Help Page

Search Tips.

The catalogue search box accepts one or more words. By default the database is searched for titles that contain all the words you type, in any order, anywhere in the catalogue record.

Combining words (Boolean operators).

• AND — the default. harry potter finds titles that contain both harry and potter.
• OR — finds titles that contain either word.
  harry OR ron matches titles mentioning Harry or Ron.
• NOT — excludes a word.
  harry NOT prince finds Harry titles that do not mention "prince".

Phrase search.

Enclose two or more words in double quotes to find them as an exact phrase.
"half blood prince" matches only titles containing that exact phrase.

Wildcard / truncation.

Use * at the end of a word to match any continuation of letters.
magic* matches magic, magical, magician, magicians.

Choosing a search field.

On the Advanced Search page the Search field dropdown narrows the search to a single area: Anywhere (default), Name/Author, Title, Subject, Series or ISBN. Pick the most specific field for the most relevant results.

Filtering results.

The Advanced Search filters narrow results by Special interest category, Collection, Language, Reading Level, Format and Sort By. Filters combine with the keyword search using AND.

Book number.

If you already know the library book number for a title, type it into the Book number box. The book number search is exact and ignores all other filters.

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