our great service called Interlibrary Loan, which will let you request the article from another library.
If you click on the blue Request via Interlibrary Loan button, you will be able to place a request for the item.
If you don't see the blue Interlibrary Loan button, that probably means you are not logged in to Harrison.
And you can just log in to your Harrison College account using this button and then you'll be able to view the Internlibrary Loan button. .
The other option you can use it the “Find it in Libraries Globally.”
All you have to do is enter your zip code and you'll be able what libraries near you have a copy.
You can access eBooks in much the same manner. If I limit the results to show just eBooks, you'll be able to know which ones are avialable
to your from Harrison College because they'll have the red "View Now" link active in the results page.
If you wish to access the eBook from the description page, you can click the view eBook link under the
Harrison College heading in the "Find a Copy Online" section. Okay, we have talked about instant access,
let’s talk about physical materials for a moment. I’m going to put a checkmark in the books and video boxes and uncheck the eBook and
evideo options, that way we are looking at all of the physical materials on our list.
First you'll notice the green lettering telling you where that item is held, either at Harrison College, or another institution.
If you click on the title of a record, you will get some basic information about that item, including which campus holds the item and how many
copies they have. You will also see the status of the item (whether it is available, checked out, on hold, etc.), and the Call Number of the item
so that you can locate it on the shelf of the LRC.
If you wish to place the item on hold, or are an Online student who lives over 30 miles from a
campus and would like to have the item shipped to you (free of charge!), then you hit the Request via Harrison Express button.
At this point, you will be prompted to log in to your library account. Now, take note! Your H-Cat account is DIFFERENT than your Harrison
account. I know, I don’t make the rules. So, here is what you need to do. You sign in with your student ID number and then the password that
you have created. Now, if this is your FIRST TIME using this system, you will need to hit the Forgot your password? Link.
I know, you didn’t really forget it, but that is how it works. Then you will be able to set it up to be anything you would like.
We are no longer using the last four digits of your student ID. This new system requires a longer password, so everyone will need to change their
passwords that they formerly used in the Polaris system. The system will email you a temporary password
and instructions for creating a new one to the email we have stored in our system.
If you encounter any problems, please contact a librarian at harrison.librarian@harrison.edu and we assist you.
Once you have logged in, you can can choose which campus you would like to designate as your pick-up branch.
Online students who are eligible for delivery (over 30 miles away from a campus), should choose Online, then hit Submit.
You will be notified when the item is ready to be picked up. If you click on an item that Harrison does not currently own,
you will see the blue Interlibrary button. If you click on that button, you may fill out a form and a Harrison librarian will try to
borrow that item from another library. You may request to pick that item up at a local campus
or have it delivered to your home if you are an Online student who lives over 30 miles from a campus.
You may also enter your zip code and search for libraries near you that have that book available.
And I think that about does it as far as formal introductions go. I do hope you’ll feel free to get better acquainted soon!
Another of Mr. Welch’s famous quotes is “Be candid with everyone,”
and so we fairly acknowledge that there will be bumps in this road as we work out some kinks in the new H-Cat system.
Please feel free to communicate with us any of your problems via the Library Chat service or email.
Overall, we are hopeful everyone will be pleased with the possibilities offered by H-Cat. Happy Searching!