Search for a Record

To do a simple search for records:

Note:
If you encounter any issues with your search, see Resolving Find Tool Search Issues.

  1. Open the Find Tool using one of these methods:

The General tabbed page of the Find Tool appears.

  1. If the object selected is not what you wanted to search for, select the record type to search for in the Object box.

Tip:
To quickly locate an item in a list box, type the first letter. For example, to search by genre, open the Search by list and press G.

  1. Select the access point to search by in the Search by box.

Note:
If you select a date option in the Search by box (for example, you are searching for serial issues and select Expected arrival date), the Find Tool displays date range boxes where you select the beginning and ending dates from a calendar.

  1. Select the type of search in the Type box.

Tip:
If you have selected an access point and a search type, but then decide to change the access point, the search type is retained. For example, if the search type is Keyword and the access point is Author, you can switch the access point to Title and the search type will be retained because both access points can be used with keyword searching.

  1. If you want to sort the results before they appear in the list, select an option in the Sort by box.
  2. Type a search string in the For box.

If you have entered a search string but decide to search for a different object, you can switch the object while retaining the same search string.

Example:
You search for bibliographic records by author and then you want to search for item records with the same author. You can select Item Records in the Object box and the author’s name remains in the For box.

  1. If you want to narrow your search, select an option in the Limit by box, and select or type a value in the Value box.

Note:
The Value box lists options for some Limit by settings, while other settings require a text entry in the Value box. For example, if you select Language in the Limit by box, the Value box contains a list of languages. If you select Author in the Limit by box, you type the author’s name in the Value box. If you enter a portion of a Limit by value, you must enter an asterisk. For example, select Author in the Limit by box and enter Kin* in the Value box to display works by authors named King, Kings, Kingsley, and others. See Limit By.

Tip:
The results list automatically clears when you start another search. You can also click New Search to close the results list, return the Find Tool to its default settings, and clear the For box.

  1. Click Search or press ENTER. If you want to cancel the search, click Stop or start a new search with a different query. The results list appears in the Find Tool window.

Important:
If you see the message Could not connect to the Z3950 search engine, try increasing the search timeout limit. Select the Settings tab, and type a larger number in the Search Timeout (sec.) box. For example, if the timeout is set to 30 seconds, increase it to 60 seconds. The search process continues for 60 seconds, if necessary.

Tip:
Check the status line to see if all results are displayed. If not, you can press CTRL+SHIFT+A to return all results.
To sort the list after the results appear, you can click on the column headers.

  1. To work with a record in the results list, do one of the following actions:

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