• Need help finding e-books in TOPCAT?
• Interested in learning what e-book collections are available at SWITCH libraries?
• Want to know how to find free e-books on the web?

Then check out this new e-book help page.

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Lexile Text Measures have been added to TOPCAT records where they are available. This feature can be seen in a portion of our Curriculum & Children's Materials.

A Lexile text measure is one system used to discern the reading level of a book or another print item in order to best match readers with resources at their ability level. Lexile text measures are shown as a number with an "L" after it. 880L is 880 Lexile. The measures are reported from 0L (0 Lexiles) to 2000L (2000 Lexiles), and are rounded to the nearest 10L. Scores below 0L are reported as BR, which indicates that the text is at a level appropriate for a Beginning Reader. The lower a book’s Lexile measure, the easier it will likely be to comprehend.

When you click on a Lexile text measure found at the bottom of a full record display, you will receive a list of other TOPCAT works with a similar Lexile measure. From that window, you can also reset the Lexile measure within that screen to locate TOPCAT materials with the new, adjusted Lexile measure.

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SEE AN EXAMPLE (at the bottom of THIS record) > >

If you accidentally misspell or mistype a keyword search term, the system will provide spelling suggestion functionality ("Did you mean . . .?") including a "Best Guess" link to the correct term(s) that is based on an internal dictionary as well as More spelling options >> featuring other possible matches for keyword search terms. Scroll through the drop down list to select the correct term, or type a correct spelling in the original search input box, then click on ‘Search’.

This feature appears when doing a Keyword or Advanced Keyword search.

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Check out a list of great, award-winning and notable children's books available in TOPCAT. The titles are sorted in reverse chronological order. The publication dates of these works span from 2010-1922.

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My Lists is an optional TOPCAT feature that lets you save library titles you are interested in to your own "wish lists". From within your library account, you can view the lists, manage individual items within one or more lists (moving, requesting, and/or deleting items), and/or export items from one or more lists. Your lists remain in your library account until you delete them.

Many TOPCAT records feature KEYWORD TAGS or tag clouds to help describe what a title is about. The tags are from LibraryThing, a book cataloging site that features a database of over 22 million titles. Public members of LibraryThing contribute tags describing the contents of each item.

Tags are viewable within the full record of many TOPCAT titles although they are not in all records.

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READ ABOUT TAGS IN TOPCAT > >

You don't have to navigate to TOPCAT's home page to search the catalog! If you have either the Firefox (version 2.0 or higher), or IE (version 7 or higher) web browser, you can search TOPCAT directly from the search bar by installing the TOPCAT search plugin, or adding TOPCAT to your Google Toolbar.

READ THE PLUGIN HELP PAGE > >