A series of brief tutorial videos available in the Searching the American Antiquarian Society Catalog playlist on YouTube.
This series of brief tutorial videos explores techniques for searching the American Antiquarian Society catalog.
Five Things to Know About the AAS Catalog
A brief introduction to the American Antiquarian Society catalog, including what you'll find in the catalog, what's being searched in the catalog, and some common search strategies. (9:37)
Contents:
0:09 - What do you find when searching the AAS catalog?
0:45 - What are you searching when you search the AAS catalog?
1:57 - What is the AAS catalog not searching?
3:04 - What is the most common way to search the AAS catalog?
6:06 - What's one thing to know when determining your keywords?
8:09 - Recap
Anatomy of a Catalog Record
A quick overview of the structure and content of catalog records in the American Antiquarian Society catalog. This video looks at the catalog records of a book, a newspaper, a manuscript collection, and a marriage certificate to discuss some of the information you can find in the record, as well as to highlight some information specific to records for different formats of materials. (11:40)
Contents:
0:24 - Catalog record for a book (monographs)
1:49 - More about this item
3:09 - Find similar items
4:26 - Holdings information and how to request an item
5:01 - Right sidebar (links, actions, and page display box)
6:25 - Catalog record for a newspaper (serials)
6:58 - List of serials issues owned by AAS (Clarence database)
7:58 - Catalog record for a manuscript collection (manuscripts)
8:41 - Historical background and summary
9:05 - Finding aids
9:45 - Catalog record for a marriage certificate (graphic arts)
10:35 - Notes in graphic arts records
MARC View
A brief demonstration on looking at MARC view in the American Antiquarian Society catalog, which allows you to see behind the scenes of a catalog record. (2:35)
Wildcard Searches
A brief demonstration of how to use wildcard characters to introduce flexibility when searching the American Antiquarian Society catalog. (4:06)
Contents
0:08 - What is a wildcard character
0:44 - Using a question mark as a wildcard representing any number of characters
2:44 - Using a percent sign as a wildcard representing one character
Finding Digital Surrogates
A quick overview of how to find materials in the American Antiquarian Society catalog that have digital surrogates.
AAS uses unique keywords in its catalog records to indicate if the record links out to a digital copy of the item cataloged. The video demonstrates using those keywords to search, including how to find links to digital copies in open-source databases and how to find links to digital copies in proprietary, subscription databases. (7:03)
Contents
0:15 - Keywords to find digital surrogates (digital copies)
1:29 - Finding catalog records that link out to open-source, freely available digital copies
3:19 - Finding catalog records that link out to digital copies in subscription databases available on AAS's campus
4:33 - Finding catalog records that link out to any digital copy
5:27 - Finding catalog records that link out only to digital copies in subscription databases or only to digital copies in open-source resources
6:17 - Finding catalog records that don't link out to digital copies