The Southwest Harbor Public Library’s membership in the statewide Minerva system means that our catalog is digitized and available to anyone who logs into Minerva on a computer. Our catalog is thus joined with those of almost sixty other libraries. The combined catalog includes over six million items including books, DVD’s, audio books, magazines, and music CD’s.
TO FIND A BOOK QUICKLY - Click on the CATALOG – MINERVA button in the main button bank on the left of this screen.
TO RENEW A BOOK QUICKLY - Click on the PATRON ACCOUNT button in the main button bank on the left of this screen.
To jump to HOW INTERLIBRARY LOAN WORKS
HOW TO USE YOUR LIBRARY CARD ONLINE
You need to know two things – YOUR NAME & YOUR BARCODE
You probably know your name.
Look on the back of your Library Card.
Carefully type your entire 14 digit barcode number into a little document somewhere on your computer where you will be able to find it.
When Minerva asks you for your number – just copy & paste it from that document into Minerva!
To view your Patron Record (or Renew a Book).
HOW MINERVA WORKS:
To search by Author.
To search by Title.
To search Subject.
To search by Keyword.
SUBJECT - Searches only in the subject/descriptor field. A smaller selection will probably be retrieved, but they will probably have a higher degree of relevancy.
KEYWORD - Searches in any number of fields and/or the full text of documents. Any significant words/phrases can be considered keywords so the retrieved selection may be large and may include irrelevant items. This search may also enlarge your understanding of the subject and suggest new avenues of research.
To search by ISBN number.
To search by almost anything!
If you click on the MATERIAL button on this Advanced Search page, you can search for:
Periodicals
Large print books
Archival material
Manuscripts
E Books
Music CD’s
Music cassettes
DVD’s
VHS tapes
And items printed in Braille
This page includes good help notes.
THINGS TO REMEMBER:
A search that doesn't work out takes a second; you can usually think of a way to improve your question to get more effective results.
Searching for "Smith" in the AUTHOR field might return hundreds of authors named Smith. "Smith, Mary Jane" will be faster. Singular searches are better than plural – "spotted leopard" will return "leopards" anyway. "Spotted leo" will probably accomplish your purpose and less typing and less chances of a mistake. "Roads, Roman" is a better search than "Roman Roads".
START YOUR SEARCH - in The Southwest Harbor Public Library catalog.
IF YOU DO NOT FIND WHAT YOU WANT in our catalog, you can borrow books from almost sixty other libraries in Maine using Interlibrary Loan. Stay right on your search page in Minerva.
HOW INTERLIBRARY LOAN WORKS
Click on the drop-down arrow in the box next to "Southwest Harbor Public Library."
Choose ALL MINERVA LOCATIONS at the top of the list.
Click SEARCH or SUBMIT.
Click on the title of the book when you see it. This will show you which libraries in the Minerva system own the book.
Click the REQUEST button at the top or the one at the bottom of the page.
Enter your name and library card barcode.
Click the SUBMIT button.
We will call and let you know when the book arrives at the Southwest Harbor Public Library.
IF NO MINERVA LIBRARY OWNS THE BOOK YOU ARE LOOKING FOR
Click on the SEARCH InfoNet button to search the Maine InfoNet Statewide Catalog and request books from college, universities, and other public libraries across the state.
To go directly to InfoNet.
For information about Maine InfoNet.
MARVEL!, a part of InfoNet, is a large, rich collection of research databases.
Click here to go directly to MARVEL.
For information about MARVEL and how to use it.
TO SEE MANY MORE REFERENCE LINKS - Click on the REFERENCE ROOM button in the main button bank on the left of this screen.
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