Learn about an author via:
1. In the online catalog, type your author’s name in the search box (does not matter which order last name/first name). You may want to limit your search to "Library Catalog" or "All I-Share Libraries," which will find books, plays, and recordings. The "Search Starter" search option will locate both books/plays and some articles (though not articles from Ebsco article databases like International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance).
2. Type in the name of the author and hit "Enter."
3. This should bring up a list of items associated with the author that you typed in.
*Note: If two or more people have the same name, it will bring up materials by all of them.
4. Scroll through the list until you find a play written after 1950.
5. Check the call number and the status, or click on the title to learn more about it.
Call numbers: Remember, the Ps are on the 2nd floor of the library. See the "Call Numbers" tab for more explanation of how Library of Congress call numbers work. You can also request items to be placed on hold for you to pick up.
Status: Available means it is here, and available for checkout.
E-books: If you see the statement "Available Online" (below), then the play/book is available online. Click on the title of the item, then look for a URL to click on to access the text of the play under "View Online."
When you’ve found the title of a play that you are interested in, perhaps using a reference book, you can search the online catalog to see if the library owns a copy of the play.
1. Type in the name of the play in quotations. Search in "Library Catalog" or "All I-Share Libraries."
2. If the play is found, your search will bring up a list of results- if your search results list a book, and you're not sure why that book is in your list of results, click on the title of the book...
...and look at the “Contents” information under "Details" to see if your play title is listed.
*If you don't immediately see your play title in the Contents (it should be underlined in yellow), try hitting Ctrl + F on your computer keyboard to open a find box. Type in the title you were looking for, and it will highlight it on the screen.
1. Click on the link for Advanced Search (link located to the right of the single Millikin Library Discovery search box) and, after selecting "Library Catalog" or "All I-Share Libraries" as your search option:
In the first search box, type either:
In the second search box, type
then click “Search"
2. This will bring up a list of plays and play compilations written and including 20th century or 21st century playwrights. Choose an available play or plays from your list of results and locate using the call number, or use one of the results to learn about a playwright and search for plays by that author using the catalog's author search option (as described above in the box on author searching).
3. Then, read through the play to find a suitable monologue.
1. In the Millikin Library Discovery search box, simply type in the word “monologue” or "monologues," limit your search to "Library Catalog" or "All I-Share Libraries," and then hit search. It will bring up a listing of monologue compilation books, as seen below.
*Remember, that your professors do not want to hear exactly the monologue included in these books, but if you find a monologue you like in one of these books, then do a search for the play's title and choose a different monologue from that play.
There are several common publishers of plays in our collection:
One quick way to investigate what plays we own is to search the catalog by these publisher names.
1. Type the name of the publisher in the catalog search box in quotation marks. For example, "Samuel French"
2. Use the "Resource Type" facet on the left side of the results screen to select "Books"
3. Use the "Sort" drop down menu at the top of the results list to select "Newest First." This will present the most recently published items at the top of the list, and work backwards in time.
4. Scan the results for print materials with PS call numbers (PS stands for American Literature in the Library of Congress system) and click on titles of interest to learn more about them.
5. Once on the individual item screen, look under "Details" to see if there is a summary of the play, and/or take a look at the "Subjects" listed for the play to get an idea of its content.
*Note: For eBooks, you will not be able to tell by the call number which plays are by American authors, as they do not have call numbers. You may need to look up the author's name to see if they are American by doing a web search.
*Note: Results from the HathiTrust will be too old for this assignment.
If you are looking for a play from a particular country, you can try doing an Advanced search in the online catalog.
1. Click on the Advanced Search link (located below the single search box in the online catalog).
2. Type in the country term, for example “American” in one box and the word “plays” or “drama” in the second box.
Click "Search."
3. When the records come up for your search. Click on the title of a promising book and look at the Topic words listed. If you click on any of the "Subjects," listed under "Details," you’ll find books with the same subject.
So for example, if your search brings up a book with the subject heading of Drama- 21st century, clicking on that subject will show you all of the other books in our catalog that have been marked as Drama from the 21st century.
*It works the same way for genre. Try an advanced search for “comedy” and “American.”
Music scores, sheet music, and recordings can also be found in through Millikin Library Discovery.
Searching by Song Title is similar to searching for a play by title.
1. Type in the name of the song in quotation marks in the search box, limiting to "Library Catalog," or "All I-Share Libraries." For example, "So in love"
2. The song may be included in an anthology or collection, and not necessarily be the title of a whole score or recording.
For example, "So in love" is in the Kiss Me Kate score, but also in the Tony Awards Songbook. If it is part of compilation, it will likely appear in the "Details- Contents" for the book if you click on the book/score title:
3. You may also want to narrow your search to "Resource Type- Scores," using the limiters on the left side of the screen.
*If you don't immediately see your song title in the Contents (it should be underlined in yellow), try hitting Ctrl + F on your computer keyboard to open a find box. Type in the title you were looking for, and it will highlight it on the screen.