Simple Search (Alternate)

The Simple Search option provides access to the following Basic Search screens:

·                BASIC SEARCH  -  this is the default search screen selected on access to WebOPAC.  Searching can be done in any of the available Search Indexes.  Your library will have set a default for the Index box (e.g. Anyword, Title, Subject) - you can leave this default or select a new Index.  You can select any of the other search screens via the access buttons for Title Search, Author Search, Subject Search, Audio Search and Advanced Search.

·                TITLE SEARCH: #160;This search screen has search index selections for All Titles or Series Titles and buttons to choose the type of searching, i.e. Keyword, Phrase or Exact Title.

o                Keyword searching will retrieve records where the search term entered appears anywhere within the index selected

o                Phrase searching will retrieve records where the entered search term appears anywhere within the Title.  If the phrase entered does not result in an exact match the Browse Index screen will be displayed with all entries that start with that term. 

o                Starts with search will retrieve records where the Title starts with the entered search term.

o                Exact Title searching will retrieve records where the entered search term matches exactly the index selected.  If there are no direct hits, the Browse Index screen will be displayed with closest matches

·                AUTHOR SEARCH  -  this search screen has search index selections for All Authors, Personal Authors and Corporate Authors.  You can select the Keywords option, which will retrieve records where the entered search term appears anywhere in the Author Name.  There may also be selection options for either Browse or Phrase (or both).  The Browse option will display the Browse Index screen with a list of matching terms that start with the entered search term.  If using the Browse option, the beginning part of the Author name (e.g. Surname for Personal Authors) needs to be entered as the search term.  The Phrase option will retrieve records where the entered search phrase appear anywhere in the Author Name.

·                SUBJECT SEARCH:  This search screen does not have any search index selection box (as it will only search in the Subject index) but it may have some or all of the following selection options - Keywords, Start With, Browse, Phrase and Exact Match.

·                AUDIO SEARCH:  This search screen has similar options to the Basic Search screen.  The search will automatically filter the results to Audio Visual material (as parameterised by your library).

How to do a search:

·                In the Search Term box enter the word or words on which you wish to search.  When the search results display, the term you have entered will be highlighted on the Hit List and in the Catalogue Display.

·                Select the index you wish to search from the Index dropdown box.

·                Press the OK button to start the search .   Note:  If you are not changing the displayed Index, you can press the Enter key (provided that the cursor is still in the search term field). 

·                If your search does not find any hits, the Browse Index screen will be displayed with (where possible) closest matching terms.  If you wish, you can then click on one of these closest matching terms to view the Titles tied to those terms.

·                Your library may have activated an optional facility whereby for Author, Subject and Series searches, the index list of terms will display first to enable you to select the exact Author, Subject or Series term, before proceeding to view the matching records for the selected term.

·                If your search does find matching records, they will be displayed on the Search Results screen.

·                To clear the screen ready for a new search click on the Clear button.

Limit by options:

·                Any one or all of the Limit By options can be selected for a search.  If these options are not visible on your screen it means your Library has disabled them.

·                SELECT LIBRARY/SERVICE POINT:   This feature is commonly used to libraries who may have libraries within libraries, for example, a Childrens Library or Music Library as part of the main library.

·                LOCATION:  A single Branch or multiple Branches can be selected (via Ctrl+click or Shift+click) if you wish to limit the search to holdings at those particular Branches.  Note:  To cater for electronic resources and other material where a physical copy may not exist, records with no holdings will also be displayed in a search limited by Location.

·                SPECIAL COLLECTIONS:  Your library may have setup special Collections based on specified data within bibliographic records.   These will normally be based on criteria that is not normally available via any of the standard Search Indexes.

 

Broadening your Search Term:

·                With "normal" searches you need to enter a full word or word/s, e.g. "computer" and the search will take place on just that term.  If however you want to broaden the search you can enter an asterisk * at the end of the search term.  For example, if you entered "comp*" as the search term, the search would include all words starting with "comp" such as computer, computerisation, computers, complete, compilation, etc.  If entering multiple words in the search term field, the asterisk * can be used on ONE WORD ONLY but this word can be in any position in the search term field.  If you enter multiple asterisks in a search term string, it is likely that no records will be retrieved. 

Wildcard Searching:

·                Wildcard searching using substitute characters ? or * within ONE single word is supported on the Simple Search screen in WebOPAC for the following Search Indexes:  Anyword, Author, Corporate Author, Combined Author, Title, Subject, Limited Subject, Extended Subject, Series, Notes, Serials Acronym

·                For Classification, Call Number, ISBN, ISSN and ISMN searches, an * can be used at the end of these terms, but in some cases will not always work if just one or two characters are used as the search term followed by the *.

Search History:

·                After doing a search, a "Search History" option will appear on a menu (which menu depends on how your library has set it up).  Click on the menu option, and the Show History page will appear with the searches in a structured list, showing Count, No. of Hits, Type, and Search Index/Term.  If you click on an entry in the Type column it will take you to the original Search screen with all the options filled out, from where other selections can be included if necessary, and the search re-run.  If you click on an entry in the Search Index/Term column, the Hit List for that search will be redisplayed (bypassing the search screen).