About the HOLLIS Catalog

What's in the HOLLIS Catalog

The HOLLIS Catalog of the Harvard University Libraries is a database containing over 9 million records for more than 15 million books, journals, manuscripts, government documents, maps, microforms, music scores, sound recordings, visual materials, and data files. The database is updated continually as material is ordered, received, and cataloged.

The HOLLIS Catalog contains entries for many, but not all, materials in formats other than books and journals (e.g., manuscripts, maps, visual media, microforms and government documents) owned by Harvard University libraries. For access to these materials, supplement HOLLIS searching with searches of other catalogs at Harvard, as well as catalogs and/or finding guides of individual Harvard libraries and special collections that represent your area of interest. To locate e-resources and e-journals, consult the HOLLIS Catalog and E-Research at Harvard Libraries.

Best Browsers to use with HOLLIS Catalog

The best browsers to use with HOLLIS are Netscape 6.2 and above, Internet Explorer 5 and above, or Mozilla 1.4 and above. These have the added advantage of being able to display Unicode characters which are necessary to view, for example, Chinese characters from the catalog. While other browsers, such as Netscape 4.x and Opera, will work with the catalog, there may be some unexpected behavior. Specifically, Netscape 4.x works very poorly with the catalog, because of the way this older browser handles Unicode.

Popup Blocking

The catalog uses popups in certain places. Newer browsers, such as Netscape 6.2+, IE 6+, and Mozilla, can be configured to block popups, so be sure to allow popups when using the catalog. Check the help document of your browser for more information.
In addition to browsers, some other software, such as the Google Toolbar and Norton Internet Security, have popup blocking functions. Check the help document of the software to find out how to allow popups.

Other Catalogs at Harvard

Other online catalogs at Harvard include VIA (Visual Information Access), OASIS (Online Archival Search Information System), and the Harvard Geospatial Library. Harvard's Cross Catalog Search provides a way to search combinations of these catalogs simultaneously. It is intended mainly as a way to see if a certain catalog may contain useful information about your topic. To conduct a thorough search for materials, consult with the librarians and check the catalogs of individual Harvard libraries. A complete list of libraries and information about them is available from the Harvard Libraries web site: http://lib.harvard.edu/libraries/index.html.

Availability

The HOLLIS Catalog is available to all 24 hours a day, everyday, with the following exceptions:

• During the weekly backup on Sundays, from 2-4am EST.
• Occasionally during the maintenance windows on Sunday, from 2-9 am EST and Tuesday and Thursday from 5-7am EST.

Z39.50 Searching of HOLLIS (using EndNote, etc.)

In addition to accessing the HOLLIS Catalog through a web browser, it is also possible for authorized Harvard users to conduct searches using a Z39.50 client such as EndNote. From the "Your Account" page of the HOLLIS catalog, click on the button labeled "EndNote/Z39.50 info". From here, you can download a connection file that makes it possible to search HOLLIS Catalog using EndNote. There are also instructions for setting up other Z39.50 clients.

Finding Materials at Harvard

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Copyright © 2005 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Last modified 25 June 2007