Finding Materials

OneSearch is our online public access catalog (OPAC).  It is the best place to search for our holdings of library materials, both print and electronic, and to find and access journal articles, images, databases, and all types of library publications.

You can start by searching for an author, title or subject or by entering keywords.  You can then narrow down your results by clicking on one of the choices listed on the left side of the results screen. Log in with your Adelphi username and password to access OneSearch, to renew books, to save records to a permanent list, or to access full OneSearch results from off campus.  

Although OneSearch is the most comprehensive single search tool for Adelphi’s library resources, you might also want to search one or more of our individual online research databases, including WorldCat (which includes more than one billion titles in all formats). Many of these databases can provide a more focused search and  not all of the search strategies specific to each database can be used in OneSearch.

At the Adelphi University Libraries, materials are assigned Library of Congress Subject Headings based on their content.  When you view a OneSearch record, these subject headings will display as active links pointing to other materials with the same subject headings.

Here is a list of sample subject headings, although in no way exhaustive, used in finding materials about Dance.  Clicking on these links will take you to a OneSearch query according to that particular subject heading.

Materials at the Adelphi University Libraries (except for electronic resources) are given Call Numbers, based on the Library of Congress Classification System.  Library of Congress Classification Systems organizes materials by Subject.  The below list is shows how Dance materials are organized.  This is useful in browsing, whether by looking at the physical stacks themselves, or bibliographic records in OneSearch.

GV 1580:  Periodicals

GV 1585:  Dictionaries, encyclopedias

GV 1588:  Philosophy (and theory)

GV 1589:  Study and teaching

GV 1590-GV 1594:  General works

GV 1595:  Special aspects of the subject as a whole

GV 1597:  Dancing as a profession

GV 1600:  Dance criticism, appreciation

GV 1645-GV 1728: Dance history (and historical dance)

GV 1743:  National dances. Folk dances and dancing (General)

GV 1746-GV 1771: Social dancing. Ballroom dancing

GV 1781-GV 1795: Theatrical Dancing

GV 1785: Biographies

GV 1796: Special Dances