NEW
FEATURE!Refine Search
This
option allows you to search WITHIN your search results when you
receive too many. With the old catalog, you would need to re-enter
your search
Display Options
If you would like to change
the number or format of your results, you may do so by selecting the
Display Options option from the toolbar. Be sure to do this BEFORE
you begin your initial search or your results will be erased.
Too Many Search
Results?
The Search function will retrieve a
maximum of 1000 records per set. The system will give the total
number of records found, but will only display the first 1,000.
If your search request finds more than 1000 records, you may
want to narrow your search.
NEW
FEATURE Searching Journals
You can do a basic search for
JOURNALS ONLY by selecting journals/serials from the menu on
the basic search page.
Good News!
The previous online search catalog made you search
for Author by typing the last name first, first name second with NO
comma in-between. The new system will take it with OR without the
comma.
New Features!
Create an Account
Online Renewal
Basic Search
Advanced Search
Search Results
Browse
List
Viewing
a List of Records
Full View
of Record
Change
Databases
Command Language
Search
End
Session
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NEW FEATURE!
Searching by language
You can now search for English Only records
in the catalog. In the old catalog, you could search every language
BUT English
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The web
catalog has an all new interface and new features!
A
Little Help Never Hurts
Major search features
on the FAU catalog pages will display the
Information button. Pressing this button will give you additional hints
for effective search
strategies.
* A Note of
Caution*
Ordinarily when you check materials out from the
library and return them promptly, the record of the transaction is
erased. When materials are late or information is saved in an
account like this one, they are subject to searches according to the
language of the Patriot Act.
Some of the new options include:
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Creating your own e-shelf
to store records between search sessions.
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A browse feature that
allows you to search one of over 30 categories.
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The ability to refine and
filter completed searches.
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A search function that
allows you to do basic searches on just journals and serials.
A New Feature of the online catalog is the
ability to create an account.
To be able to this, you must
have an OWL card and an
activated library account. Your login is your owl card number and your
password is the last four digits of your social security number.
Creating an account will save you time an effort. With an account you can:
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View circulation information.
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Renew checked out materials online.
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View previous searches.
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Save records to your e-shelf to view later.
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Click on your
account to view your account options
within the
Library Catalog or on our
View/Renew Book Link
from the Library's homepage. If you have not already
signed-in you will be prompted to do so. Then click on the
Loans link to see a list of all the items you currently
have checked out along with their due dates.
There are two
options for renewing items:
- "Renew
All" Option
One option is to click on the Renew All
button to try to renew all items at once.
Caution! This may NOT be the best choice
for you.
- When you
click Renew All, the system will attempt to renew
all items (books, periodicals, videos, etc.) you
currently have checked out from FAU libraries.
- Library
policy may prevent or limit some renewals such as those
for course reserves, periodicals, video or items that
have been recalled.
- If you
renew items far in advance of their due date, you may
shorten the total time you may keep any items that are
subject to renewal limits.
-
Upon completion, be sure to re-display the list of loans
again and check the due dates showing. The
items due soonest will appear at the top of the list.
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- "Renew
One-at-a-Time" Option
You may renew items one-at-a-time by clicking on the item
number to the left of the title you wish to renew. In the
example below, click on the 1 next to the
first book. This will display the following:
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You may renew items
one-at-a-time by clicking on the item number to the left of the title you
wish to renew. In the example above, we click on the 1 next to
A woman doctor's Civil War: Ester Hill Hawks' diary:
The loan detail above tells you
when you checked this item out, what collection the item belongs to, and
other details. Click on the Renew link to the renew the item.
The resulting screen shows a new due date.
There are two ways to search on the basic
search page:
Search for Keyword(s)
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Search for terms that appear
anywhere in a catalog record: title, author, subject, description, etc.
You can truncate (shorten) a keyword by using ? or *. Example: system?
(system, systems, systematic, etc.)
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Select Exact Phrase if you
wish, otherwise the computer will look for both words, but not
necessarily together.
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Select Author Keywords,
Subject Keywords or Title Keywords for a more specific search.
Browse Organized Lists
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Use this search when you
already know an author, title or subject heading.
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Browse Organized Lists lets
you browse alphabetical or numerical lists of titles, authors, subject
headings, call numbers, or other specialized indexes.
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Subject Headings are assigned
by librarians using Library of Congress Subject Headings.
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Many search options are
available from the drop-down search list.
These truncation and wildcard rules apply to all types of searches:
The ? character or
* character (asterisk) may be placed at the
right of a portion of a word to retrieve words that begin with the text
that you have entered. The # symbol can be
used to find variant spellings in cases where one version of the word
has one more character than another version. The #
character can be used to find variant spellings in cases where a single
character may vary. It may also be used as a placeholder for an
additional character. The * character
(asterisk) can be used at the beginning, middle, or end of a word as a
placeholder for an unlimited number of characters:
Examples:
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wom#n
will retrieve both woman and
women.
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*nnberg
will retrieve Tennberg, Vennberg, etc.
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expect*
will retrieve Expect, Expects, Expectation, etc.
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Colo*r
will retrieve Color, Colour, Colonizer,
etc.
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colo#r
will retrieve both color and
colour.
Advanced Keyword Search
Screen
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The Advanced Search screen gives you many more options for searching and
combining searches.
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Select a search criteria from the drop-down list at the left of the
search box.
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You may select to limit a search by format, language, location and date.
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Select Exact phrase if your search requires it.
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Combine searches by selecting AND, OR or NOT from the drop-down
selection box.
- Command
Language Search will allow you to search using basic abbreviated
language. To learn more about command language search, click
here.
Search Results / Brief Records Display
If a Keyword Search returns
more than one record, the results will look like the example below. A Browse
Organized Lists Search returns results in a Browse Results format.
If fewer than 1,000 records are
found, they are sorted in order by year, with the newest first. You may
re-sort results by author or title.
The call number and location
appears in the Location link.
NOTE: Click on an
entry's Location to display the Holdings Record (book) and Holdings Record
(journal) and see details such as:
the number of copies of a book
available what volumes of a journal, magazine, serial, or newspaper are
owned by the library due date if the book is checked out special location
notes. Click on View Full Record or the Title to display the Full Record for
that entry.
Many items are available
electronically. Clicking on an active link will cause it to open in another
window. Sometimes an entry may have more than one URL associated with it; to
see any additional links, as well as more information about access
restrictions or dates of coverage, you must view the Full Record .
In the Search Results/Brief
Records display, you also have the option to select individual records and
Save/Email them, Add to List (a collection of records that persists only for
the duration of your user session) or Create Subset (similar to a list, but
you can have multiple subsets and can combine them in different ways in the
Past Searches utility).
| Browse
List
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The Browse List displays an
alphabetical list of entries, shows the number of records for each entry and
indicates whether or not there are cross-references for the entry. Click on an
underlined entry to see the associated records for the entry.
There are 3 ways to go to a Browse
List:
- By using the Browse function and
choosing an Index to browse. After typing in the text that you want to appear at
the top of the list, the Browse List will be displayed.
- By using the Search
function. When viewing a record, you may click on an underlined tag and receive
a Browse List of entries for the tag. For example, if you click on the Author
tag, you will receive an alphabetical list of authors, with the current author
at the top of the list.
- While viewing a list of
cross-references. Clicking on an underlined tag will present a Browse List. For
example, clicking on the Heading
tag will present an alphabetical list of entries with the current heading at the
top of the list.
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List of Records
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A List of Records is displayed as a
result of a Search request or from a Browse List by clicking on an underlined
entry. You can also choose a previous List of Records by selecting Past
Searches.
A List of Records may be viewed in a
variety of formats. The default format is set using the Options/Display
function. No matter which option you set as the default, you will always be able
to see the Full View of the record by clicking on an underlined record number in
a List of Records.
Various actions may be
performed on a List of Records, such as filtering, mailing and saving the list.
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Full
View of Record
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In
the Full View, you have the option to see the record in a variety of formats.
The Full View has links that allow you
to jump to:
- A Browse List
- Other, similar records, for
example, other records that share the same subject
- Holdings information
- External files, such as an
electronic journal
Holdings information is available by
clicking on an underlined
Holdings tag of a record. A list of items will then be displayed. You may
click on an item in the list to make a request for the item.
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Change Databases
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This option lets you choose the
database that contains the records you'd like to see. Your library will
determine which databases are available to you.
Command language searching
allows a user to formulate a complex search query by using search codes
and Boolean operators. To display the Command search form, select
Advanced Search and scroll down to the bottom. The format for Command
searching is [search code]=[keyword/phrase]. Following are some common
search codes used in command language searching:
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WRD - Keywords anywhere |
WCH -
Keywords in subjects, childrens |
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WTI - Keywords in title |
WSG -
Keywords in subjects, geographic |
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WAU - Keywords in author |
WSO -
Keywords in subjects, other |
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WUT - Keywords in uniform title |
WNC -
Keywords in contents
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WPU - Keywords in publisher information |
WNO -
Keywords in notes
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WSU - Keywords in subjects, general |
WTP -
Material format type (use 2 character code) |
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WLC - Keywords in subjects, LC |
WLN -
Language (use 3 character code) |
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WSM - Keywords in subjects, medical |
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You may use the Boolean operators
and, or, and not in your search string. Boolean and is
assumed between words when no operator is included.
Use and when you want all
terms linked by that operator to appear in the records.
For example, the search
wau=shakespeare and wti=midsummer
would retrieve records having shakespeare as an author keyword and
midsummer as a title keyword.
Use or when you are searching
for synonyms.
For example, the search wrd=heart
or cardiac would retrieve all records having heart or cardiac
anywhere in the record.
Use not when you want
the first term to be included in the records but not the second term.
For example, the search
wsu=education not wsu=higher would retrieve records that have
education as a subject keyword, but not higher as a subject
keyword.
Use ( ) parenthesis to
create complex searches. Statements enclosed in parenthesis are performed first
by the system. If there are no parenthesis around sets of terms, the system will
process first all your
and
operators and then the or operators and then the not operators.
For example, in the search
wrd=(drug or substance) and (abuse or addiction), the words linked by
or will be processed first, then the results of those combinations will
be joined by the and operator.
To search for a phrase, enclose the
words of the phrase in quote marks.
For example, the search
wsu="civil war"
would retrieve records that have the phrase "civil war" in subject keywords.
Normal truncation characters may
be used in command language searches.
2
Character Format Codes
To qualify a command search by
format/type of material, the search code WTP is used, with the two
character code for the format (e.g., WTP=VR).
The two character codes are listed below:
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AN - Analytic |
GL - Globe |
PE - Periodical |
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AR - Archival Control |
GP - Govt Publication |
AV - Projected Medium |
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CS - Audiocassette |
IR - Integrating
Resource |
SE - Serial |
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BT - Beta |
KT - Kit |
SR - Series |
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BI - Biography,
Autobiography |
LA - Laserdisc |
SL - Slide |
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BK - Book |
LP - LP |
SR - Sound Recording |
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CD - CD |
MP - Map |
UM - Umatic |
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CO - Collection |
ME - Media |
VH - VHS |
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CF - Computer File |
MX - Mixed Material |
VR - Videorecording |
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DV - DVD |
MU - Music |
2D - 2D Nonprojectable
Graphic |
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FC - Fiction |
SC - Musical Score |
3D - 3D Artifact |
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FI - Film |
NW - Newspaper |
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3
Character Language Codes
To qualify a command search by
language, the search code WLN is used, with the three character code for
the language.
The codes for the most frequently used languages are listed below. For a
full list of language codes see
Language Codes List
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eng - English |
ita - Italian |
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chi - Chinese |
jpn - Japanese |
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fre - French |
lat - Latin |
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ger - German |
por - Portuguese |
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gre - Greek, Modern |
spa - Spanish |
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heb - Hebrew |
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End Session
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This option logs off your current
session. It returns you to the basic search screen and clears your past
searches.
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