Searching Branches

When you are searching for bibliographic and item records, you can choose which branches you want Polaris to search, as well as which collections to search within each branch. The Find Tool’s Branches tabbed page lists all the assigned branches, along with their collections, in your library system. Searches for bibliographic records by branch or collection return results based on the linked item records. If the bibliographic record is not linked to any item records with that assigned branch, it does not appear in the results list on the Branches tab. If the bibliographic record is not linked to any item records with that collection, it does not appear in the results list on the Collections tab. Bibliographic records without linked item records do not appear in the results list.

Important:
Search results, except for bibliographic titles and call number browse searches, may be filtered so the results list includes only those results that you have permission to access. If the Staff Client profile Find Tool: Filter search results by permission is set to Yes, you will see only those records for which you have Access permission. For more information about setting permissions in Polaris, see Setting Administration Permissions

Tip:

If you want to find bibliographic records owned by a certain branch but with no linked item records, do a Scoping search instead of a Branch search. A branch search looks for bibliographic records with linked items assigned to the branch. If no items are linked, the bibliographic record is not found.

To search for bibliographic and item records by branch and by collection associated with each branch:

Note:

You can search by branches only in normal search mode.

  1. On the Find Tool - General tabbed page, fill in the Object, Search by, Type, and For boxes (see Doing a Basic Search).
  2. Click the Branches tab to display the Branches tabbed page.

By default, all branches and collections are selected.

Tip:

To search all branches, click Select All.

  1. Click Unselect All to clear the check boxes for all branches and collections.The status bar displays BR to indicate that you are searching by branch.
  2. If you want to search all the collections in a branch, select the check box next to each branch to be searched.
  3. If you want to search by particular collections in a branch, follow these steps:
  1. Click the plus sign [+] next to the branch. The plus sign is replaced by a minus sign [-]. All the collections for the branch appear.
  2. Select the check box next to each collection you want to search. The check box next to the branch is grayed out to indicate that one or more collections are not to be searched within the branch.

Tip:

To start a new search, click New Search. The General tabbed page appears. To reset the list, click Reset.

  1. Click Search to begin the search. The results list appears.

Related Information

When searching by branch and collection, you can also use other searching features. See also: