UA Library Search Guide

You can visit any library location (with open stacks) to browse and pick books from the shelves OR you can put books on hold and pick them up from available locations, which includes other NEOS libraries.

Please note: Bruce Peel Special Collections and the Research & Collections Resource Facility have closed stacks that cannot be browsed.

Unsure how to place a hold? Take a quick look at the video tutorial below: 

When you look up an item in our Library Search, the catalogue will tell you which library it is located in, its call number, the type of item it is, and its status.

When looking up the example, Engineering: Introduction to Environmental Engineering, we can see that:

✅ its location: The University of Alberta's Cameron Library

✅ its call number: TD 145 M4232 2011

✅ its type: Book

✅ its status: On Shelf

An item's status tells you which floor in the library the item is found and whether or not it is checked out. 

See our Item Status by Library Location section below for more details. 

Once you've determined the library and the status of the item you are looking for, you'll then use the call number to find the exact location of that item. Example: TD 145 M4232 2011

Unsure how to read a call number? Check out our poster below or ask a staff member at any of our service desks.

Confused about where a book is located? Ask us!

*Please note: 2nd floor is the main floor of the Weir Law Library.

Other U of A Library Locations: