More Search Options

Keyword Searches

Each record in the library catalog contains specific information about a work, such as the title, author, and subject. You can search these record fields for keywords. A keyword search in any field looks in all the search fields of the library catalog to find your keyword text. Other keyword searches narrow the search for the keyword only in the author, subject, title, or other specific fields.

Typing Search Text - Keyword Searches

Case, spaces, punctuation - 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): + # % $

Multiple words - If you type more than one word, your results may include materials with the words in any order. If you want to find the words in the exact order, begin the phrase with double quotation marks.

Wildcard characters - 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 wildcard character question mark (?) represents exactly one character. For example, wom?n finds woman and women. If the question mark occurs at the end of a word, it does not act as a wildcard character, so you can find titles like what color is your parachute? Also, if you type a backslash character \ before any wildcard character, the wildcard character is treated as text.

Do a keyword search

To do a keyword search:

1. Select Keyword on the Search menu.

2. Type the text to search for in the Keyword search for box.

   If you see suggested search terms as you type, you can ignore the suggestions and continue to type your search term, or you can select a suggestion to search for the term. Select Hide Suggestions if you do not want to see search suggestions. Select the small arrow in the search text box to show the suggestions after they have been hidden.

3. Select the Search by arrow symbol, and select a search field from the list:

   Any Field - All the indexed information fields

   Title - Title fields

   Author - Author fields

   Subject - Subject fields

   General notes - Notes fields

   Publisher - Publisher field

   Genre - Forms or types of materials, such as science fiction, romance, biography, bibliography, or large type books

   Series - Series fields

   ISBN - International Standard Book Number, a 13 digit number that is assigned to a specific book or edition of a book when it is published. Type the wildcard character * at the beginning and end of the number you enter for best results.

   ISSN - International Standard Serial Number, an 8 digit number with an optional letter code that identifies a serial title. Type the wildcard character * at the beginning and end of the number you enter for best results.

   LCCN - Library of Congress Control Number. Type the wildcard character * at the beginning and end of the number you enter for best results.

   Publisher No. - Publisher’s number, the unique identifier assigned to the publishers of sound recordings, video recordings, printed sheet music, and other musical works

   SuDoc - Superintendent of Documents classification number (identifier) assigned to government documents. The identifier can consist of letters and numbers.

   CODEN - Identifier for scientific and technical periodical titles. The six-character identifier can consist of letters and numbers.

   STRN - Standard technical report number (identifier) assigned according to ISO 10444 or NISO Z39.23 standards. The identifier can consist of letters and numbers.

4. To limit your search, select the Limit by box, and select an option from the list. Example: If you want to find only DVDs, select DVD in the Limit by list.

5. If you want to set additional limits, follow these steps:

   1. Select More Search Options.

      The search options window opens.

   2. Select the settings you want. On a desktop computer, to select several consecutive items in a list, hold down the SHIFT key as you select the items. To select several items that are not listed together, hold down the CTRL key as you select the items. On a tablet or smart phone, you can select multiple items but the method depends on your device.

      You can also exclude items from a search. Select them from the appropriate list, and select the Exclude box below the list.

      Note:
      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.

   3. Select Set Search Options.

      The search options window closes and the search bar displays a highlighted message that options have been set. To change them, select the Change link in the highlighted Options set message, set new values and select Set Search Options. Then do a new search. (The previous search, if any, is automatically done again using your new options settings.)

      To reset the search options to their original values, click the Clearlink in the highlighted Options set message. The search is done again, using the original values.

      Important:
      Search options retain their settings until you reset them or go to the home page. The highlighted message Options set on the search bar indicates that search options are set to values different from the usual values.

6. Click or tap the search icon .

   If the search is successful, you see your search results. If no matches are found, you see a message. You may also see a Did you mean suggestion. You can select the suggestion to search for the suggested term. You may be able to click or tap More to see additional suggestions.

   You may also see a link to Include related words. You can click or tap this link to add records containing related words as well as your literal typed search term to your search results. "Related words" include words formed from stemming (for example, regular plurals and verb endings such as walk, walks, walker, walked, walking, but not irregular forms such as mouse/mice or run/ran) and synonyms. Synonyms include common nicknames, proper name variations, and spelling variations.

7. To see more information about a title in your search results list, select the title or cover image.

8. To filter your search results or do related searches, select a Narrow or Related option at the side or bottom of the page.

Phrase Searches

A phrase search looks for matches to multiple words, in the same order you typed them. You might choose a phrase search when you know the phrase is part of a specific title, not necessarily at the beginning of the title.

Typing Search Text - Phrase Searches

Case, spaces, punctuation - 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): + # % $

Multiple words - Word order matters. For example, a phrase series search for drew nancy may yield no results. The same search for nancy drew lists the titles in the Nancy Drew mystery series. If you are searching for an author, enter the author’s name in this format: last name, first name because that is the way the name appears in the catalog records.

Wildcard characters - 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 wildcard character question mark (?) represents exactly one character. For example, wom?n finds woman and women. If the question mark occurs at the end of a word, it does not act as a wildcard character, so you can find titles like what color is your parachute? Also, if you type a backslash character \ before any wildcard character, the wildcard character is treated as text.

Do a phrase search

To do a phrase search:

1. Select Phrase on the Search menu.

2. Type the words to search for in the Phrase search for box.

   If you see suggested search terms as you type, you can ignore the suggestions and continue to type your search term, or you can select a suggestion to search for the term. Select Hide Suggestions if you do not want to see search suggestions. Select the small arrow in the search text box to show the suggestions after they have been hidden.

3. Select a field to search in the Search by box:

   Any Field - All the indexed information fields

   Author - Author fields

   Subject - Subject fields

   Title - Title fields

   General notes - Notes fields

   Publisher - Publisher field

   Series - Series fields

   Genre - Forms or types of materials, such as science fiction, romance, biography, or large type books

4. To limit your search, select the Limit by box, and select an option from the list. Example: If you want to find only DVDs, select DVD in the Limit by list.

5. If you want to set additional limits, follow these steps:

   Important:
   If you type your search term and then select more search options before clicking or tapping the search icon , you will need to re-type your search term.

   1. Select More Search Options.

      The search options window opens.

      On a desktop computer, to select several consecutive items in a list, hold down the SHIFT key as you select the items. To select several items that are not listed together, hold down the CTRL key as you select the items. On a tablet or smart phone, you can select multiple items but the method depends on your device. You can also exclude items from a search. Select them from the appropriate list, and select the Exclude box below the list.

   2. Select Set Search Options.

      The search options window closes and the search bar displays a highlighted message that options have been set. To change them, select the Change link in the highlighted Options set message, set new values and select Set Search Options. Then do a new search. (The previous search, if any, is automatically done again using your new options settings.)

      To reset the search options to their original values, click the Clearlink in the highlighted Options set message. The search is done again, using the original values.

      Important:
      Search options retain their settings until you reset them or go to the home page. The highlighted message Options set on the search bar indicates that search options are set to values different from the usual values.

6. Click or tap the search icon .

   If the search is successful, you see your search results. If no matches are found, you see a message. You may also see a Did you mean suggestion. You can select the suggestion to search for the suggested term. You may be able to click or tap More to see additional suggestions.

   You may also see a link to Include related words. You can click or tap this link to add records containing related words as well as your literal typed search term to your search results. "Related words" include words formed from stemming (for example, regular plurals and verb endings such as walk, walks, walker, walked, walking, but not irregular forms such as mouse/mice or run/ran) and synonyms. Synonyms include common nicknames, proper name variations, and spelling variations. Individual words in the phrase are processed for related words separately. For example, a phrase search for "fate and fury" retrieves titles with phrases such as "fate and furies," "fates and furies," and "fates and fury". The system checks synonyms for individual words in the phrase. For example, a phrase search for "colour purple" retrieves titles with "color purple." The phrase as a whole is NOT checked for synonyms.

7. To see more information about a title in your search results list, select the title or cover image.

8. To filter your search results or do related searches, select a Narrow or Related option at the side or bottom of the page.

   If you selected Include related words for your search results, you may see two options under Narrow: See what was added, and See original results.

   • To see only the related words records, select only See what was added.

   • To see only the original search results without the related words records, select only See original results.

   • To see the original search results PLUS the related words records, check or uncheck both checkboxes.

Exact Searches

An exact search looks for your exact text, from beginning to end, whether your search text is multiple words or just one word. An exact search is useful when you know the text precisely; for example, when searching for titles such as It or Jazz.

Typing Search Text - Exact Searches

Case, spaces, punctuation - 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): + # % $

Multiple words - Word order matters. An exact search looks for your text exactly as you enter it. If you are searching for an author, enter the author’s name in this format: last name, first name*, because that is the way the name appears in the catalog records. Include the wild card character * (see below) in case the name has more characters, such as a middle initial. As another example, if you search for a title with the search text gone with, you will find only gone with, not gone with the wind. You can use the wildcard character * to represent other characters. If you search for a title with the search text gone with*, you might find gone with the wind and gone without a trace.

Wildcard characters - 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 wildcard character question mark (?) represents exactly one character. For example, wom?n finds woman and women. If the question mark occurs at the end of a word, it does not act as a wildcard character, so you can find titles like what color is your parachute? Also, if you type a backslash character \ before any wildcard character, the wildcard character is treated as text.

Do an exact search

To do an exact search:

1. Select Exact on the Search menu.

2. Type the exact words to search for in the Exact search for box.

3. Select a field to search in the Search by box:

   Author - Author fields

   Title - Title fields

   Subject - Subject fields

   Series - Series fields

4. To limit your search, select the Limit by box, and select an option from the list. Example: If you want to find only DVDs, select DVD in the Limit by list.

5. If you want to set additional limits, follow these steps:

   Important:
   If you type your search term and then select more search options before clicking or tapping the search icon , you will need to re-type your search term.

   1. Select More Search Options. The search options window opens.

   2. Select the settings you want. On a desktop computer, to select several consecutive items in a list, hold down the SHIFT key as you select the items. To select several items that are not listed together, hold down the CTRL key as you select the items. On a tablet or smart phone, you can select multiple items but the method depends on your device. You can also exclude items from a search. Select them from the appropriate list, and select the Exclude box below the list.

      Note:
      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.

6. Select Set Search Options.

   The search options window closes and the search bar displays a highlighted message that options have been set. To change them, select the Change link in the highlighted Options set message, set new values and select Set Search Options. Then do a new search. (The previous search, if any, is automatically done again using your new options settings.)

   To reset the search options to their original values, select the Clearlink in the highlighted Options set message. The search is done again, using the original values.

   Important:
   Search options retain their settings until you reset them or go to the home page. The highlighted message Options set on the search bar indicates that search options are set to values different from the usual values.

7. Click or tap the search icon .

   If the search is successful, you see your search results. 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. You may be able to click or tap More to see additional suggestions.

   If you selected remote databases to search, a status bar indicates how many results were retrieved and how many results are pending. To load the remainder of the results, click Add Pending Results. You can click Search Status to see the number of results for all the selected databases. If you have selected or entered a search Limit by option that a remote database cannot use, results from this database are returned based on the basic search terms you entered, and a message indicates that the limiters were not used in the remote database search.

8. To see more information about a title in your search results list, click the title or cover image.

9. To filter your search results or do related searches, click a Narrow or Related option at the side or bottom of the page.

Advanced Searches

With advanced searching, you can do a complex, focused keyword search, combining several search terms and selecting a search field for each one. You do not need to know any special commands to do advanced searching.

Connecting Search Terms (Operators)

You can combine search terms with the following connector words (also called logical operators, or Boolean operators):

And - Search results must match the search text before And, and the search text after And.

Or - Search results can match the search text before Or, the search text after Or, or both search terms.

Not - Search results must match the search text before Not, but must not include the search text after Not.

Typing Search Text - Advanced Searches

Case, spaces, punctuation - 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): + # % $

Multiple words - If you type multiple words in the box, the search usually looks for all the words you entered (Keyword ALL search). The table shows the access points for each option, and the effect on search results:

Wildcard characters - 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 wildcard character question mark (?) represents exactly one character. For example, wom?n finds woman and women. If the question mark occurs at the end of a word, it does not act as a wildcard character, so you can find titles like what color is your parachute? Also, if you type a backslash character \ before any wildcard character, the wildcard character is treated as text.

Do an advanced search

To do an advanced search:

1. Select Advanced on the Search menu. The Advanced search bar appears.

2. Select the first Find Any field box, and select a search field from the list.

3. Type the search text in the empty box next to the first field. You must type a search term in the first Find field.

4. Select the first And box, and select an operator (And, Or, Not) to combine the first term with the next term.

   Note:
   If you type one of these operators in a search term box, it is treated as search text, not as an operator.

5. Select the second Any field box, select a search field from the list, and type the second term in the empty box next to the second field. You can select Clear to clear your search terms and start again.

6. If you want to add more search terms, repeat steps 2-5.

   As you add search terms, the bar at the top of the page displays your search command. The terms you entered are displayed in normal type. The search commands, operators, and punctuation that the program creates are displayed in bold type.

   When the search is launched, the operators will be processed according to the following order of precedence (lower values take precedence over higher values):

   • AND = 1
   • OR = 2
   • NOT = 3

   The search bar at the top of the page shows the order of precedence by placing nesting parentheses where appropriate. Terms within parentheses are processed first.

   Tip:
   If you leave a text entry box empty, the operator and search field associated with the text box are ignored. As you construct your search, the form shows the active boxes in a contrasting color.

7. To add another set of search terms, follow these steps:

   1. Select Add or exclude another set of search terms. The plus sign next to this link changes to a minus sign, and the page expands to display another set of four search fields. (You can select the minus sign to collapse the page again.)

   2. By the Add or exclude link, select an operator (And, Or, Not) to connect the two sets of search terms.

   3. Type the second set of search terms.

   As you type, you see your search command in the bar at the top of the page. Your search command cannot be greater than 1,000 characters total.

   When the search starts, terms in the top portion are placed in parentheses and processed in order of precedence (see step 6), the terms in the bottom portion are placed in parentheses and processed in order of precedence, then the top and bottom sections are combined according to the operator that separates them.

8. To limit your search, select the Limit by box, and select an option from the list. Example: If you want to find only DVDs, select DVD in the Limit by list.

9. If you want to set additional limits, follow these steps:

   1. Select More Search Options. The search options window opens.

   2. Select the settings you want. On a desktop computer, to select several consecutive items in a list, hold down the SHIFT key as you select the items. To select several items that are not listed together, hold down the CTRL key as you select the items. On a tablet or smart phone, you can select multiple items but the method depends on your device. You can also exclude items from a search. Select them from the appropriate list, and select the Exclude box below the list.

      Note:
      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.

   3. Select Set Search Options. The search options window closes and the search bar displays a highlighted message that options have been set. To change them, select the Change link in the highlighted Options set message, set new values and select Set Search Options. Then do a new search. (The previous search, if any, is automatically done again using your new options settings.)

      To reset the search options to their original values, select the Clearlink in the highlighted Options set message. The search is done again, using the original values.

      Important:
      Search options retain their settings until you reset them or go to the home page. The highlighted message Options set on the search bar indicates that search options are set to values different from the default values.

10. To search a database other than the library’s catalog, or select multiple databases to search:

    1. Select Select Databases. The Select Databases window opens with the library's default search databases (the local database and remote databases) selected. If you do not want to search the local catalog along with the remote databases, select the check box next to the local database to clear the check box.

    2. Select the remote databases.

    3. Select Set Databases to save your selections to save your selections. The window closes. (The previous search, if any, is automatically done again using your new database settings.).

    Your selections remain until you reset them. To reset the search databases to the library's default databases, click or tap Clear.

11. Click or tap the search icon .

    If the search is successful, you see your search results. If no matches are found, you see a message. You may also see a Did you mean suggestion. You can select the suggestion to search for the suggested term. You may be able to click or tap More to see additional suggestions.

    If you selected remote databases to search, a status bar indicates how many results were retrieved and how many results are pending. To load the remainder of the results, click Add Pending Results. You can click Search Status to see the number of results for all the selected databases. If you have selected or entered a search Limit by option that a remote database cannot use, results from this database are returned based on the basic search terms you entered, and a message indicates that the limiters were discarded in the remote database search.

    You may also see a link to Include related words. You can click or tap this link to add records containing related words as well as your literal typed search term to your search results. "Related words" include words formed from stemming (for example, regular plurals and verb endings such as walk, walks, walker, walked, walking, but not irregular forms such as mouse/mice or run/ran) and synonyms. Synonyms include common nicknames, proper name variations, and spelling variations.

12. To see more information about a title in your search results list, select the title or cover image.

13. To filter your search results or do related searches, click a Narrow or Related option at the side or bottom of the page.

    If you selected Include related words for your search results, you may see two options under Narrow: See what was added, and See original results.

    • To see only the related words records, select only See what was added.

    • To see only the original search results without the related words records, select only See original results.

    • To see the original search results PLUS the related words records, check or uncheck bot.

Boolean Searches

With a Boolean search, you can do complex, precise searches by typing CQL (Common Query Language) search commands. The search command can include the following parts:

• The text for which you are searching

• The access points (fields) you want to search; for example, author or title Operators (connectors) that link one part of the search with another

  Example:
  

  To find the works of author Asimov published in or after 1970, you type the following command:

  AU=asimov AND PD >= 1970
  AU specifies the access point Author. The search text for this access point is asimov.
  AND is the Boolean operator connecting the two conditions of this search (the author and the date).
  PD specifies the access point Publication Date. The search text for this access point is 1970.
  The symbol >= is the relative operator greater than or equal to.

Fields that can be searched with CQL search commands fall into one of three categories:

• Keyword-indexed fields (for example, author, title, subject, notes) - A record must contain all the keywords entered in the field selected for search, in any order. Other words may be present, or the words may be present in different fields of the same type. To retrieve only records that contain the search words in a specific order with no words in between (that is, to do a phrase search), enter the words in double quotation marks. For example, a search for TI=french cooking finds the title French Provincial Cooking while TI=“french cooking” does not.

• Fields that are searched with string searches - A record must contain an exact match on the search characters (for example, a call number or publisher number search). If the field typically includes spacing or punctuation, and you want to find an exact match on the entire string, enter the text within double quotation marks. For example, when searching for a call number: CALL="641.5944 Dia"

• Fields that require library-specific or Polaris-specific codes - For example, language, target audience, type of material.

Operators

Operators link one part of a search command to another, and direct how the parts are related.

Boolean Operators

The Boolean operators And, Or, and Not combine search terms:

• And - A record must match both the term before and the term after the operator to be included in the search results.

  Example:
  AU=“isaacasimov” AND TI=planets
  Finds only the items written by Isaac Asimov that have the word planets in the title.

• Or - A record can match either the term before or the term after the operator, or both, to be included in the search results.

  Example:
  

  AU=“isaacasimov” OR TI=planets
  Finds all items written by Isaac Asimov and all items with the word planets in the title by any author, including Asimov.

  If you have a number of terms to combine with OR, type the command this way:
  AU={list}asimov, dick, ballard, lem, capek{/list} You can insert as many terms as you need between {list} and {/list}

• Not - A record must match the term before the operator, but not the term after the operator, to be included in the search results.

  Example:
  AU=“isaacasimov” NOT TI=planets
  Finds only those items written by Isaac Asimov that do not have the word planets in the title.

If you use multiple operators in the same search command, use parentheses to group (nest) the operations to be performed.

If you use multiple operators in the same search command but do not group the operations, the operators are processed according to the following precedence (lower values have higher precedence):

• PROX = 1
• AND = 2
• OR = 3
• NOT = 4

Relative Operators

Relative operators are symbols that compare search terms:

Proximity Operator

With proximity searching, you specify the allowable distance between two terms, which can be keywords or phrases. The proximity-distance operator is PROX/distance. The proximity-distance is the difference between the positions of the left and right terms. The distance is never negative, and adjacent terms have a proximity-distance equal to 1. You can use the operator with the relative operators < (less than), <= (less than or equal to), = (equals), >= (greater than or equal to), > (greater than), or <> (not equal to).

You can use the following modifiers:

/ordered - The order of the two terms in the search results must be the same as the order of the terms in the query.

/unordered - The order of the two terms does not matter in the search results.

You can use keyword or phrase search access points (such as KW, AU, TI) but the access point must be the same for both terms. If no access point is specified, KW (keyword) is assumed.

Restrictions on the proximity operator:

• The proximity operator does not support nested Boolean expressions in either the left or right terms. For example, ((Dog OR Cat) PROX/distance=5 Food) PROX/distance=6 Kennel is not supported.

• The maximum proximity-distance is 1024. If the proximity-distance in the query is greater than 1024, the search process changes it to 1024.

• The total maximum number of keywords in a proximity expression is 16. That is, the number of keywords on the left side of the proximity operator plus the number of keywords on the right side of the proximity operator is limited to 16. If a proximity expression contains more than 16 words, then the proximity operator will be ignored but up to the first 16 words on the left and the right will be checked for adjacency.

• The keyword or phrase access point (such as KW, AU, TI) used in the left and right terms must be the same. For example, the query SU=HARRY PROX/distance<=5 AU=POTTER is not supported and will produce an Unsupported search error.

• The left and right terms for each proximity operator must be a keyword or phrase and not a Boolean expression, but there is no limit to the number of proximity operators in a query. For example, this query is valid:

  (AU=“J. K.” PROX/distance<10 AU=“Rowling”)
  AND (TI=“Conversations With” PROX/distance<10 TI=“Rowling”)
  AND MAT=BKS

Search Text That Includes Operators, Reserved Words, or Special Characters

To search for text that includes an operator or other reserved word, or special characters, as part of the search text, put the text in double quotation marks.

For example, to find the title Bud, Not Buddy, type this command:
TI = “bud not buddy”
Put this text in quotation marks because not is ordinarily a Boolean operator.

As another example, to find the title Tim O'Toole and the Wee Folk, type this command:
TI=“timo’toole”
Put this text in quotation marks because the apostrophe in the word o’toole is a special character.

The following text must be placed in double quotation marks when used as part of the search text:

• ADJ
• ALL
• AND
• ANY
• NOT
• PROX
• OR
• SORTBY

Search Access Point (Field) Codes

Use these access point codes to specify what fields to search:

LA (Language) Codes

These are some common codes to use with the language access point (LA) in a Boolean (CQL) search. Use the code, not the language name. For example, to specify English, type LA=ENG.

TA (Target Audience) Codes

Use these codes with the target audience (TA) access point in a Boolean (CQL) search. Use the code, not the target audience name. For example, to specify a preschool audience, type TA=a.

TOM (Format/Type of Material) Codes

Use these codes with the Type of Material access point (TOM) in a Boolean (CQL) search. Use the format/type of material code, not the name. For example, to specify DVDs, type TOM=DVD.

Do a Boolean search by typing a CQL command

To search by typing a Common Query Language (CQL) command:

1. Select Boolean from the Search menu.

2. Type the CQL command in the Boolean search for box, keeping the following tips in mind:

   • Letter case is ignored.

   • 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 wildcard character question mark (?) represents exactly one character. For example, wom?n finds woman and women. If the question mark occurs at the end of a word, it does not act as a wildcard character, so you can find titles like what color is your parachute? Also, if you type a backslash character \ before any wildcard character, the wildcard character is treated as text.

   • Use parentheses to group search terms.

     Example:
     The following command finds works of the author Asimov which have titles with the word foundation, except audio books published after 1990:
     (AU=asimov AND TI=foundation) NOT (TOM=abk and PD>1990)
     Terms inside the parentheses are processed first, then the entire command.

   • To include text that is ordinarily ignored, such as punctuation or Boolean command words in the search text, place the search text in quotation marks.

     Example:
     To find the title Bud, Not Buddy, type the following command:
     TI = “bud not buddy”

3. If you want to set additional limits, follow these steps:

   Important:
   If you type your search term and then select more search options before clicking or tapping the search icon , you will need to re-type your search term.

   1. Select More Search Options. The search options window opens.

   2. Select the settings you want. On a desktop computer, to select several consecutive items in a list, hold down the SHIFT key as you select the items. To select several items that are not listed together, hold down the CTRL key as you select the items. On a tablet or smart phone, you can select multiple items but the method depends on your device. You can also exclude items from a search. Select them from the appropriate list, and select the Exclude box below the list.

      Note:
      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.

   3. Select Set Search Options. The search options window closes and the search bar displays a highlighted message that options have been set. To change them, select the Change link in the highlighted Options set message, set new values and select Set Search Options. Then do a new search. (The previous search, if any, is automatically done again using your new options settings.)

      To reset the search options to their original values, select the Clearlink in the highlighted Options set message. The search is done again, using the original values.

      Important:
      Search options retain their settings until you reset them or go to the home page.

4. To search a database other than the library’s catalog, or select multiple databases to search:

   1. Select Select Databases. The Select Databases window opens with the library's default search databases (the local database and remote databases) selected. If you do not want to search the local catalog along with the remote databases, select the check box next to the local database to clear the check box.

   2. Select the remote databases.

   3. Select Set Databases to save your selections. The window closes. (The previous search, if any, is automatically done again using your new database settings.) Your selections remain until you reset them. To reset the search databases to the library's default databases, click or tap Clear.

5. Click or tap the search icon . If the search is successful, you see your search results. If no matches are found, you see a message.

   If you selected remote databases to search, a status bar indicates how many results were retrieved and how many results are pending. To load the remainder of the results, select Add Pending Results. You can select Search Status to see the number of results for all the selected databases. If you have selected or entered a search Limit by option that a remote database cannot use, results from this database are returned based on the basic search terms you entered, and a message indicates that the limiters were not used in the remote database search.

6. To see more information about a title in your search results list, select the title or cover image.

7. To filter your search results or do related searches, select a Narrow or Related option at the side or bottom of the page.