Circulation - Searching Guide

Circulation - Searching Guide

Searching WorkFlows

When you search in WorkFlows, you're sifting through data in a variety of indexes. The quality of this data impacts how findable records are. The three most basic indexes are  title, author and subject, though WorkFlows has many more.

The Item Search and Display wizard offers three different ways of searching: keyword, browse and exact. Circulation work can involve a mix of all three methods.
To learn about searching when cataloging, see Cataloging - Searching Guide. To learn more about searching your library's online catalog, see Enterprise - Searching Guide.

Item Search and Display

Here are the main parts of the Item Search and Display wizard.
Item Search Display wizard with the search pane, hit list pane and viewer pane highlighted

A. Search Pane - This is where you will enter your search terms, select an index, choose which library collection(s) to search, and which method of searching you want to use. Your most recently viewed record will appear as a hotlink at the bottom of this pane.

B. Hit List Pane - This is where your search results, or hits, display. Your search string appears above the results; it includes the type of search, the index selected, the search terms, the chosen library collection and the number of hits. In the example above, the search string is "KEYWORD Title alpine climbing, ALL: 10 records". By default, the search sorts on the first twenty (20) characters of the hit list entry. Depending on your search results or the type of search you are performing, a browse list may display. 

C. View Pane – This is where you can find more information about whichever record is highlighted in the hit list. You can toggle between different tabs, such as Description, Call Number/Item, Order Information and more, depending on the record.

Here are the wizard helpers you may want to use.
Item Search and Display wizard helper icons circled in orange
1. Binoculars with tools crossed - Clicking this icon before or after a search will open a window where you can narrow results by item type, publication date and more.
2. Binoculars with a yellow plus - Clicking this icon will change the search pane into an advanced search format.
3. Glasses with binoculars - Clicking this icon will show / hide the search pane.
4. Glasses alone - Clicking this icon will show / hide the entire  view pane.
5. Glasses with a book - Clicking this icon will show / hide the circulation / extended information that may appear on the right-hand side of the view pane, depending on the tab selected.
6. Arrows - Clicking the arrows will allow you to navigate between older and newer searches. You can do this from the Search for drop-down, too.

To save search settings
1. If the wizard is open, close it.
2. Right-click  Item Search and Display.
3. Select  Properties…
4. Set the  Search Preferences drop-downs how you want them.
5. Click  OK.
6. If prompted, choose to save preferences before closing WorkFlows.

Here are some examples of the record fields WorkFlows looks at when you perform a search.
Index
Synonym
MARC Record Field
Title
TI
130, 245, 440, 730, 740
Author
AU
 100, 110, 111, 700, 710, 711
Subject
SU
600, 610, 611, 630, 650, 651, 690, 691
Series
SER
400, 410, 411, 440, 490, 800, 810, 811, 830, 840
General
n / a
 All indexed MARC fields (see General Index Search)

MARC Field
Tag Definition
100
Personal author main entry
245
Main title and statements of responsibility
260
Publication information, including publication date
440
Series title entry
500
General note
505
Contents note
520
Summary or abstract
650
Topical subject heading
651
Geographical subject heading
710
Added corporate author

Keyword Searching

Keyword searching returns hits that contain the term(s) you entered almost anywhere in a record - title, author, subject, series, contents, etc. This type of searching is especially effective when you use tricks like  operators,  nesting, the general index,  substitution and truncation. Each strategy is described below, followed by examples.
Keyword searching is a great choice when you're looking for a specific item but don't have much information about the title, author, etc., you have multiple criteria you want the results to meet, or you're cataloging an item that hasn't been indexed.

Boolean Operators

Operators tell WorkFlows how to interpret a keyword search. Boolean operators include  AND, OR, NOT, and XOR.
AND - tells the system to retrieve records that include all of your search terms, for example:
a search for dogs and cats will retrieve only records that contain  both the word dogs and the word cats.
A search for dogs cats is the same as a search for dogs and cats.
OR - tells the system to retrieve records that contain any or all of your search terms, for example:
a search for dogs or cats will retrieve records with the word dogs, records with the word cats, and records that contain both.
NOT - tells the system to retrieve records that contain your first term but not your second, for example:
a search for vegetarian not vegan will retrieve records with the word vegetarian, but only if they don't contain the word vegan.
XOR - tells the system to retrieve records containing each of your search terms separately, for example:
a search for dogs xor cats will retrieve records with the word dogs, records with the word cats, but not records with both terms.
If you're keyword searching for a title or specific phrase that includes these operators, put the title / phrase in double quotes. This will make WorkFlows view the words as search terms instead of operators. For example, "war and peace" instead of war and peace.

Positional Operators

Positional operators retrieve records in which the search terms are in close proximity. They include SAME, WITH, NEAR, and ADJ.
SAME - retrieves records in which a field contains all the specified terms; for example:
a search for montana same history will retrieve records that contain both terms anywhere in the same field.
WITH - retrieves records in which a field contains a sentence with all the specified terms; for example:
a search for montana with history will retrieve records that contain both terms in the same sentence of a field.
NEAR - retrieves records in which a field contains all search terms next to to each other; however, the terms can be in any order; for example: a search for montana near history will retrieve records that display the terms side-by-side, montana history and history montana.
ADJ - same as NEAR, except the search terms must appear in the order they were entered; for example:
a search for montana adj history will retrieve records that contain the term montana history.

Relational Operators

Relational operators allow you to narrow your search based on numerical expressions, like publication date. For example:
(montana and history) and {260} >= 2017 searches for records that contain both terms - montana and history - and a publication date (in MARC field 260) of 2017 or later.
Operator Symbol
Definition
<
Less than
>
Greater than
=
Equal to
< >

<=
Less than or equal to
>=
Greater than or equal to

Nesting

If you have multiple search criteria, you can nest, or group, your search expressions using parentheses. WorkFlows searches the expression located in the innermost set of parentheses first, then moves outward to the terms at the edges of the expression. For example:
(shakespeare and lear {245}) not (videorecording or penguin)
Searching the general index, as opposed to title, author, etc., searches all indexed MARC fields. This would be overwhelming, except you can narrow your search to a specific MARC field or set of fields using squiggly brackets - { }. For example:
brando {511} retrieves records with the actor's name in the movie performer note field.
gaiman {100, 245} and ((graphic adj novel) or (comic adj book)) retrieves records that contain gaiman in the author / statement of responsibility fields and the terms graphic novel and / or comic book.

Substitution

You can use the  ? symbol as a substitute for one missing character in a search term, usually when you are unsure of a spelling or when you want to find two forms of one word:
wom?n retrieves records with woman and women
196? retrieves records with 1960, 1961, 1962, etc.

Truncation

Truncation is unlimited character substitution. You can use the $ symbol to truncate search terms and represent a single character, many characters, or no characters. If you follow the $ symbol with a number, WorkFlows limits the number of characters matched. When more than one term in a search expression is truncated, each term is searched for all variations. When truncated words produce too many variations to search, a partial list is retrieved.
command$ retrieves records with command, commands, commandment, commander, commandante, etc.
substitut$3 retrieves records with substitute, substitutes, substitution
brit$n retrieves Britain, Britian, Briton, Britten, britischen
541$ {082} retrieves 541.3451, 541.22, etc. from the Dewey class field
To perform a search for a term that actually contains a question mark or dollar sign, enclose the term in double quotes.

Stopwords

WorkFlows ignores stopwords - usually articles, prepositions or conjunctions - when keyword searching. Typically defined stopwords include:
A, AN, AS, AT
BE, BUT, BY
DO
FOR
IF, IN, IT
OF, ON
THE, TO
To prevent WorkFlows from ignoring stopwords in a search expression, enclose the expression in double quotes.

Browse Searching

Browse searching by index displays hits alphabetically. Many results include hotlinks that you can use for cross-referencing. Unlike keyword searching, browse searching doesn't recognize Boolean operators or stopwords - it includes them in your search.
Browse searching is great when you're cataloging, or when you're helping a patron search by title, author, subject or series when s/he has at least some relevant information in hand, like a last name or specific topic. 

Browsing by Title

Since browse searching doesn't recognize Boolean operators or stopwords as special, it's often more effective than keyword searching when looking up titles. For example:
The title of the book  The Not So Big House contains a stopword ( the) and a Boolean operator ( not).
Browse title search for The Not So Big House
A browse title search for the not so big house (above)  takes you directly to the record.
A keyword title search for "the not so big house" returns hits that you'd need to sort by title.
If you forget to use quotes, a keyword title search for not so big house returns over 900,000 records, because you asked for all the records that don't contain all of the following terms: so, big and house.

Browsing by Author

When browsing by author, search using the format last name first name (no comma); for example: king stephen. Browse searching can help you hunt down authors with commonly misspelled names. If a record with the misspelling exists, it will contain a hotlink that will reroute you to right place. You can also enter the beginning of the name you're unsure of, then scroll through your results; for example, an author browse search for pala can lead to Chuck Palahniuk. That said, an advanced keyword or Google search may be faster.
Browse author search using the term pala to find hits for Chuck Palahniuk
Unauthorized headings are marked with red arrows. Highlighting one will display a hotlink to an authorized heading.
Authorized headings are marked with green check marks. Highlighting one will display records with that heading.

Browsing by Subject

Browse searching is ideal for searching by subject because it provides you with hotlinks to similar terms that are authorized subject headings. For example, a search for architecture contains a hit with an unauthorized heading that suggests a variety of terms you can use to narrow or broaden your search (click image to expand it):
Browse subject search for the term architecture

Exact Searching

Exact searching is ideal for specific number or codes searches. Use exact searching when searching by ISBN, ISSN, or Item ID.
Exact searching is great when you want information about an item in hand; however, when cataloging, perform a browse / keyword search first before searching by ISBN.
As mentioned in the section on Item Search and Display, you can use the Configure options for Item Search helper before or after conducting a search to quickly narrow results by item type, publication date and more.
1. Select Circulation module > Item Search and Display wizard.
2. Perform a search.
3. Click the Configure options for Item Search helper ( binoculars with tools crossed icon).
4. Set your parameters in the Search Options box that appears.
7. Click OK.
8. Click Search or press Enter.
Search parameters don't automatically reset when you perform a new search. Re-open the helper to change parameters.
For example, if you want to search for the Outlander TV series, you can perform a browse title search for outlander, then narrow item type to DVD (click image to expand it):
Browse title search for the term outlander, narrowed to the item type DVD

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