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Course & Subject Guides

Arts Research @ Pitt

A great place to get started on your art, architecture, and museum studies related research

PittCat

PittCat PittCat is the main searching tool for all of the materials owned by the University Library System (ULS), including articles, books, ebooks, journal articles, ejournals, audio and video, digital images, government documents, microfilm and movies.

Researching in PittCat

  1. Begin with a keyword or title search for an artist's name, for example, Alice Neel.
  2. Scroll down and look for "Subject" and click on one with the artist's name.You may see a huge list of subject headings - browse through this list to find a heading like this: 
    • Neel, Alice, 1900-1984.
  3. This will provide you with a list of all the books that we have that focus on Alice Neel.

To request a book through PittCat:

  1. Click on the listing for the book that you want. Make sure you are signed into PittCat.
  2. Under "Get It," you will see some links depending on the book's availability. If a book is available at a Pitt library, you can click "Request Item," select which library you would like to pick the book up at, and click Send. You will be notified by email when your book is ready for pickup. 
  3. If the item is not available at a Pitt library, toggle "Expand to Non-Pitt Resources" and try the search again. In the PittCat record, you will see "Request Item From Another Library." You will be redirected to an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) form (which connects to every library in the world). These requests can also be delivered to any Pitt library you wish.
  4. ILL requests can take up to 2 weeks to be fulfilled. A faster option is to use E-Z Borrow, which connects academic libraries in and around Pennsylvania. PittCat does not search E-Z Borrow automatically.
  5. You may also request a scan of a single chapter or article in a book by clicking  "Article or Book Chapter Scan," regardless of whether it is available in Pitt's library system or not.

Now that you have a subject heading for your artist:

  1. Paste that subject heading into the advanced search.
  2. Look at the list that is generated and look for books that Pitt does NOT own.
  3. Request these books using EZBorrow or Interlibrary Loan (links below).