Library Catalog Advanced/Boolean Searching –

Updated Feb 18, 2005

Boolean Searching allows you to broaden or narrow your search. The Boolean operators are:

and finds matches that include both search terms. For example "war and Canada" would find all items that pertain to both war and Canada. Both terms must exist in order to find a match.

not excludes items with the search term. For example, "Not fiction" would only search for non-fiction books

or finds items the have either of the search terms. For example, "war or violence" would find items that pertain to just war, just violence, or both war and violence. Only one term must exist in order to find a match.

* truncate symbol. Finds items that begin with the search term and have any ending. For example, translat* would search for items beginning with "translat". Items pertaining to Translation, translations, translates or translate would be included.

Boolean operators can be entered manually as follows:

This search would scan all fields (title, subject, author etc) for non-fiction books that include both war and canad* (canada, canada’s, Canadians, canadian). Both terms must be present for an item to be listed in the results.

Boolean operators can be entered through the advanced search screen as follows:

This search would scan only the subject field for non-fiction books that include either Shakespeare or Elizabethan. One of the terms must be present for an item to be listed in the results.