Searching the Catalog

Searching the Catalog

Basic Search | Guided Search | Course Reserve | Limiting Search Results | Search History

Basic Search

You can search the Library Catalog for citations based on:

See the Catalog Searching chart to compare the various types of searches.

To Perform a Search:

NOTE:

Limits may be set before or after your search to restrict by year, language, item type, medium, location, and/or publication status.
Limits may be applied to Title and Keyword searches only in Basic Search.

Click the desired search type in the Search by box.
Type the search words or phrase. Omit punctuation.

Click on the drop down menu to change the number of records to display per page.

Click the Search button to begin your search. The Reset button will clear your search selections. To remove limits, click the button.

Top of page

A Guided Search allows you to specify where in a record to look for your keyword search terms (e.g., author field, title field, publisher field, etc.). Guided Search allows you to combine your search terms in a variety of ways and is especially helpful if you are looking for specific items or if you would like to create a precise search strategy.

To Perform a Guided Search:

NOTE:

Limits may be set before or after your search to restrict by year, language, item type, medium, location, and/or publication status.

Limits may be applied to Title and Keyword searches only.

Click the desired search type in the Search by box.

Type the search words or phrase. Omit punctuation.

Enter a keyword(s) or phrase in the top Search For box. Type a ? to search for a term and its variation (observ? will search for observe, observed, observing, observation, etc.). You may list additional terms in the other Search For boxes.

Click the drop down arrow next to all of these search terms pull-down list to select whether you want to search for all of these search terms, any of these search terms, or the search terms as a phrase.

Click the Search by pull-down list to select the field (e.g., title, series, author, etc.) in which you want to search for your search terms(s).

If you have other terms, click AND, OR, NOT with the next set to select which Boolean operator you want applied to the next search term(s). You may then type additional search terms in the next Search For box.

Click the Search button to begin your search. Click the Reset button to clear the search page. To remove limits, click the button.

Top of page

Course Reserve

Course Reserve searches for items on reserve for various classes. To perform a Course Reserve search select one item from one (or more) of the following drop-down lists:

Instructor

Department

Course

Note: you cannot apply Limits to a course reserve search.

Click the Search button to begin your search. Click the Reset button to clear the search page.

Top of page

Limiting Search Results

General advice: It is usually best to search without limits first and then, if necessary, either use "Post Limit" or redo your search from the beginning, with limits applied.

On the Basic Search tab:

Use the button to restrict by:

date

publication type(s)

medium (e.g., electronic resource, videorecording)

location(s)

language(s)

publication status

You may select any combination of limits. Select multiple options for any limit by holding down the Ctrl (Control) key on a PC, or the Apple key on a Mac. (For example, click 'English, Middle' and then Ctrl key, click 'French, Middle' to get materials in either language.)

After choosing limits, click the

button to set the limit(s).

Title, Journal Title, Keyword(s) and Boolean searches are the only Basic Searches that may be limited. You cannot limit Author/Name, Subject Heading, Call Number or Course Reserve searches.

On the Custom Search tab, limit your search by the

button. As above, after choosing limits, click the

button to set the limit(s).

On a search results Titles list page, use

to restrict your results by date, publication type(s), medium(s), location(s), language(s), and/or publication status. Click the

button to set the limit(s). The new list of results will be automatically displayed.

Notes on limiting by year:
To limit by year, enter a single year and click the appropriate radio button:

Selecting the equal sign (=) will limit your search to all items published in the year you enter.

Selecting the greater than (>) or less than (<) signs will limit your search to items published either after or before the year you enter.

To limit by an inclusive range of years, enter the earliest year in the Year: box and the latest year in the Range: box (e.g., Year: 1965, Range: 1975).

Use to begin a new search with different or no limits.

Top of page

Search History

The History screen allows you to re-execute or edit any previous searches you have performed in your current session. To access the History screen, you must first complete at least one search. After you have completed at least one search, the

button will display on the tool bar at the top of the screen.

The History screen lists the number of items found for each search (Hits), the Search Type (Keyword(s), Title, Author, etc.), and the words used in your search.

To re-execute or edit a previous search:

Click the button on the tool bar at the top of the screen.

Click on a particular search's Search Type or Searched For to re-execute the search.

Click the number in the Edit column to edit the search.

Note: The History tab does not retain information about search limits. If you re-execute or edit a search, any current limits in effect will be used instead of limits you had specified previously.

Top of page

Library Research at Princeton

Wayne Bivens-Tatum
Gen. & Humanities Reference Librarian