WorldCat UMD helps the University of Maryland community find information and library resources to support their coursework, research, and other information needs.
Because WorldCat UMD is a based on WorldCat, a shared catalog made up of library holdings from around the world, you can find and get access to resources beyond what is held by the library. You can find and access materials held by our consortial partners including other Big Ten libraries participating in the UBorrow program and USMAI libraries. Even if an item isn't held by one of our partners, WorldCat UMD can help you find and request to borrow materials from any of the more than 10,000 libraries which contribute to the WorldCat database through our InterLibrary Loan services.
Explore this tutorial: WorldCat UMD Introduction.
Explore the Advanced Search page, from the Advanced Search page click on 'Add / Remove Databases' expand your search to remote databases from a variety providers, and use index labels.
If you are having trouble finding specific materials in WorldCat UMD, consult the Finding Different Editions or Formats page to learn more about the "grouping" feature to help you better find the particular edition you may be searching for. You may also want to read the short page on sorting and faceting options to improve your search experience, particularly known-item searching.
You can check our our "Ask Us!" page. Here you can see if someone has asked a similar question to yours which has already been answered by one of our librarians. You can also chat live with a reference librarian from this page.
If you would rather send an e-mail, you can submit a question to a librarian using this form.
You can also contact one of our subject specialist librarians who can help you with research or coursework in their areas of expertise. You can browse our subject specialist directory to find the librarian to help you.
If you encounter any problems, check the Report a Problem page to find out how to get it resolved.
You can find WorldCat UMD on our homepage lib.umd.edu. It is the primary search box on the page.
You can also access WorldCat UMD directly using this link: https://umaryland.on.worldcat.org/discovery
For best performance, log-in from the University of Maryland, College Park menu drop-down, on upper right of the WorldCat UMD screen.
You can also find it at the very bottom of the page in Discovery under "Library Links".
Because WorldCat UMD searches library holdings of libraries around the world, we have configured it to prioritize results based on the holding institution. Locally held items, that is materials held by UMD Libraries, are prioritized and display at the top of the search results page, followed by partner institutions in the Big Ten and USMAI. Items not held by UMD or a partner institution are given the lowest priority, displaying at the bottom of the
Click on the title of the item you want. Next scroll down and see what options you have for accessing it, for example, the page may say "Find a copy online," "View full text," or "Find a copy in the Library."
For additional information visit the tab 'Find Your Resource' in this guide.
Examples of resources discoverable in WorldCat UMD:
WorldCat UMD provides a few different options for access electronic media found while searching. First, if the library has access to a particular item, a button will display on the listing on the search results page.
To access the item, you simply need to click on the button to be redirected to it. However, if we have access to the item from a variety of sources, the button will instead display the options to you, so you can choose how to access the item.
Here you see a series of links to access the journal. The links are in the left-hand column, and the coverage information is in the right-hand column. In this example, the top link provides access to the journal, PMLA, starting with issue published in 2002 through to the present. However, the second link provides access to issues starting in 1889, but has a rolling embargo of six years, meaning I cannot access issues published in the past 6 years.
If an item is available from the library or one of our USMAI partner libraries, you can use the Request Item button to have the library reserve the book for you or to have the book delivered to the library of your choice from another library. You can learn more about requesting materials here.
WorldCat UMD enables you to search for items held by libraries around the world, so you may find something that the library does not own or have access to through an online database. In these cases, you can use the Request Item through Interlibrary Loan button to request the item from another library. You can learn more about interlibrary loan here.
Our special collection libraries including Special Collections and University Archives in Hornbake Library, the Prange Collection in Hornbake Library, and Special Collections in Performing Art in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library provide access to rare and unique materials which can be found in WorldCat UMD but do not circulate like the materials from the majority of our libraries. To requesting special collections materials, you can read this blog post about the request process.
If this did not answer your questions about making requests or you would like to learn more, you can explore the Your Best Request guide.
