Media and curriculum searching

Our library contains extensive collections of items in special formats : videos, DVDs, CDs, audiotapes, images, maps, kits, and so on. We also have an outstanding collection of current and historic curriculum material for Christian Education. Many of these items are found in the Instructional Resource Center. The Director of the IRC, Ann Knox, is very knowledgable about these holdings and can help you find and use this material most effectively.

Here, we will give you some very basic information about finding media and curriculum items in our catalog.

Media materials

If you have read the information in this tutorial on the Search techniques page, you have already learned how to do a keyword search using the Limit functions. On the initial search screen of our catalog, look for the box labelled Limit search to :

Suppose you are looking for a video about Moses that you can use with a church group or Sunday School class. Enter the word Moses under Search for a keyword. Then, click on the drop-down menu for Material Types. You have a choice of many kinds of non-print media. Choose Video Cassette, and then click on Go.

You retrieve a set of records for video recordings -- lectures, sermons, dramas, etc. -- containing the word Moses. Please note that you have asked for video casettes only, for use in a VCR. To search for other forms of visual media such as DVDs, you must repeat your search choosing DVD from the Material Types list.

The records you retrieve have live links in them : for example, Subject headings for Miriam (Biblical figure) or Jews -- History -- to 70 AD. Please be aware, however, that if you use these live links to find other works in our collection about these subjects, your next search will NOT be limited by material type. You must return to the initial search screen and conduct a new search if you want to limit your results to a certain type of media or format.

For information about advance booking of media materials for classroom use, click HERE.

Curriculum searching

Our emphasis on Christian Education has led us to create an extensive collection of teaching materials from a variety of denominational publishers, suitable for various age groups and instructional settings. These materials have been cataloged in a unique way, allowing us to do targeted searches of this particular collection.

We recommend that you look for curriculum items using the Advanced Search screen of our catalog.

Please note that you can coordinate up to three search terms using this screen. That will enable you to find items about a certain topic that are appropriate for a particular age group.

Perform the search in the example above. The catalog retrieves more than 2300 records containing the word Genesis, and over 170 items intended for preschool-age children. Now, look for the word Total. There, you see the combined set of these results: 35 items in our collection that you can use for teaching about Genesis to preschoolers. They are ordered with the most recently-published material displayed first.

Our catalog identifies five groups of age-appropriate materials : preschool, elementary, youth, young adult and adult.

Another method for media or curriculum searching

You may prefer to use a different approach to limiting your search. Look for the drop-down menu beside the words Base to search.

You have the option of searching defined subsets of our catalog. If you choose Instructional Resource Center (IRC), your search will be restricted to the holdings of the IRC, including current curriculum and media in all formats. If you choose All Curriculum, you will be searching for the current curriculum materials housed in the IRC plus some of the curriculum items in our stacks area. (We will be adding more of these stacks items to the All Curriculum field over time.)

When you are finished searching these subsets of our catalog, be sure that the Base to search option is set back to Entire Collection. You may be stuck inside the IRC or Curriculum subset until you change this!