New Catalog Unveiled

Searching the UW Libraries’ online catalog just got better and a lot easier. The UW Libraries officially launched the new library catalog on Monday, May 21st, replacing the nearly 15 year old MadCat with a catalog featuring a sleek new interface that makes it easier to find the books, journals, and other resources needed for learning, teaching, and research.

A key feature of the catalog is the ability to search the UW–Madison Libraries catalog and then to seamlessly expand a search to the entire UW System. That means that students, faculty, and staff can easily search the more than 8.6 million records in the UW System, find materials held by any of the UW System campuses, and place requests for those items to be delivered to Madison. Curran Riley, project manager for the new catalog says, “Finding items across the UW System is much easier now,” and that this may be his favorite feature of the new system.

The catalog has also been optimized for iPads and other mobile devices, so browsing for books on the bus or within the library stacks will be much easier. Developer Eric Larson says that the UW Libraries “realize research and discovery happens everywhere, so pursuing a mobile-first web development practice lets us ensure valuable library resources are available from any device at the time and point of need.”