Our catalog has a new interface

Our catalog comes now with a new user interface – you can now use the color coding system to search for the right book.

Some people have been familiar with our catalog with the mysterious name CLICAPS for decades. So, it is time for a relaunch. Now, our catalog presents itself in a new and updated design at https://infozentrum.ethz.ch/en/catalog. The user interface is now directly integrated into our open source based website, and hence is up to date in terms of appearance and usability. Behind the user interface, we still access a Filemaker database that contains the accumulated records from more than 20 years. As before, you can borrow books via the direct link on the research platform ETH Library @ swisscovery.

In contrast to many other specialized libraries, users of the Chemistry | Biology | Pharmacy Information Center can browse the shelves themselves. Our subject specialists arrange the books by topics; hence, you will find books on the same topic also on the same shelf, even if their titles would not necessarily suggest similar content.

Now, you can use the color coding system on our shelves also online. There are three ways to find the right book:

1. Searching for title or author in the black search box, setting "Search in works". We recommend this search option if you know the title and/or author.

2. You are looking for a book on a specific topic? Just select the appropriate parent topic below, e.g. biology. A click on the green box opens further subtopics. Select for example "Immunology". Now, all areas within Immunology are displayed. If you are interested in "Immunological Methods", click on it. The catalog finds 141 works. A click on the orange "Show works" shows a table with all titles. Click into the line to find the respective copy and if you want to borrow the book.

3. You do not know in which of the four key areas you can find your topic of interest? For example, are you looking for books on visual communication? Use the black search box again, this time with the setting "Search in topics", and enter "Communication". You will see that there are four areas of communication, including "Design and Visual Communication".

As you can see, finding the right book is very easy. Thanks to our classification work, you do not have to filter hundreds or thousands of hits. But what if you cannot find a book? Then, search the entire book collection of all Swiss libraries via ETH Library @ swisscovery or swisscovery.

For nostalgics, we will keep the old CLICAPS catalog at the URL http://clicaps-legacy.ethz.ch for a while still.