Searching MadCat for WRL Documents

All Water Resources Library (WRL) materials are included in MadCat.

 

If you are having difficulty using MadCat to find water-related information, you can email AskWater, call 608-262-3069 or drop in for assistance during normal library hours.

To look at just Water Resources Library holdings (or the Water Resources Curriculum Collection) in MadCat, follow these steps:

• Click on MadCat, the University of Wisconsin-Madison online catalog.
• Click on Basic or Guided Search.
• Click on the pink "Set More Limits" button in the bottom right corner of the page.
• Scroll down to "Location" and choose "Water Resources Library" or "Water Resources Curriculum Collection".
• Click on the gray "Set More Limits" button.
• Perform your search.
• To return to searching all library locations, click on New Search.  Then click on the pink "Undo Limits" button in the lower right corner.

Helpful hints on searching for WRL documents

The Water Resources Library did not follow standard cataloging practices before 1996.  Library staff are working to upgrade cataloging, but in the mean time, if you are having problems finding a document or information in MadCat, follow these hints. 

If you know the exact title of a document, the best first choice is a title search.  Select Basic Search, then highlight Title in the Search By menu.  Just type the first few words of the title.  For example, type Encyclopedia of Environmental to find  Encyclopedia of Environmental Information Sources.

The author's name is a good second option.  Select Basic Search, then highlight Author Browse in the Search By menu.  Since WRL often entered documents under only the author's last name and first initial before 1996, type the last name and first initial to find all holdings of an author.  Then look at the titles under each heading that could be the author you are interested in. 

 

For example, to find the publications of Kenneth W. Potter, type Potter K.  Then look at the titles listed under

 

Potter, K.

Potter, K. W.

Potter, Kenneth

Potter, Kenneth W.

Note that "Limits" do not work with Browse searches.  You are searching all library locations, not just WRL.

If you are looking for information on a subject, try a Basic Keywords  search which searches the whole record for words or phrases. 

Select Basic Search, then highlight Keywords.  Use the Boolean operators and, or, not to combine your terms.  To find information about pesticides in groundwater, type:

pesticides and groundwater

To search a phase, enclose it in quotations marks (yes, groundwater is often spelled ground water):

pesticides and "ground water"

Use ? to truncate a word or phrase. 

pesticide? finds pesticide, pesticides.

? can also be used for internal truncation.

 "ground? water" finds groundwater and ground water.

If you are unfamiliar with MadCat:

For more detailed searching help, try MadCat Help.

 

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