Library

How to Search the Murdoch Library Catalogue

Keyword

The Keyword search allows you to search for a word or words in a title, subject, author, corporate author or note. Use a keyword search if you know some of the words but are unsure of the exact title or author's name, the complete subject heading or the order of words in the heading, or the correct spelling of one or more words. A keyword search can also be used if other searches have not located the information you require. If you know the exact title, use a Title search.

Phrases

Enclose phrases in quotation marks or they will be searched as separate words joined together with “and”. Phrase searches will find records that contain all the words you typed, in the same order.

Combining Keywords with Operators

The following searches will all return the same results:

or or |

Use or or the delimiter | to broaden your search results or to search for synonyms. Combine search terms with or or | to find records that contain any of the keywords you typed, in any order.

and not or &!

 Use and not or &! to exclude words from your results. Combine search terms withand not or &! to exclude records that contain any of the keywords you typed after and not or &!

Parentheses

In complex searches, parentheses are used to group words together. To combine groups of terms with “and” insert and or & between the groups.

Truncation and Wildcard

Truncation (*) or wildcard (?) may be used after a minimum of two characters.
(*) A single asterisk finds up to five characters in the middle or at the end of a word.
(**) Two asterisks finds unlimited characters at the end of a word.
(?) A question mark may be used to find any single character in the specified place in the word.

(**) Two asterisks used alone in the search box finds everything. You can combine this with various search limits to find, for example, all ebooks published in 2003 or later, or an alphabetical list of all videos, films and dvds.

Proximity Operators

near

Use near to find words in the same field within 10 words of each other, in any order. This search is useful if you are unsure of the order of words in a subject heading.

within #

Use within or # to find words in the same field within # words of each other, in any order. This search is useful for finding words in summaries or contents notes.

Field Limits

t: title, a:author, s:subject, n:note or t=title, a=author, s=subject, n=note

Use field limits for title, author, subject and note to restrict your search to these fields. Use the abbreviation for the field followed immediately by a colon or equals sign. The colon and equals sign are interchangeable and produce identical search results. This search is useful for finding a particular title by a prolific author or works by collaborating authors.

When using parentheses, use the field abbreviation for each search term within the parentheses.

Boolean Operators as Search Terms

To search for phrases that include the Boolean operators “and”, “or”, “and not”, “near” and “within”, enclose these words in quotation marks.

Both examples produce identical results.

Other Limit Options

Select from the following combinations of search limits which are available from the drop down menus on the search screen.

Sorting Your Search Results

Sort results using the following options which are available from the Sort drop down menus on the search screen.

If you don't find what you are looking for, try changing your search words and limit options. Click on the MODIFY SEARCH button on the search result screen to return to the original search screen. Make some changes and try again.

Relevancy Ranking of Keyword Search Results

Keyword search results are automatically grouped & ranked by relevancy. This is intended to bring the best results to the top.

Results will appear in up to 5 groups : Most Relevant; Highly Relevant; Very Relevant; Relevant; and Other Relevant.
Titles within each relevancy group display in order from most recent date to oldest.

Most Relevant	The search phrase appears in the main title Examples : Search the terms : domestic violence. The title, "Rethinking domestic violence" is considered among the Most Relevant because the phrase 'domestic violence' appears in the main title.
Highly Relevant	The search phrase appears in the sub-title or other title information Examples : The title, "Framing the victim : domestic violence, media, and social problems" is considered Highly Relevant because the phrase "domestic violence" appears in the subtitle
Very Relevant	The search phrase is in the contents, series notes, or subject headings Examples : The title, "Handbook of children, culture, and violence" is considered Very Relevant because the terms 'domestic violence' appear as a phrase in contents notes.
Relevant	The Boolean AND pulls words from the search phrase in the main title and/or sub-title Examples : The title, "Latinas' narratives of domestic abuse : discrepant versions of violence" is considered Relevant because the terms "domestic" and "violence" appear in the title/subtitle, although not as an adjacent phrase.
Other Relevant	The Boolean AND pulls the words from the search phrase from anywhere in the record Examples : The title, "Between, Georgia " is considered an Other Relevant title because the term "domestic" appears in a subject heading and the term "violence" appears in a summary note.

Deactivating Relevancy Ranking

Ranking of results can be deactivated by using Advanced Search and selecting a field: Author, Title, Subject, or Note, from the  'Any Field ' drop down menu.

If you have already performed a keyword search and want to deactivate ranked results select 'Modify Search' to return to an advanced search page, select a field from the Any Field drop down menu, then select a sort order.

Author

For personal (individual) authors, type the author's surname or the surname followed by the first name or initial and press ENTER or click on Submit Search.

For corporate authors, type the name or the first few words of the name in normal word order. If you are not sure of the full name of the correct word order for a corporate author such as a government department, use a Keyword search.

curtin university of technology western australia dept of industry and resources cancer foundation

Author and Title

In the author box, type the author's surname or the surname followed by the first name or initial. In the title box, enter words from the title in any order and press ENTER or click on Submit Search.

Title

Type as much or as little of the exact title as you want and press ENTER or click on Submit Search.

Subject

Type as much or as little as you want of the subject heading exactly as it appears in Library of Congress Subject Headings and press ENTER or click on Submit Search.

Additional Subjects

For MeSH type as much or as little as you want of the exact MeSH subject heading and press ENTER or click on Submit Search.

For SCIS headings type as much or as little as you want of the exact SCIS subject heading and press ENTER or click on Submit Search.

Call Number

Type in the complete call number, including the decimal point and any spaces within the number.

824.919 g7428w 658.8 kot 2001

You can also use the call number search if you know the classification number of a subject that interests you and wish to browse the catalogue.

Type in the classification number and browse the results screens for individual titles of interest.

Electronic Course Materials and Reserve

To search by the unit, type the unit name or code and press ENTER or click on Submit Search.

To search by lecturer, type the surname or the surname followed by the first name or initial of the lecturer or unit coordinator, and press ENTER or click on Submit Search.

ISBN/ISSN

For books, type the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and press ENTER or click on Submit Search.

For journals, type the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) and press ENTER or click on Submit Search.

Limiting your search

• Monograph/Serial:
  Use this option to limit search results to books (monographs) only, serials (journals) or collection level of the record. Select your preferred option from the drop down list and click on Limit/sort items retrieved using above data.
• Language:
  Use this option to limit search results to a single language. Select your preferred option from the drop down list and click on Limit/sort items retrieved using above data.
• Words from the author, title, subject or publisher:
  Type in words in any order and click on Limit/sort items retrieved using above data.
• Material type:
  Use this option to limit your search to items in a particular format, for example, videos or manuscripts. The following list explains some of the material types available. Select your preferred option from the drop down list and click on Limit/sort items retrieved using above data.

Print:	Books, pamphlets, journals in printed format
Archive:	Manuscripts
Music MS:	Music Manuscript
Spoken Record:	Sound recording featuring spoken material, eg. lecture
2-D Graphic:	Pictures, posters and slides
Kit:	Collection of materials in a number of formats, eg. books, pamphlets and cassettes
3-D Object:	3 dimensional object, eg. sculpture, model, etc

• Year of Publication:
  Enter a range of dates.
• Location:
  Limit to a particular location, such as Main Library, Rockingham, Peel, Vet Library.
• Collection:
  Limit your search to a specific collection. Collections may include material from a number of different locations:

You may also sort your search results by year of publication, and in a keyword search, by title or relevance.

My Reading History

You can use "My Reading History" to keep track of the items that you have borrowed from the library. This is an optional function which is available via My Library. Before using "My Reading History" please read Reading History and your Privacy.

If you choose to activate “My Reading History”:

1. Login to My Library and click on the "My Reading History" button
2. Click on the Opt In button.

All items you borrow from now on will be recorded in your Reading History list. Items currently on loan to you at the time of activation are not included in the history. You can delete any items from your list by checking the Mark box and choosing Delete Marked. Deleted items are permanently removed.

You can turn the “My Reading History ” feature off at any time by clicking on the Opt out button. If you choose to opt out you must first delete all items from the list. This is done by clicking on the Delete All button.

My Library Features

My Ratings

Ratings is a feature of the catalogue that allows you to rate titles as well as see ratings other people have given titles. You can rate books, movies, CDs, databases—whatever material type we have for a title.

Viewing Ratings in the Catalogue

Titles that have been rated will show blue stars. The blue stars are an average and if you move your mouse over the blue stars, a ratings message appears that tells you how many people have given that title a rating. Example: Rated 3 out of 5 based on 4 ratings.

Explanation of Ratings
Color Coding	Yellow - your rating. Blue - group rating. White - needs to be rated.
	Excellent. Highly recommend.
	Very Good. Exceeds expectations.
	Good. Met expectations but did not exceed them
	Fairly low opinion. Recommend only with reservations.
	Extremely low opinion of this item. Would not recommend.
	Never been rated. No recommendation available.

If you are searching the catalogue while you are logged into My Library, your ratings will display to you as yellow stars. You can still see what other people have rated a title that you have also rated by moving your mouse over the stars. The group rating will appear in blue.

Titles that have not been rated by anyone appear blank. If you are logged into My Library and searching the catalogue, titles that have not been rated by anyone will show question marks inside the stars when you move your mouse over them.

How to Add your Own Ratings

1. You need to be logged in to My Library to add your own ratings.
2. Once you have logged in search the catalogue for the title you would like to rate.
3. You will see a row of stars under the title’s publication information or on the right of the screen in the brief record display. You can also login by clicking on one of these stars.
4. When you move your mouse over the stars you should see question marks appear within the stars.
5. To give a rating click on the appropriate star.

Viewing My Ratings in My Library

After you have rated a title, click on at the top of the page to access your My Library account. You should now have a new button called My Ratings.

You can delete or change your ratings from this screen.

Preferred Searches and Email Alerts

Setting up and Viewing Preferred Searches

1. Login to My Library and go to Search the Catalogue.
2. Search for materials by keyword, author, title, subject or other search as required.
3. Click the Save Search button at the top right hand side of the search results list.
4. Click on the Patron Record button to return to your patron record.
5. Click on Preferred Searches and the search you saved should be listed.

Repeating a Preferred Search

1. Login to My Library
2. Click on Preferred Searches
3. Click on Search in the right hand column next to the search to be repeated and the search will be carried out.

Removing all Saved Searches

1. Login to My Library
2. Click on Preferred Searches.
3. Click on the Remove all Searches button and all searches will be removed.

Setting up an Email Alert

1. Login to My Library
2. Set up your Preferred Search as instructed above.
3. Tick the Mark for Email box next to a saved search.
4. Click on Update Lists to save your request
5. When a new title that matches your preferred search arrives, you will be notified by email.

The maximum number of Email Alerts allowed is 20. Once this number has been reached, the Save Search button will no longer appear on the search results screen.
Email Alerts are sent once a week.

Deleting an Email Alert

1. Login to My Library.
2. Click on Preferred Searches
3. Tick the Mark for Remove box next to the search to be deleted.
4. Click on the Update List button and the search will be removed.

Renewing Your Loans

1. Log in to My Library.
2. Your checked out items will be listed in the table at the bottom of the screen. If they do not appear, click the button "Checked out items".
3. Select the materials you want to renew by checking the boxes in the RENEW column and then click the Renew Selected button. If you want to renew everything, click the Renew ALL button.
4. If you cannot renew items, a message will appear on the screen. If you are successful, a new due date will appear in the "STATUS" column. Always check the STATUS column for information on the success or failure of your renewal.

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