Searching
Displaying Records after a Search
Troubleshooting
To do a search:
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 |
| both words, anywhere | the words separated by a space | computer software |
| one word but not another word | space-hyphen immediately before the word to exclude | 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".
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" |
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:
| 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
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"
To clear query criteria, click the Reset button on the search screen.
To start your search, click the Submit Query button.
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:
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 WEB_MSG.HTM, which lists error messages in alphabetical order.
The program cannot understand the search criteria. Possible problems include:
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.
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:
05-2006:06-2006
2005-12:2006-01
Search technology supplied by Inmagic. http://www.inmagic.com.
Feb-2012