Subject & Study Guides: LibrarySearch Help: Advanced help

How to refine and sort my search results

Follow the steps below to refine your search results:

You can use Refine my results in the left column to limit your search result by sort by, availability, library/collection, date, subject, etc.
Your selected filters are listed above Refine my results called Active filters. To remove a particular filter, click on the cross at the end of the filter name.
Sort your results by clicking the Sorted by drop down list and selecting your perferred order.

How to use Boolean Logic in LibrarySearch?

You can use the "boolean operators" (AND, OR, NOT) in the LibrarySearch.

NOTE*: To use Boolean operators within search phrases, you must enter them in UPPERCASE LETTERS. Otherwise, LibrarySearch will consider them as part of the search.

1. Searching for a phrase

To search for a phrase, type quotation marks around the phrase. You can combine both words and phrases in your search.
For example, to search for global warming as one term, type the following in the search box:

2. Searching for any specified words or phrases

You can search for items that contain at least one of the words or phrases you type in the Search box. To do so, type OR between the words or phrases. If you search for words or phrases without specifying OR or NOT, LibrarySearch assumes that you are searching for all the specified words or phrases.
NOTE: To use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) within search phrases, you must enter them in uppercase letters. Otherwise, LibrarySearch will consider them as part of the search.
For example, to search for items with the word Irish or the word Celtic, type the following in the search box:

3. Excluding words or phrases

You can exclude items that contain specific words or phrases. To do so, type NOT and then type the word or phrase to be excluded. For example, to search for items with the word Irish and exclude any of these items with the word Celtic, type the following in the search box:

4. Searching using wildcard characters

You can include the following wildcard characters in your searches:

?	enter a question mark to perform a single character wildcard search. For example, type wom?n to search for records that contain the strings woman, women, and so forth.
*	enter and asterisk to perform a multiple character wildcard search. For example, type cultur* to search for records that contain strings, such as culture, cultural, and culturally.;

5. Grouping terms within a search

You can use parentheses to group terms within a search. This is especially important when there are three or more search terms. For example, to search for Shakespeare and either tragedy or sonnet, type the following in the search box:

Searches for women, human, anatomy can result in different results depending on the placement of the brackets and boolean operators.

(woman OR women) AND anatomy AND human = 17295 results
(woman OR women) AND human anatomy = 17295 results
(woman OR women) AND (human AND anatomy) = 20 results
(woman OR women) AND (human anatomy) = 20 results

How to see if a book is available

You can tell a book is available in any one of these three ways:

You can find Available at, in green colour under the title of the book, indicates that the book is available.
Click Get it tab or Available at location, it says 2 copies, 2 available.,
In the book's record, its Status is Item in place.

How to use Advanced Search

The Advanced Search option to found beside the big Search button. This allows you to limit your search by more specific parameters.

You can now select a particular part of the library record in which to perform the search, such as Title, Author, Subject. By clicking on the dropdown arrow, you are presented with the options available for your selected tab.

Limit by	Description
contains	Enter any words that are to appear within the field you have selected. The words may appear in any order.
with phrase	Enter words that are to appear together within the field you have selected in the order entered.
starts with (Applies to Title search only)	Enter all or first part of title, starting with the first word. Note: if the title begins with a, an, the, te* nga, le, de ... leave it out. for example wind in the willows* (leave out the as the first word) journal of accountancy (leave out the as the first word) morehu (leave out nga as the first word) For other languages, try searching both with and without the first word, for example jour se leve (leave out le) as in le jour se leve Except for names and place names, for example, Te Awamutu*
Publication Date	You can ask for books that were published in a particular time frame from the most recent by selecting the interval you would like. (You can also do this by selecting a date under Narrow My Results on the left-hand side of the results page.)
Resource Type	From the dropdown menu, you can select the type of resource you would like the search to be limited to such as books, journals, articles, audiovisual material. (You can also do this by selecting the resource type under Narrow My Results on the left hand side of the results page.)

How to browse the catalogue online

Not sure what you want? You can browse online the items that are held in the library.

Browse Search tab (top menu)

Select the type of browsing you wish to perform from the dropdown, and enter your search.

LibrarySearch will give you a link to your search results and a list of other resources that would appear next in order.

Click on any of the Entry links to go to the record in LibrarySearch.

What do the coloured mean?

This title is available either at the library or online.

Problems are detected with this title. Please contact the library for more details.

All items under this title have been borrowed. You can place a request on it, so that you will be notified when it is returned.