BASIC SEARCH
The 'ALL KEYWORDS' search looks for words that might appear
anywhere in the catalog's description of the
item.
You should use this type of search if:
- You have only a very general idea of a topic
- You know only a portion of an author or composer's last
name
- You know a few words of a title of a specific book/CD/video
The 'ALL KEYWORDS' search might retrieve more results than you
need, and it might also retrieve results that are not relevant to
your topic/author/title. However, it is a good place to start if
you don't have the exact information on what you are looking
for.
How do I use BASIC SEARCH? (Option #1)
- Simply type your keywords in the box labeled 'Enter word or
phrase:' and click on the SEARCH button.
- Put quotes around your words to search as a phrase (for example:
"things fall apart").
- The catalog automatically puts an 'and' between all words you
enter.
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MORE ON BASIC SEARCH
You will notice that, in the box labeled SELECT FIELD TO SEARCH,
you can pull down a list of other search options from a menu. The
most popular of these are listed and described below:
Title Keywords - words that appear in any part
of the title of an item (in any order)
For example: tolls and bell and whom
Title starts with [omit initial article] - the
exact words that appear in the title part of an item (in
order)
For example: for whom the bell
Author Keywords - word or words that appear in
the author part of an item (in any order)
For example: hemingway
Exact Author [last name, first name] - the
exact last name of the author, followed by the first
For example: hemingway, ernest
Subject Keywords - word or words that appear in
the subject of an item
For example: women and literature and history
There are other options on the BASIC SEARCH pull-down menu. For
help with these and ADVANCED SEARCH features, please Ask for Help.
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OPTIONAL LIMITS
Before proceeding with your search, you might choose to limit
your search in any number of ways.
By Location - The default will search all
libraries; use the pull down menu to limit your search to the
Science Library or to the Irwin Library; you can also select
Electronic Library if you are only interested in e-books.
By Collection - Choose from the pull down menu
to limit your search to Periodicals, Reference materials, the
Browsing Collection, and more.
By Format - Limit your search to Scores, Videos
& DVD's, Sound Recordings, Books, etc.
By Language - Use the pull down menu to limit
your search to items in French, German, Spanish or others.
By Date - Type a four-digit year (for example:
2011) to limit to a specific year, or use the '?' symbol at the end
to limit to a particular decade or century (for example 199? will
retrieve items published in the 1990s and 18?? will retrieve items
from 1800-1899).
You can use multiple limits on the same search. By using several
of the limits together, you can make your search more specific -
you can search for scores in German, published in the 1990s.
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USING TRUNCATION
? - the '?' symbol, used at the beginning, end, or in the middle
of any word will retrieve variant spellings of that word (for
example: gun? will retrieve gun, guns, gunners, gunnery, gunning,
etc. Similarly , ?topia will retrieve dystopia and utopia, and
wom?n will retrieve women and woman).
USING BOOLEAN OPERATORS
The default search assumes the word AND between words. You can
use the Boolean operators AND, OR & NOT to broaden out or
narrow your searches.
For more detailed information about all possible ways to search
and utilize the catalog, read below:
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BROWSE SEARCH (Option #2)
The Browse Search enables you to scroll through an alphabetical
index. Some of the indexes available are Subject, Author, Title,
and other numeric lists.
Choose the index you'd like to browse, and enter the text from
which you'd like to start browsing. This text will appear at the
top of a scrollable list. For example, entering 'A' will give you
an alphabetical list starting at 'A'. Entering 'great' will give
you an alphabetical list starting from 'great'. You will then be
able to scroll down to entries such as Great Britain and Great
Danes.
The Browse List displays an alphabetical list of entries, shows
the number of items for each entry and indicates whether or not
there are cross-references for the entry. Click on an underlined
entry to see the associated items for an entry. If you find an
indented 'See :' link, you should use that phrase to search for the
Subject or Author.
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SEARCH HISTORY (blue
button on menu bar)
This function shows a list of sets from past searches and lets
you:
- Select a search and view the list of items in that result
set.
- Narrow or widen your search by crossing sets.
- Delete sets from the list.
In addition, you may choose to return to the last browse list of
headings (titles, authors, subjects, etc.) referenced.
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LIST OF ITEMS
A List of Items is displayed as a result of a Basic or Advanced
Search, or from a Browse List by clicking on an underlined entry.
You can also choose a previous List of Items by clicking on the
Search History button. Various actions may be performed on a List
of Items, such as sorting and adding items to your e-shelf.
If your List of Items includes more than 600, you cannot sort
the list by any of the available options.
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FULL DESCRIPTION OF ITEM
In the Full Description, you can see more information about the
item. You can get to the Full Description by clicking on the item's
title in a results list.
The Full Description has links that allow you to jump to:
- A Browse List of items that share the same Subject (or Author,
or Title)
- Call Number or Holdings information, including
Availability
- External files, such as an electronic journal
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REQUESTS
You can only request items that are currently checked
out. You can either log into the catalog first (with the
'My Library Card' option) or log in once you have found an item you
want, by clicking on the 'Request' link under the Action column
from the Detailed Holdings page.
MY LIBRARY CARD
You can log in to the Catalog with your Campus ID (including the
last two digits) as your username and your regular Network Username
as your password.
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DETAILED SEARCH
INFORMATION
The Search function will retrieve a maximum of 2000 records per
set. If your search request finds more than 2000 records, you will
be requested to rephrase your search term.
The ? character may be placed at the left,
right, or middle of a portion of a word, but it can never be used
more than once in a text string.
The # symbol can be used to find variant
spellings in cases where one version of the word has one more
character than another version. For example, colo#r will find both
colour and color ; and arch#eology will find both archaeology and
archeology.
The % symbol, followed by a number, may be
placed between two words to indicate that you want the words to
appear within a particular distance from each other, and you don't
care in what order the words appear. For example, england %3
ballads will retrieve Ballads of England, Ballads of Merry
Olde England, and England and Her Ballads.
The ! character, followed by a number, may be
placed between two words to indicate that you want the words to
appear within a particular distance from each other, and in the
same order in which you type the words. In this
case, ballads !3 england will retrieve Ballads of England
and Ballads of Merry Olde England but not England and Her
Ballads.
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