West End Presbyterian Church

Resource Center Online Catalog Information

The Resource Center currently has all the materials (books/CDs/DVDs) cataloged online. Although you aren’t able to check out the materials online, you are able to see if they are currently available or checked out, as well as when they are scheduled to be returned. You can get to the online catalog at any time by clicking the Ministries tab and scrolling down to Resource Center – Online Catalog.

The online catalog uses a system called LibraryThing. This system can be quite useful (along with extremely inexpensive), but takes a little bit of learning to navigate. Here are a few tips that will make your browsing experience more pleasant.

Screenshot of LibraryThing
This screenshot is provided along with an explanation of each highlighted number to help you navigate the online catalog. Once you are ready, head over to WEPC’s Online Catalog!

1. This button allows you to narrow down what section of the RC you want to browse. If you just want to see (or search) the entire RC, make sure to choose “All Collections.”
The very first time you visit the online catalog this button will say “Your library” and the page will say “This collection is empty.” Click the “Your library” button and select “All Collections” and it should load the catalog. This should only occur the first time you visit the online catalog.

2. These buttons allow you to change which way you view the collection. In list view, it will look the way the screenshot above looks. If you choose “Covers” or “Tags” then your view will change. If you ever want it back to “List” view, just click the “List” button. The “Tags” view can be helpful to browse any and all of the topics/subjects that our materials cover.

3. The “Search This Library” field is EXTREMELY helpful for finding out if we have what you are looking for. Just type in the name of an author, the title of a book, or just a subject or keyword to see if we have it. If you want to clear your search, just click the [x] next to the term (click here for an example screenshot) you searched, or use your back arrow to navigate to the previous page.

4. By clicking any of the column headers (title, author, date, tag), you can sort the data by that column’s header. So if you want to sort the list alphabetically by author, click the word “Author” and it will sort is A to Z. If you click “Author” again, it will sort the column from Z to A. It works the same way for any column header.

5. If you see a tag that looks like this: *09/15/10 TBR, that means that the book/CD/DVD is currently checked out and scheduled To Be Returned (TBR) on the date given. If that date has already passed, but the TBR is still listed, that means it is overdue and hasn’t been returned yet.

6. If you see a tag that looks like this: #13453, that is the patron’s number who checked out the book. This information won’t be too important to the average user, but it helps the volunteers in the RC keep track of who has which materials. You can also type your Patron Number in the Search box to find out which materials you currently have out. The numbers are randomized, so people will know that the book is checked out by #13453, but they won’t know who that is (unless of course they work in the RC).

West End Presbyterian Church - WEPC - A Community Of Faith Expressing Itself Through Love.

Resource Center Online Catalog Information