Search tips
Keywords
Entering keywords into the default search box (Basic Search) will search for those terms anywhere within a record and across all collections in the repository. The search will retrieve items that contain all of the terms entered.
Example using a keywords search
water treatment
Searches for items which contain the word water and also the word treatment. The words do not have to be side-by-side or in the same field in the record. You can use combinations of phrases or truncation to better define your search terms.
Phrases
A phrase search will retrieve items that contain the words in the order that they are entered. To submit a phrase search, enclose your search terms in quotation marks. The quotation marks indicate that you want the system to search for the terms exactly as entered and not to perform any Boolean operations on the terms.
Example using a phrase search
"water treatment"
Searches only for items which contain the exact phrase water treatment.
Truncation
One character may be truncated inside or at the end of a term using a question mark (?). The search results will contain all terms that match the un-truncated part(s) of the term and one additional character at point of truncation.
Any number of characters can be truncated inside or at the end of a term using the asterisk (*). The search results will contain all terms that match the un-truncated part(s) of the term and any number of additional characters at point of truncation.
Example using truncation
med?cine
climat?
meteo*
Advanced Search Form
The Advanced Search form provides different search boxes to separate the entered search terms into three different Boolean operator categories.
All of these words
Using the All of these words search box will return search results which must contain all of the terms or phrases entered, using a Boolean AND operator.
Example using All of these words
water treatment
Searches for items which contain the word water and also the word treatment. The words do not have to be side-by-side or in the same field in the record.
Any of these words
Using the Any of these words search box will return results which may contain any of the terms or phrases entered, using a Boolean OR operator.
Example using Any of these words
water treatment plant
Searches for items which contain the word water or the word treatment or the word plant.
None of these words
Using the None of these words search box will return search results which must not contain any of the terms or phrases entered, using a Boolean NOT operator.
Example using None of these words
treatment plant
Searches for items which do not contain the word treatment and do not contain the word plant.
Combining search boxes
The three search boxes can be used individually or in combination with each other.
Example combining search boxes
water treatment in Any of these words and plant in None of these words
Searches for items which contain the word water or the word treatment but not the word plant.
Year
Entering values in the Year search boxes will search for records with dates matching the year(s) entered. If values are entered in both from and to search boxes, the search results returned will only fall within that range. Entering a value in only the from search box will return search results which are newer or match the year entered. Entering a value in only the to search box will return search results which are older or match the year entered.
Collections
The Advanced Search form also allows you to narrow down your search by selecting one or more specific collections to be searched by using the check boxes next to the collections listed.
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