Click the Advanced link below the Search box on the Search screen to switch to
using Advanced Search. Selection boxes will appear allowing you to limit your search to specific fields, or items of specific media types.
Click Simple to return to using the Simple search box.
General features
- Initially there will be a single row in which to enter your search term(s). Each row consists of a search box to enter your
search terms, a Search in box in which you can select a field to search, and a Media type field.
- The searches in each box can contain wildcards, Booleans and parentheses as described in the
Search tips help page.
Creating searches using multiple rows
- To add another row, click the '+' button.
- Click the '-' button to remove a row.
- The search in each row is linked to the next by the Boolean operator in the selection box to the right. Select either AND, OR or AND NOT.
- The searches are interpreted in strict row order: (((row1 x row2) x row3) x row4), where x is the Boolean operator selected.
It is not possible to use parentheses to group rows together and so change the order in which the rows are interpreted.
Searching within specific fields
- To restrict the search to a specific field, select the required field in the Search in box.
- Only one field per row can be selected. To search in more than one field, repeat your search in multiple rows selecting a different field for each, linking the rows with OR.
- When searching for authors, enter the surname and/or forename(s) in any order. To search for an item using more than one of the authors,
separate them using AND. For example, to search for a work by John Smith and Peter Jones, enter either
Smith AND Jones, Smith John AND Jones Peter or John Smith AND Peter Jones.
If Smith Jones is entered this will search for authors named 'Smith Jones' or 'Jones Smith'.
- When searching for ISBNs or ISSNs, enter the numbers only, omitting the hyphens.
- It is possible to search for a range of numbers or dates in fields which have been set up to allow numeric range searching. Numeric
range search options be available as separate options in the Search in list and will normally be identifiable by
having either (Date), (Number) or (Decimal) after the field name, depending on which type
of numeric range searching they have been indexed for. When one of these fields is selected, the input box changes to two input boxes, with a
hint showing the type of entry required. The search will cover all values between and including the values entered. If the first box is
left empty the search will start from the first possible value: if the second box is left empty the search will end at the last possible
value.
- Word range searching can be performed in any field which has not set up for numeric or date range searching. To search for a range of words,
enter the first and last values separated by three dots, as in the simple Search box. It is not necessary for the words or word fragments entered
to be present in the index.
Searching for specific media types
- To restrict the search to one or more media types, select the medium required in the Type of media
box by clicking the down arrow to the right of the field then either tick the tickbox to the left of the media type(s) required, or
tick Select all to tick all media types: you can then untick any media types which are not required.
Click the Search button to perform the search or Clear to clear the form.
Example searches
This example shows a search for the book 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens. The reader remembers the
author as Dickens and that the book was about a city, or maybe cities. The equivalent Search string (without the field and
media type filters) would be (city OR cities) AND dickens:
| Search in |
Search terms |
Type of media |
|
| Title |
city |
Book |
OR |
| Title |
cities |
Book |
AND |
| Authors |
dickens |
Book |
|
This example is a search for works about Charles Dickens, excluding books that he wrote:
| Search in |
Search terms |
Type of media |
|
| All fields |
charles dickens |
All media |
AND NOT |
| Authors |
charles dickens |
All media |
|
This is a search for records for ebooks or websites which contain the keyword Europe, plus one of more of the
keywords film, cinema or television, and also contain history or
historical in the title:
| Search in |
Search terms |
Type of media |
|
| Keywords |
(film OR cinema OR television) AND europe |
E-book, Web site |
AND |
| Title |
histor* |
All media |
|
The search could also have been entered like this:
| Search in |
Search terms |
Type of media |
|
| Keywords |
film OR cinema OR television |
E-book, Web site |
AND |
| Keywords |
europe |
All media |
AND |
| Title |
histor* |
All media |
|
This is a number range search for numbers between and including 20 and 49.99.
Numbers up to two decimal places can be entered:
| Search in |
Search terms |
Type of media |
| Price (Number) |
| 20 |
- |
49.99 |
(e.g. 5 - 9.99) |
|
All media |
This is a date range search for dates between and including 01/01/2009 and
01/01/2010. Dates can be entered in any date format using forward slashes which does not contain spaces:
| Search in |
Search terms |
Type of media |
| Available (Date) |
| 01/01/2009 |
- |
01/01/2010 |
(e.g. 1/9/2008 - 31/12/2008) |
|
All media |
This is a decimal range search for Dewey classmarks between 512 and 513.999999.
Numbers up to seven decimal places can be entered:
| Search in |
Search terms |
Type of media |
| Class (Decimal) |
| 512 |
- |
513.999999 |
(e.g. 549 - 552.8) |
|
All media |
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