When you are looking for books on a topics in a library catalog, your first attempt will probably be a keyword search. After all, that is the way you do it using a web search tool like Google, and it is natural to think that keywords would bring up the best results. A keyword search does work in the online library catalog, but with varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the topic. This is because it matches what you type in with anything in the item record, even the author's name or the place of publication. If you are not having much luck using a keyword search, try a subject search. Books that appear under a subject category have been evaluated by someone and manually assigned to that category. Often, you have a better chance of retrieving more relevant results by using a subject search. Interested in what a particular search option means? Just ask us.