With advanced searching, you can build a complex search and focus it by setting search options. Follow these steps to do an advanced search.
1. Select Search on the menu bar, and select Advanced in the Search submenu.
The Advanced search bar appears.
2. If you want to find only a certain kind of material, click the arrow symbol in the Limit by box, and select an option from the list. Your library may provide additional limiters, such as availability.
Example:
If you want to find only DVDs, select DVD
in the Limit by list.
Note:
If your library handles course reserves, you can limit your
search to materials reserved for courses. Click the Course
reserve items only check box. For more information, see Find
an item on reserve.
3. If you want to search a database other than the library, or select multiple databases to search, click Select Databases and choose the databases.
For more information, see Selecting Search Databases.
4. If you want to have the search results sorted by a category other than the one displayed, click the Sort by arrow symbol and select a sorting option.
Relevance sorts titles in the search results so that those that seem most likely to meet your needs appear first in the list. Most Popular sorts titles in the search results so that the titles most frequently checked out or requested over the past 120 days appear first in the list.
When you select a sorting option that combines two categories, the results are sorted by the first category, then by the second.
5. Click the first Find Any field arrow symbol, and select a search field from the list. For search field descriptions, see Search for a keyword.
6. Type the search text in the empty box next to the first field, keeping in mind the following tips:
: Letter case, multiple spaces, and punctuation are ignored. Omit hyphens in numbers. However, you can include the following characters if they immediately precede or follow a letter or number (no space between): + # % $
: You can type a part of a word and use a wildcard character. The wildcard character asterisk (*) represents the rest of the word. For example, if you type King*, the results include words such as King, Kingsley, and Kingford. The question mark (?) represents exactly one character. For example, wom?n finds woman and women.
7. Click the And arrow symbol, and select one of the following operators to combine the first term with the next term:
: Select And to specify that the results must match both the first term and the next term.
: Select Or to specify that the results can match the first term, or the second term, or both.
: Select Not to specify that the results must match the first term, but must not match the second term.
8. Click the second Any field arrow symbol, select a search field from the list, and type the second term in the empty box next to the second field.
Note:
If you do not type any search terms, and just select an option
in the Limit by box (see step 2),
your results will include all the materials that fit your Limit by selection.
9. If you want to set another pair of search terms, repeat steps 5-8.
When the search is launched, multiple search terms are processed in pairs; then the pairs are combined.
10. If you want to set limits on your search, you can scroll the page to use any or all of these search options:
Important:
“Detailed material types” are defined by the
library for the physical items the library owns. The formats in the
Limit by box on the search bar refer
to general formats and types of materials associated with title entries
in the catalog. You can limit a search by format or detailed material
type, but not both. If you selected a format in the Limit
by box when you set up your search, your format choice is
canceled when you set a material type.
: Number of titles that appear on each search results page
For more information about these options, see Focusing Searches.
When the search is finished, the search results list is displayed.
Important:
Search options retain the settings you make throughout your
session, unless you reset them to the default values. The links Change Search Options and Reset
Search Options on the search bar indicate that search options
are set to values different from the default values. To reset the search
options to their default values, click Reset
Search Options.
: If the search is successful, information about titles is displayed in the search results list.
: If no matches are found, you see a message. You may also see a Did you mean suggestion. You can click the suggestion to search for the suggested term.
Note:
You may also see a more
link next to the suggestion. Click the link to see more suggestions.
12. To work with the results, do any of the following actions:
: Navigate the results list and view more information about the titles. See Viewing Title Information.
: Narrow your search results or do related searches. See Narrowing or Widening Results.
: Add a title to a title list. See Working with Search Results.
: Place a request for a title, or purchase a title. See Obtaining Materials.
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~ Additional search methods - See the following topics:
: Phrase and Exact Phrase Searches
~ Course reserves - If your library holds items reserved for courses at a school or college, you may be able to search for course reserve information and materials. See Finding Course Reserves.