Catalogue Help

Introduction to Whekenui

Whekenui is Wellington City Libraries' classic catalogue. You can search the catalogue for books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, talking books, and other items in the collection. You can also view your library card information, such as items on loan, reserves and overdue charges. You can use the catalogue both at the library and from computers outside the library, by connecting to our website at www.wcl.govt.nz.

Whekenui is named after the great octopus that Kupe was chasing when he discovered Aotearoa. The story tells of the octopus succumbing just past Wellington, off the coast of Marlborough.

Recommended browsers

Some browsers do not support all the features used in our Library Catalogue. We recommend:

Internet Explorer 7 or higher
Mozilla Firefox 2 or higher

How to search

The Basic search screen

The simplest way to search is to enter the author, title or some subject words and click the 'Search' button. The software will automatically execute your search term(s) in the keyword, name and subject indexes, and also allow you to browse titles, subjects and author names. The catalogue is not 'case sensitive' – you may use upper case (capital) or lower case (small) letters.

You can also select your search type from the drop-down box. Enter a word or words into the box, then select from the search options.

Which search option should I use?

Try Keyword for a general opening search, or when you have specific search terms which won't result in too many 'hits'.
If you try a Keyword search and the results aren't useful, try searching by subject, or search for an item that you know is good and use the subject headings in that item's record.

If you know the title:
Use Title browse if you know how the title begins or if you want to browse similar titles, e.g. 'harry potter and the'.
Use Title keyword if you don't know all the words in the title or their order, e.g. 'parachute color'.

If you know the author:
Use Author or name browse if you know the surname and want to browse through a list of names to find the right one. Type in the surname (last name), then a comma, then the first name or beginning letters, e.g. 'smith, w'.
Use Author or name (keyword) if you want a list of all the items by a specific person and there isn't anyone else with that name, e.g. 'douglas coupland'.

If you know the subject:
Use Subjects (keyword) if you don't know the order of the subject heading.
Use Subject browse if you know how the subject heading begins or want to browse through the headings to find the best, e.g. 'world war'.

Or try:
Series browse – use to find items published in a series, e.g. Criterion collection DVDs and Lonely Planet books.
Call number browse – search the collection as it is shelved. If you find a good book, see what other items are on the subject by typing in the number, including the decimal point.
ISBN/ISSN – ISBN & ISSN numbers are printed on books and magazines when published; only use this when you want a specific edition of an item.

The Advanced search screen

The Advanced search option allows you to limit your searches by Age level, Format, Date, Branch and Availability. You get to the Advanced screen by clicking on the 'Advanced search option' on the left hand side of the Basic search page.

Age level – select kids, preschool or teens to only search for items in those collections.

Format – select Magazine, Large print, Compact disc or DVD to search within these categories.

Date – fill in one of these boxes to narrow your search.

Search tips

Limiting options:

By audience, format or date...

Limit Keyword searches to age-level items in by adding 'qkids', 'qpreschool' or 'qteens' to your search terms.

You can limit Keyword searches by format in Basic search by adding 'qmagazine', 'qlargeprint', 'qcompactdisc', 'qcassette', 'qvideo' or 'qdvd' to your search terms.

You can limit Keyword searches by date in Basic search with "[d=xxxx]", "[d<xxxx]" (less than) or "[d>xxxx]" (greater than), where xxxx is the year.

By branch and availability

If you only want items that are at your branch or on the shelf right now, try limiting by branch and availability. Type in your keywords or author name; click 'Yes' if you are only interested in items on the shelf at the moment, then select your branch.

Boolean searching

Expand your search by using OR between search terms, e.g. 'teenagers or adolescents'; 'dogs or canines'

Narrow your search by using the words AND or BUT NOT, e.g. 'mountains and geology'; 'viruses but not computers'

Use brackets for complex boolean searches, e.g. 'apples (cookery or farming)'

Proximity searching

You can use proximity and adjacency 'operators' to specify how close your search words are to each other, and in what order. These operators will work for title keyword, subject keyword, series keyword, and author or name keyword searches only.

Use (w) to specify that words must be next to each other (adjacent) and in the order, e.g. cold (w) fusion retrieves cold fusion
Use (#w) or (w#) to specify that words must be separated by no more than the chosen number of words, e.g., five words apart or (5w) or (w5), and in the order specified. The (w) operator may be preceded or followed by a number from 1-99. For example, 'balance (1w) trade' retrieves balance of trade
'Governor (3w) Grey' retrieves Governor Grey and Governor George Grey

Use (n) to specify that words must be adjacent, but in any order, e.g. Edmund (n) Hillary retrieves Edmund Hillary and Hillary, Edmund
The (#n) or (n#) operator specifies that words be separated by no more than the specified number of words, e.g., five words apart, or (5n) or (n5). The words can appear in any order. The (n) operator may be preceded or followed by a number from 1-99. For example, 'cost (1n) benefit' retrieves cost to benefit, benefit to cost, cost-benefit, benefit/cost ; 'hillary (n3) clinton' retrieves Hillary Clinton; Clinton, Hillary Rodham; and Clinton, Bill and Hillary

Truncation

You can use an asterisk * with part of a subject or name to expand the search. This also helps if you don't know the exact spelling of an author or subject. The * character may be used at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word. For example:

'psych* child*' will find items on child psychology or children and psychiatry
'tschai*' will find items by or about the composer Tschaikovsky
'*house' will find items on house and doghouse
'h*se' will find items on house and hose

Wildcard searching

You can use a question mark ? with part of a subject or name to expand a search. The wildcard character can be used at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word. For example:

'transport?' will find items on transport and transports whereas 'transport*' (see truncation) will retrieve transport, transports, transportation, etc.
'comput???' will retrieve records containing compute, computed, computer, and computers, but not computation, computerize, etc.
' wom?n' retrieves women and woman

Shortcut keys

You can use quick search terms in instead of the drop-down menus – they are quicker, and good if you get sore wrists from mouse use. Examples: '//wvanity fair qmagazine' or '//wqdvd qjuvenile'.

Search type	Quick search
Keyword*	//W
Name browse	//NB/
Name keyword	//N
Name keyword (results in list of name headings)	//NW/
Name/Word	//Nname/word
Title browse	//T
Title keyword	//TW/
Subject browse	//SB/
Subject keyword	//SD/
Subject keyword (results in a list of subject headings)	//SW/
Series browse	//S
Series keyword	//ED/
Series keyword (results in list of series headings)	//EW/
Call number browse	//C
ISBN/ISSN	//I

All keyword searches result in a list of titles, except where noted.
* Remember, keyword search doesn't search author fields.

I just want something good to read!

Find good fiction by searching the catalogue with Fiction Genres – the main genres are listed on our Fiction subject help page.
Find reviews of our most recent non-fiction and fiction on our What's New page, and click on the book titles that look interesting to see if they are on the shelf.
Full lists of new fiction, DVDs and Videos are listed each month on the What's New page.
Our Fiction popular topic page features recommended books, as do many other Popular topics pages.
If you want a book similar to one you've read, look up the item you enjoyed in our catalogue and click on the subject or author headings to see what similar items we hold.
Check out our displays of new books and recommended titles, or browse through the 'Returned Today' stands to see what everyone else has been reading.

Magazine searching

You can search for magazines just like books – try a Title browse, Keyword or Title keyword search. You can restrict a Keyword search to magazines using the format term 'qmagazine', e.g. 'gardening qmagazine' will bring up all of our gardening magazines and none of the books.

To search for magazine articles, try our online databases at mygateway.info. All you need are your library card details.

Search results page

After a keyword search you may get a Results page that looks like this:

58 Keyword matches
4 Author or name matches
47 Subject matches
Browse titles begining with 'your keywords'
Browse subjects beginning with 'your keywords'
Browse names beginning with 'your keywords'

You can click on the Keyword, Author or Subject matches to see a list of titles, or click on any of the Browse links to browse the respective index. You can search again by clicking New Search in the upper right corner.
Note: if your search did not retrieve any results in the Keyword, Author or Subject indexes, you will not see matches on this page.

Title list

The Title List is a display of your search results. From this page you can view the Full Record of an item (including its shelf number) by clicking on it, use the Personal List Options, Review search history and Display checked records.

Change the order of your search results

The default order of the Title List is reverse chronological order – newest items by year are first. If you have fewer than 1000 results, you can choose to sort your search results by author or title.

Display checked records

If you want to see the Full records of several items all together on one page, check the box next to each and click Display checked records.

You can search again by clicking New Search in the upper right corner.

How to use the Full Record

To view a Full Record, click on the linked title.

From this page you can view the Place a reserve, use the Personal List Options, Review search history, Email or Print the record.

Information in the Full Record includes:

Title
Author (click on their name to see all their works)
Publisher (make sure it's the edition you want)
Paging and size (items over 28 cm may be shelved in a Large Book section)
Subjects (click on a subject heading to see what other items we have on this subject)

Where to find it:

Date
- If the item is on loan, it is due back this date
- If the item is available, it was returned on this date
Branch – click on the branch or collection for directions, or visit our Branches page
Call Number – the dewey number or collection name helps you locate the item
Status:
- Available – the item is in the library (but may not be shelved yet)
- On loan – the item is on loan to a library member
- Not for loan – the item is only available for use in the library
- In processing – the item is new and not available yet; ask at an Enquiries desk
- Reserved for pickup – the item is held for another borrower who has reserved it
- In Transit for reserve – the item has been sent to another library to fill a reserve
- In transit from branch – the item has been returned, perhaps to another library; ask at an Enquiries desk
- On order – the item has been ordered by the library from our suppliers. You can reserve it but it is not available for borrowing yet

To view another record, either return to the Title List, click on Next or Previous at the top and bottom of the page, or fill in the search box at the bottom of the page.

How to locate items on the shelf

A map of Central Library is available here.

Fiction is shelved alphabetically under the author's surname. There are separate sections for Mysteries, Science fiction & fantasy and Short story collections. Central library also has a Graphic novel collection.
Non-fiction is shelved by Dewey number. At Central, adult non-fiction 000-899 is on the First floor, and 900-999 is on the Second floor.
Biographies are arranged alphabetically by the subject's surname. Check the catalogue in case the biography you are after has a Dewey number.
If an item is 28 cm or taller, you may need to look for it in the Large books shelves at Central. Other libraries shelve large and normal-sized items together.
There are separate Reference collections at every library. Catalogue records say 'Ref' at the beginning of an item's Call number, and 'Not for loan' under the Status. More information about Central collections is available here.

But it isn't there!

Check when the item was returned (underneath 'Date' in the item record). Items returned during the past few days may be on Returned Today shelves or on shelving trolleys.
Check the size in case it is 28 cm or over, and check if Large Books are shelved separately at your branch.
Check display shelves.
Ask a staff member for assistance, sometimes a second pair of eyes helps!

Placing a reserve

Click the Place a reserve button on the left side of the Full Record page. You will be prompted for your Borrower information, then taken to the Branch Pickup page. Select the branch, use the 'holiday reserve' option if you want the reserve to activate on a specific date, and click Place reserve. We will notify you by your telephone, email or post when the item is ready to collect, depending on your preference.

Please note that a fee of $2 applies to each reserve placed by adult borrowers. If you select 'Courier' as your pickup branch, additional fees will be payable.

If your reservation did not work,

Check that you typed in the correct card number and last name. Contact us if you are unsure of your details.
Sometimes there is a temporary glitch with the catalogue; try placing your reserve again.
Fill in the online reservation form and we'll place the reserve for you.

Review your previous searches

To redo a previous search, click on 'Review search history' on the left-hand side of the screen. Locate the search you want to repeat and click on the link.

Personal lists

To reserve several items simultaneously or mark records to return to, you can use the 'Personal list'.

When in an item record, click on 'Add this record to list'

When in a Title list page, select items by checking the boxes and then click 'Add checked records from this page to list'

Click 'View personal list' anytime you want to see your selections. You can reserve some or all of the items at any stage.

Note: the Personal list cannot be saved beyond this session – if you leave the computer idle for several minutes, it will disappear.

Searching the catalogue in Māori, Chinese or Samoan

To view the catalogue in Māori, Chinese or Samoan, click on the appropriate button at the top of the page. The catalogue instructions and buttons will be in your choice of language, but item information will still be in English.

Check your details

You can access information on your loans, overdue items, reserves and money owing. Either click on 'view my account' on the catalogue menu screen, or 'Check your library card' at the bottom of all catalogue screens. Then type in your library card number (e.g. C1234567) and last name. Click 'submit query'.

Loaned: what you have out and when it is due back.
Overdue items: your overdue items.
Reserves: what you have on reserve. 'Request pending' means the item is not available yet; 'Ready for pickup' means you can collect it. You can cancel a reserve by selecting the title, then clicking 'Cancel this reserve'.
Charges, fees and lost material: information on charges such as overdue, interlibrary returns and reserve charges.
Borrower status: if it says 'Restricted', you may have money owing or we may require some information from you. Please ask at your local library.

Extending your loans:

Your loan(s) can be extended by 1 week from the due date unless it has been reserved by another customer, and unless it is already overdue. Only 1 loan extension per item is possible. A charge of $1 will apply for each extension, and this will be in addition to any other borrowing fee for the item(s). Currently loans can only be extended online, or within the library.

Quicksearch

An easy way to browse our catalogue is to use the Quicksearch links. We have set up many popular searches such as DVDs by branch, music and fiction genres, and graphic novels.

Subject help

To help you locate library material, we have designed subject guides for many of the most popular and complex areas. Visit our Subject help pages for information on topics such as Annual reports, Business directories, Family history, Magazines and Newspapers.