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Searching: Simple Search | Advanced Search | Setting Search Limits | Search Tutorial

My Account / Renewals

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Searching

Simple Search

The Simple Search allows you to specify search terms and the type of search to be performed. You can also select from the main list of limits before performing your search.

1. If you want to place limits on your search, do this first. Click on the Set Limits button and choose from the limit options for publication date, language, etc.
2. Enter your search terms in the Search For: box.
3. Select the type of search that you want from the Search By: list.
4. Change the number of records displayed per page if desired.
5. Click the Search button to begin your search. To start over, click on the Reset and the Clear Limits buttons.

A keyword search looks for your search terms anywhere in a record. For example, if you type in the word “Shakespeare”, the results list will contain items with the word "Shakespeare" found anywhere – as a Title word, as an Author word, in a Subject Heading, in a Description, etc.

Other Search Tips:

• Use a space between multiple words.
• Use a question mark (?) after a search term to indicate truncation.  Ex: child? will find child, children, childhood, etc.
• Use quotation marks (“ “) to search for specific phrases.
• Use a plus sign (+) before a term to indicate an essential term. When the term is found, a record will be listed with more relevance (higher up in the result list).
• Use an asterisk (*) before a term to indicate an important term. When the term is found, a record will be listed with more relevance (but with less relevance than a term marked by a plus sign).
• Use an exclamation point (!) before a term to indicate that records containing the term are NOT to be displayed.

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Advanced Search

The Advanced Search provides more options for the type of search to be performed on each term or phrase entered. To create an advanced search:

1. If you want to place limits on your search, do this first. Click on the Set Limits button and choose from the limit options for publication date, language, etc.

2. Type the search term(s) and/or phrase(s) you want to find in the Search For: box. 
   • Use the pull-down menu to indicate if these should be treated as a phrase, or if you want to find “all of these words” or “any of these words”.
3. Choose from the Search By: options to indicate where you want these search terms found (such as within the Author Name, Title, Subject, etc.).
   • Note: you may also search by ISBN or ISSN, Series, Publisher Date or Name, and Personal Name.
4. Start with the first search box and select which Boolean operator you want applied to the next search term(s): AND, OR, or NOT.
5. Change the number of records displayed per page if desired.
6. Click the Search button to begin your search. Click the Reset and Clear Limits buttons to start over.

Other Search Tips:

• Punctuation and word order (within each search box) are ignored.
• Search terms are automatically truncated on the right, so you don't need to use a question mark (?) for truncation.
   

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Limiting a Search

You can limit searches by:

• Publication Year
• Groups
• Material Type
• Place of Publication
• Language

Note: You cannot place limits on Author Browse, Subject Browse, Call Number or Course Reserve searches.

1. To limit your search by a year, type the year in the Year text box in the format YYYY. Then click the appropriate radio button for the date range that you want to find.
   • For example, to find all texts published before 1850, type 1850 in the text box and then click the radio button next to the less than symbol (<).
2. To limit your search by Language, Type, Medium, Location, Publication Status, and Place of Publication, click on the appropriate drop-down list and select the limiting criteria.

Click the Set Limits button to begin your search. Click the Reset button to clear the search page

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My Account

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Personal Information

Contains your name, policy code (i.e. TC-BASIC) and address as recorded in the library's database.

Patron Blocks

If, in accordance with Library policies, you have met the conditions for a block against borrowing items; this section will indicate any blocks and the reason the block was imposed.

Charged Items / Renewals

Contains your charged item due dates, item information (such as title, enumeration, chronology) and statuses.  To renew a charged item, click in the Renew? check box beside the item and then click the Renew Items button. To clear the Renew? check boxes, click the Reset button.

Request Information

Contains information about items for which you have issued a hold, recall or CTW request. This section can display 2 list boxes, if they are applicable: Requests Pending and Items Available. Requests Pending contains the Title of the requested item, the date the request expires (Expiration), its position in the holding queue (Queue Position), the Status, and the date and time when the status was applied (only CTW requests that have not been filled display a status, status date and status time). Items Available informs you if any requested items are available. Items Available contains the Title, the date the availability expires (Expiration), and the location for pickup (Pickup Location).

The Status column in the Requests Pending list box displays the statuses of any CTW requests you have placed but that have not been filled. If a status is:

• Accepted - you have successfully placed the request but it has not yet been viewed by Circulation staff
• Printed - the request has been viewed by Circulation staff but has not yet been processed
• Not Filled - the request has been processed but not filled (a No Fill reason will display beside this status)
• Cancelled - the request has been cancelled by the patron or by the Circulation staff
• Expired - the request has expired
• Error - an error has occurred during the processing of the request.  Please contact the Access Services desk (297-2247) for assistance.

Fines and Fees

Contains monetary charges you have acquired, with the total amount due listed at the top. Also included: the Date the charge was assessed or paid, a Title if applicable, the type of charge or payment (Fee/Posting Type), how much charged (Fee), payments made (Posting), and balance (Balance).

For help or clarification regarding your information, please contact the Access Services desk (297-2247).

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