Select Areas of the Site to Search
You can choose to search one or more areas of the site by checking the boxes to the left of the list of sections.
Choose Specific Keywords
Use specific words and make sure your keywords are spelled correctly.
Search for Exact Words or Phrases
If you are searching for an exact match, enclose your search in quotes. If you enclose your search in quotes you will only get results for the exact terms or phrase you entered in the exact order you entered them.
Examples of searching for an exact phrase:
- "civil war maps"
- "jackie robinson"
- "declaration of independence"
- "ice cream"
You can also search for an exact phrase and a keyword as in the following examples:
- "civil war" maps
- "abraham lincoln" funeral
- farm "dust bowl"
Wild Cards
If you are not certain of the spelling of a word or if you would like to conduct a search on just part of a word or phrase, you can use a wild card. Enter the partial word or phrase and follow that directly with a question mark.
For example, the search fried? will return results that include the following words/phrases: Friedlander, Friedman, fried chicken, Frieda, etc.
Here is another example using a wild card with a phrase. A search for world war? will return results that include the following words/phrases: World War One, world wars, World War II, etc.
Boolean Operators
Boolean operators such as "and" and "or" are supported. Boolean operators must be entered in all lower case as in the following examples:
- rodgers and hammerstein
- labor or labour
The purpose of this new search tool is to expose users to resources from many areas of the Library. However, if you are certain you only want to search the Library’s Online Catalog or any of the other sources included in this search, you will experience greater search functionality from the individual sources themselves.
Punctuation
Most punctuation is ignored. Question marks are used as truncation devices as described above.
Using Common Numbers in Your Search
ISBN (International Standard Book Number)
Omit hyphens and spaces as in the following example:
Use 0309041392 instead of 0-309-04139-2
View more information about ISBNs
ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)
Include hyphens as in the following example:
0190-8286
View more information about ISSNs
LCCN (Library of Congress Control Number)
Omit hyphens and add leading zeros. Include alphabetic prefixes in a phrase search.
Examples:
89000456 for 89-456
2003556434
"sn 91023406"
Call numbers for items in the Library of Congress collections
Include periods and spaces. Use a phrase search for the initial part of a call number.
Examples:
"f128.4"
"F868.S5" M9
Reproduction numbers for images
Reproduction numbers for images and many digitized items are not searchable within this new search. You can search the native systems directly using reproduction numbers when applicable.
Learn more about the native systems included in this new search.
Search Results
After you enter a search you will see the results on the right. Additional options appear on the left. If results are found, three results from each area that was searched will be displayed. You can choose to view more results from any one of the result sets.
You can click on the title of a result and a new window will open with the individual item you selected.
Modify Search
Your search term appears in the keyword box on the left side of the results page. You can add keywords to your original term to refine your search. In addition, you can select or deselect areas of the site to search by checking or unchecking the boxes to the left of the list of site sections.