The UNT Library Catalog contains records for items of all formats (books, journals, CDs, etc.) located in all of the libraries at UNT. There are options for searching by keyword, title, author and subject in the Basic Search of the catalog. When searching for a research topic . . .

• Use a keyword or subject search
• Save your favorite searches through your UNT Library Catalog account; be sure to open your account before searching to use this option. Find more details on Preferred Searches on the UNT Library Catalog Help page.

A keyword search looks for the word(s) you enter in all fields of an item's record: title, author, subject headings, notes and more.

• Keyword searches give you lots of book titles, but many won't be relevant to your topic.

A subject search narrows your search and retrieves more titles relevant to your topic than a keyword search.

•  The search looks for the word(s) you enter only in the item's subject headings, which come from the Library of Congress's predefined list of categories to describe topics. For example, here are the subject headings assigned to the book, Disrupted Cities: When Infrastructure Fails.
• This is a more difficult search to conduct because you have to guess at the Library of Congress subject headings

Suggested strategy: Do a keyword search first. When you find a book relevant to your topic, look at its subject headings and use them for subsequent subject searches.

As you dive deeper into your topic, you may find that the UNT Libraries don't have all the books you need. WorldCat is the combined catalog of libraries across the world. You can search in WorldCat for your topic and determine which libraries have the titles you want. The UNT Libraries will be listed first if we have the title, and then libraries are listed by distance from your location. Found a book you want that's not at UNT? Order it through your ILLiad interlibrary loan account.

Need help? Then use the library's Ask Us service. Get help from real people face-to-face, by phone, or by email.