Using the Catalog

Whether you're looking for your favorite authors, movies from a particular studio, materials on a certain topic, or even eLibrary materials, a catalog search is a good place to start.

Keyword Searches

Enter any word or phrase in the catalog’s search bar and select the magnifying glass icon button  . Use the pull-down menu at the end of the search bar to limit your search to author, subject, series, or title.

Searching Tips

Only use important keywords in the search. Don't include words such as "the," "a," "an," "are," or "in."

Put a phrase search in quotation marks to ensure that the words appear together, in that order.

Use combinations of keywords with the Boolean operators "and," "or," and "not" to expand or narrow the search results.

• "And" requires both keywords to be in the matching resources. Use "and" to narrow the search.
• "Or" requires either keyword or both to be in the matching resources. Use "or" to expand the search.
• "Not" requires a keyword to be absent from the matching resources. Use "not" to exclude topics that are not of interest.
• If you use the "and" operator in a search, all the keywords will appear in the results, but the keywords might appear in different places in the resulting resources. To ensure that the keywords appear together, use a phrase search in quotation marks.
• If you use a combination of "and" and "or" operators in a search, use parentheses around the keywords that use the "or" operator.

Refine a Search

After performing your search, select from the following sections in the "Refine Results" panel:

• Availability
• Date
• Format
• Collections
• Persons
• Subjects
• Language
• Locations
• New materials
   
• When you expand a section, the catalog will show you the number of available items for each facet or filter.
• If a person or subject section contains a large number of facets that you can use to filter the search results, a window opens.
• When you select a filter, an open lock icon   appears to the left. If you want to keep the filter selected for your next search, select the lock icon    to lock it.
• At any time, you can remove your filter selections by selecting "Reset Filters."

Reviews and Suggestions

• Staff curated lists: Staff curated lists will show at the top of these results, if this title was included in that list.
• More in this series: When we grow to like a character or theme, we want to continue on a journey with them. This option allows you to keep up with all titles in the same series.
• You may also like: This function ensures a patron or librarian can locate additional titles or similar series that fit well with the reader’s interests. This includes top picks, titles by similar authors, titles with the same tag, or even titles with the same author.
• Related resources: Check out all of the other titles that are related to a particular title.
• Subjects: Want to find more titles about the same thing? Use this option to see all other titles with the same subjects as this title.
• Professional reviews: You can read reviews from Booklist, Kirkus Review or other professional sources.
• Awards: You can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can see if a selected book is recognized or has earned honors in this section.
• Book profile: This option offers keywords that can lead readers down an exploratory path based on characters, genre, topics, or even setting locations.  
• About the author: Explore more about the creator of the title or series.