Search for a Book

Are you looking for a certain title?  Do you know the author, but not sure what he/she wrote?  What information do you have?  The more information you have, the more successful your search will be.  Without a lot of information to go on, it will take you a little longer to find the book.  But with the Search options you have available in the PAC, you will have many different ways to try and get your desired result.  Let's take a look at how to search for a book and you will be well on your way to checking out!

To Search for a Book

1. Click Search on the PAC toolbar.

2. If Keyword Search is not the default screen, click the Keyword Search tab.  In the example below, Keyword Search is the default, which means Keyword Search is the first dialog you see after clicking Search.
   
   

3. For this example, let's search for the title "The Cat in the Hat."  Select Title from the drop-down list to the right of Find.  See the example below:
   
   

4. Contain is the default search type.  It's usually your best bet for general searches.  Use the drop-down list if you want to select a different search type.

5. Type the name of the title in the entry box.  In this example, 'cat in the hat' is typed in the entry box to the right of word(s), as shown in the example below:
   
   
   
   You do not need to worry about capitalizing words or adding articles, such as a, an, or in this case, the.  Even if you choose the search type 'begin with', articles are ignored.

6. At this point, click Search.  The progress bar under the PAC toolbar will move horizontally across the screen, collecting the information using the search criteria you provided.  How quickly results are returned depends on the size of your library's database.  All the books with 'cat in the hat' anywhere in the title will be returned to you in list form, also known as the result set.
   
   The optional items listed below will return less results, but if you want to take the time and make the selections, the use of these options will help you get closer to finding that one item you were looking for:

• Optional: Select Set Limits to narrow your search using Collection, Format, Language, Place and/or Dates.  In addition, you can use Search Branch to search for only your Library or any of its branches.  See Set Limits for more information.

• Optional:  The default for how many items display on one result set page is 10.  If you expect a long results list and want to see more than 10 on one page, use the drop-down list and select a different number.  Choose between 10 and 100.

• Optional:  Select the check box to the left of Available Items Only if you only want to view books that are currently available to you.

• Optional:  Select the specific library or branch from the Select Location(s) drop-down list.  The result set will display only those books for the selected library or branch.

See Set Limits if you want to learn more about how to narrow your search.
See also Browse, Advanced, or New Items for other search options.