Frequently Asked Questions
- Do I need to login to search the Library Catalogue?
- What resources can I find in the Library Catalogue?
- How can I place a reservation?
- How can I find items not held in the Library Catalogue?
- How can I request items not held in the Library Catalogue?
- Can I renew my loans online?
- How do I add my review to a record?
- What is an alert profile and how do I set one up?
- How long can I keep my savedlist for?
- What do I do if I have forgotten my password?
- What if I have other questions?
Do I need to login to search the Library Catalogue?
No you don't need to login to search the Library Catalogue. You will however need to identify yourself if you want to place a reservation, booking, request or add a review to items as you browse through your result sets. If you login before searching the Library Catalogue, Bolton Libraries will remember your details for the duration of your login session and you will not need to enter your details again to use these services. If you are not logged in, you will need to identify yourself for each transaction.
What resources can I find in the Library Catalogue?
The Library Catalogue contains information which describes items held in our local collection. This collection includes books, videos, DVDs, CDs, magazines, posters and kits.
How can I place a reservation?
In order to place a reservation, you first need to perform a search using the Library Catalogue. As you browse through the records retrieved by your search, you can place a reservation for individual titles or for a set of titles. Please refer to the section on placing reservations in the How To help page for details.
How can I find items not held in the Library Catalogue?
The Library Catalogue contains information for items held in our local collection. If you can't find the item you are looking for in the catalogue, you can try using the following:
- Search for the item in the Greater Manchester Libraries Catalogue. The item you are looking for may be held in another library within our network.
- Search for the item in other library catalogues using our Z39.50 search interface.
- Search for the item in other library catalogues using their own web interface.
How can I request items not held in the Library Catalogue?
If you can't find the item you are looking for in our collection, we can usually obtain it for you using our Inter-Library Loan (ILL) service. If you think the item you are looking for would be useful to have in the Library, you can make a request for purchase instead. We can also provide you with a copy of an article in a journal or book. Some charges may apply for these services. You will need to enter your borrower ID and password to use these services.
Can I renew my loans online?
Yes you can. Please refer to the section on renewing loans in the Using My Library help page for details.
How do I add my review to a record?
As you browse through the records in your result set after performing a search in the Library Catalogue, you will notice that some records are displayed with a number of stars. This indicates that one or more reviews have been attached to the record displayed. The number of stars displayed is an average of the ratings given to this record by the reviewers. Ratings are given as a number between 0 (very bad) and 10 (very good).
Do the following to add your review to a record:
- Retrieve the record you want to add your review to and display in full display.
- Click on the link to Add your review. This will display a form for you to complete.
- Enter your borrower ID and password if you are not already logged in.
- Select the rating you would like to assign with 0 being very bad and 10 being very good.
- Enter your comments. You can enter as much text as you like. Press Enter to start a new paragraph.
- Select the Add Comment button to submit your review. Your comments will be reviewed by library staff before being made available for general access to others.
You can also amend and delete existing reviews by accessing these records in My Library. Please refer to the section on ratings and comments in the Using My Library help page for details.
What is an alert profile and how do I set one up?
An alert profile allows you to create a profile that matches your preferences for materials you would like to use. These profiles are scanned as part of the library's overnight housekeeping and any new works that meet the profile's criteria are added to the "profile set" for the particular profile. If any new works are added to your profile set as part of the nightly scan, you will be sent an email containing brief bibliographic details for each work, as well as a hyperlink to the work. When you receive this email, you can click on the hyperlink to go directly to the work and place a reservation against it if you wish.
Please refer to the Alert Profiles help page for information on how to create and update your alert profiles.
How long can I keep my savedlist for?
Your savedlist will normally be kept on the system for two days. It will be automatically cleared after this time.
Please refer to the My SavedList help page for more information on how to use this facility.
What do I do if I have forgotten my password?
If you have forgotten your password and we have a record of your email address, we can send you an email containing a link for resetting your password. Please contact us if you don't have an email address.
Do the following to use this service:
- Open the My Library menu in the Navigation panel and select Forgot Your Password?
- Enter your borrower ID and your surname.
- Click the OK button.
An email with a link for resetting your password will be sent to your registered email address.
What if I have other questions?
If you any other questions on any topic, we'll do our best to find the answer for you. You can contact us by phone, fax, or email. You can also ask your question by using our online request form. Please refer to our Ask a Librarian page for details on how to use these services.