While modern search methods are wonderful, there is still quite a bit of value to the idea of serendipity, suddenly coming upon something valuable that you weren't initially looking to find. Sometimes just the title, or color can catch your eye, and introduce you to a new idea, new author or new perspective. While not a replacement for the full library experience, the Browse feature within OneSearch can also lead to these types of discoveries...here we offer both a Browse By feature as well as a Virtual Browse.
The Virtual Browse appears at the bottom of the record for a book. Think of this as a virtual bookshelf. You can see the books that would immediately precede and follow the book you found. This can help with the 'serendipity' experience mentioned above. Given that libraries generally organize books in the same subject location, the Virtual Browse option allows you to see other books that would be helpful in your research.
Click on Browse by to select which category you would like to browse. They include:
Subject
Author
Title
Call number (Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, Dewey, and an all call numbers option).
Subject: gives you list of subjects and their various subheadings, so that you may look for something on a specific topic to see how many items we have on that exact subject.
Author: when looking for a particular author's works, make sure to write the name in last name first.
Title: browsing by title allows you to see books that may have similar titles to the one you need as well as showing other, possibly newer, editions of the same book.
Call Number: when browsing by call number, it is recommended to know which system you use. For instance, the search above uses call numbers under the National Library of Medicine classification. A generalized call number search or one using the Library of Congress (non-medical academic) or Dewey (used for juvenile collection in Sterne Library) will not return the same results.