Keyword Search Results

Most searches will return a list of results. The default number of results per page is 60; you can choose to see fewer or more hits per page by selecting a number from the "Results per Page" drop-down menu.

Brief and detailed views

You can choose to view your list of results in either the "Brief" or "Detailed" view. The Brief view includes a minimum of information for each record (Title, Author, Location, Call Number, Availability, Format), and allows you to quickly scan a large number of results. The Detailed view provides additional information for each record (Physical Description, Subject Headings) to help guide you in making your selection.

To display the full record for any item in the list, click on the title of the work.

Using "Narrow Search" options

The results page contains facets or "Limits" on the right to help focus your search to retrieve fewer, more relevant items. You can narrow your search by format, author, topic, language, and more by simply clicking one of the blue links. The Catalog displays up to five options ranked by frequency under each facet. Click on "More" to see all options.

  • Click a term to narrow your search. Example: limit to a specific author or format.
  • Click the  "X" next to a term to exclude it from your search. Example: exclude audio from your search.
  • Click checkboxes next to multiple terms to combine them using OR. Example: limit to items in English or French.

The Limits you select are displayed at the top of the "Narrow Search" column under "Current Limits." Click on the "X" next to a Limit if you wish to remove it.

Sorting options and Relevance

You can sort your results by choosing a selection from the "Sort by" drop-down menu at the top of the page. The default sort is "Relevance," which means the Catalog uses a relevancy algorithm to rank your search results based on certain factors, including:

  • Uniqueness of search terms within the database
  • Proximity of search terms to each other within the catalog record
  • Number of different search terms present in a catalog record
  • Number of times a search term occurs in specific areas of the catalog record (e.g., subject heading, author, title).
  • In the All Fields search type, matches on title, author, or topic are weighted higher than matches on other fields.

Other Sort options include Date Descending (i.e. newest first), Date Ascending (oldest first), Call Number, Author, or Title.

Formats

The Catalog includes material in many different formats, including books, DVDs, ebooks, microfilm, music scores, and more. The format of the material appears in your Results list as one or more icons on the right side of the record display.

E-Resources

E-Resource refers to any material that can be accessed online. This includes ebooks, ejournals, websites, electronic databases, digital images, and more.

What preview links/full text links are provided?

Links to full text are available for materials for which the Library has licensed ebook or ejournal content. Links are also provided for materials available in full text through the Hathi Trust, Google Books, and the Open Library.