Search Help
Searching
To do a search:
- Type words that must appear in the field(s) being searched.
- Click the Submit Query button.
- Records that meet your criteria are displayed as a report.
- To change the way records appear, select a form from the drop-down list.
Finding words and phrases
Type the word(s) you want to find (computer software database). Additional options:
| To find | Type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| variations of a word (computer, computing, computation) | the beginning of the word followed by * | comput* |
| words together, in order | a phrase within quotes | "computer software" |
| either word (or both) | OR between the words | computer OR software |
| one word but not another word | space-hyphen immediately before the word to exclude | computer -software |
| both words, anywhere | the words separated by a space | computer software |
| words near each other (within a specified number of words) | wN between the words, where N is the number of words | computer w5 software |
| words near each other in order (preceding within a specified number of words) | pN between the words, where N is the number of words | computer p5 software |
The query is evaluated in left-to-right order. For example, red white OR blue finds items that contain “red” and “white”, as well as items that contain “blue”. Use parentheses to control evaluation order: For example, red (white OR blue) finds items that contain “red” and “white”, as well as items that contain “red” and “blue”.
Finding a Date
Type a full or partial date in any acceptable format. See some examples below. If there are spaces or slashes within the date, enclose it in quotes.
31-Dec-2011"Dec 31, 2011"2011-December"December 2011""12/21/2011"
Range searches
To find all dates or numbers within a specified range, separate the dates or numbers with a colon (no spaces). If partial dates are used, the range includes all dates from the beginning of the first date to the end of the second. Examples:
| Range | Dates |
|---|---|
1997:1998 | returns all dates from Jan. 1, 1997 through Dec. 31, 1998 (inclusive) |
"March 2005":"April 2005" | returns all dates from March 1, 2005 through April 30, 2005 (inclusive) |
Note that the second example above will not work in a query box that also searches text fields, because the first term, while chronologically before the second, is alphabetically AFTER the second, and will trigger an error. In this situation, use a numeric date format with the year appearing first, for example: 2005-03:2005-04
Finding Related and Preferred Terms
If you are searching for information in a field that has an associated thesaurus, you can retrieve records containing synonyms of the term you type, or the preferred term if one exists. To do this, type a tilde (~) before the term, surround the tilde and term in quotation marks, and precede the quoted term with an equals sign (=). Example: ="~Library automation"
Reset button
To clear query criteria, click the Reset button on the search screen.
Submit Query button
To start your search, click the Submit Query button.
Displaying Records after a Search
A successful search finds one or more records, which are displayed in your Web browser as a report. Use the browser controls as you normally would, to browse, print, go back, and so forth. You can also:
- Change the report’s appearance. Select a form from the drop-down list on the page.
- Jump to other locations. Click links on the report to display more detail or jump to other pages (for example, there may be one or more links to an add new record, edit record, or delete record page).
- Display additional pages. Click the Next and Previous buttons on the report page.
Troubleshooting
If you are having trouble with a search, some of the most common problems are listed below. If you do not find an answer to your problem here, see the alphabetical list of error messages.
You see a message “Unable to recognize as a correctly formed query.”
The program cannot understand the search criteria. Possible problems include:
- Typographical errors
- Mismatched quotes or parentheses
- Misuse of significant punctuation, such as ” – ” before a word to exclude instead of ” -” (note the extra space in the first example), or spaces around the colon in a range search
If you cannot determine what caused the error, try a simpler search (for example, just a few words in a box) to see if it works. If even simple searches do not work, contact the Webmaster for the site.
You see a message like “Range operation is incorrect because ‘may-2006’ is not less than ‘jun-2006’. “
A range search is performed between two terms separated by a colon. If you are not attempting to do a range search, omit the colon or surround the term with quotes. Example: "http://amazon.com"
This message may also appear if you entered a date range search in a box that also searches text fields, and while the first date may precede the second chronologically, it does not precede it alphabetically. Use a numeric format instead. Examples:
05-2006:06-20062005-12:2006-01