1^st Search Box Search Terms

Enter one or more terms and select <any of these> in the search box pick list to find all records containing Term1 OR Term2 (OR Term3), etc.

Enter two or more terms and select <all of these> in search box pick list
to find all records containing Term1 AND Term2 (AND Term3), etc. -- the terms do not have to be next to one another in the record

Using a question mark (i.e., '?') at the end of a search term widens the search:
e.g., <yellow?> retrieves yellow, yellows, yellowing, Yellowstone ...

Enter partial or whole title or subject phrase and select <as a phrase> in the search box pick list to find all records containing the exact phrase (except that capitalization is ignored) -- do not use truncation symbol (?) with phrases

1^st Search Box Search Types

Recommend using the default <Keyword Any Field> for most searches.

For limiting search results to records containing terms or phrases found
in Library of Congress Subject Headings, pick <Subject Heading Keyword>

For Author search, use last name of author and pick <Author Keyword>

For Title search, use beginning part of title or term(s) or phrase appearing within title and pick <Title Keyword>

2^nd Search Box Search Terms

Do not unclick <AND> between the two search boxes -- enter the official four character alpha code for an NPS park/office to limit search results to titles by the particular NPS library (note: titles may be owned by other NPS libraries as well), e.g., YELL (for Yellowstone) -- select <any of these> in the pick list

When collection codes appearing at the head of call numbers for a particular NPS library are known, enter any of these after the park/office location code, e.g., MIMA FrColl (for Minuteman French Collection) to limit search results to titles from the specified collection -- select <all of these> in the pick list

If limiting to a particular library location is not required, leave 2^nd search box empty and leave the default Search Type setting as is. Alternatively, enter other search terms to 2^nd search box (in addition to those entered to 1st search box) and select one of the other search types, as appropriate, to do a complex Boolean search (for skilled searchers only)

2^nd Search Box Search Types

Use default <Library Location Keyword> with park/office official four character alpha code to limit search to a particular NPS library location (see Search Box Search Terms guidance, above)

NPS org codes are well-known to staff; others may determine them by visiting www.nps.gov and going to the park homepage. The final element of the homepage URL is the org code, e.g., www.nps.gov/grca , www.nps.gov/yell (GRCA is the org code for Grand Canyon and YELL is the org code for Yellowstone)

Alternatively, view a complete <Location> list of participating NPS libraries by clicking the <SET SEARCH LIMITS> button on the far right.  After selecting the library, click the <SET LIMITS> button to return to this search page.  To deselect the library and search the entire database, click the <CLEAR LIMITS> button on the far right