Catalogue as a Search Tool
Remember that not often can we recollect all particulars of a document like author, title, subject, series, etc., when we search for it. Further, when we are interested in a particular subject or a publication belonging to a series we would like to know what the new title is or who is its author.
At such times either some staff member in the library or some tool like the library catalogue comes to our rescue. A library catalogue recognizes the various approaches, which are also known as access points of the users. Therefore, the catalogue provides information about a document under all the possible access points.
A library catalogue is a useful search tool for the effective use of library. Once a user knows that a catalogue is available in the library and he is familiar with its use, he will feel confident that the catalogue can meet many of his requirements. It acts as a good guide and a finding tool.
From a library catalogue we can find the availability or otherwise of a document from any of its access points. We can get maximum possible description of the document. We can find about related documents. Above all we can find the location number (the Call Number) of a document.
Thus, library catalogue is a very effective search tool.