GIL: The Library's Catalog and How to Use It

GIL is an acronym for GALILEO Interconnected Libraries.  It is also the name given to catalogs of most GALILEO libraries.  Each GIL can be used to locate books, documents, journal titles, microfilm/ microfiche, audio/video recordings, and other material that is owned by the respective library.  Records for an increasing number of electronic full-text books, electronic government documents, and web pages are also included in the catalogs.  GIL cannot  be used to find articles, abstracts, or ERIC documents.

Choose the gil@gsw link under the blue bar on the GALILEO homepage or access it directly at http://gil.gsw.edu.

"Basic Guide to Library and Online Research" is a brief guide to using GIL and GALILEO.  A detailed tutorial for GIL is available at http://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit06/index.phtml.  

In addition to author, title, and other publication information, the records that are returned from a GIL search (title results) will have the information necessary to find their physical location in the library.  

Like most colleges and universities, GSW uses the Library of Congress Classification System, an alphabetical/numeric filing system, for most of its collection.  The exceptions are journals, which are filed alphabetically by their title (i.e. Newsweek  is filed in the N section of periodicals), and government documents, which use a classification system known as Superintendent of Documents Classification System (SuDocs).

Items not available in JECL's collection are available to GSW students through Interlibrary Loan.

LOCATIONS

1ST FL-REF means that this item is in the Reference Collection which is located on the first floor of JECL.  Some items, including citation guides and the most recent issues of almanacs and Mental Measurements Yearbook, are in such frequent demand that they are shelved at the reference desk in front of the Reference Collection.  This will be noted on the item's record.  Reference books are not available for check-out.

A-V ROOM means that the item is located in the Audio-Video Collection.  The A/V Room is a small room on the second floor of JECL.   To access the room, go through the doors between the Jimmy Carter exhibit.  The room is to the left.  Most of these items are available for checkout.

BOUND PER means that a title is a bound periodical (several issues have been sewn together between hard covers) and can be found on the second floor to your right at the top of the stairs.  Bound periodicals are filed alphabetically by journal title.   Periodicals are not available for check-out.

ERIC ROOM is a small room on the campus-side of the first floor.  This room houses thousands of microfiche, almost two centuries of newspapers on microfilm, and numerous miscellaneous print indexes. 

FICHE PER is a microfiche periodical.  Microfiche periodicals are housed in filing cabinets on the campus side of the second floor of JECL.  

GALILEO netLibrary electronic book is an online full text book that is available for "virtual checkout" through the computer.  To access one of these books, click on the title in the GIL record, and again on the "an electronic book accessible through GALILEO" option at the bottom of the item's full record.  Choose "Browse this eBook online (borrow for a short time)" to view the book for fifteen minutes.  Choose "Check out and read online (add to "eBookshelf")" to use it for up to two hours.  You must register from an on-campus computer to use the copyrighted books to which GALILEO users have access.

GOVT DOCS is the abbreviation for government documents.  JECL receives hundreds of government documents every year.  These can be on almost any subject and can be a one page brochure or a multi-volume book set.  Most publications are available for checkout, although most reference items (such as the Congressional Record) are not.

GOVT FICHE is a government document available on microfiche.  Government microfiche are located in file cabinets at the end of the Government Documents Collection on the first floor of JECL. 

GOVT INET is a government internet site cataloged on GIL.  To access it, click the record, and then on the full record display page click the bottom E-Resource line.  All government web sites are free of charge and do not feature advertisements.

MAIN COL identifies the main collection of circulating books.  These books are shelved on the second floor of JECL.  They are all available for checkout.  (Some of these records specify MAIN COL-JUVENILE, but they are located in the same section at the end of the "L" classification.)

RARE BK RM items are found in the Rare Books Room on the Reference Collection side of the first floor.  Many books on local and Georgia history are shelved in the Rare Books Room.  The books in the Rare Books Room are available for checkout, the exceptions being those that are fragile or of particular value.

THIRD WORLD STUDIES items are located in a small room on the second floor of JECL .  They are available for checkout.  To access the room, go through the doors between the Jimmy Carter exhibit.