{"id":5447,"date":"2014-10-29T17:08:27","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T21:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/?page_id=5447"},"modified":"2025-07-11T12:13:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T16:13:20","slug":"librarysearch-help","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/librarysearch-help\/","title":{"rendered":"LibrarySearch+ Help"},"content":{"rendered":"

Search strategy options<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Phrase Searching<\/strong><\/p>\n

LibrarySearch+ allows for phrase searching with the use of quotes, \u201c \u201d. \u00a0 The query \u201cteacher education\u201d finds results with that phrase.<\/p>\n

Boolean Operators<\/strong><\/p>\n

OR, NOT and AND must be written in ALL CAPS.<\/p>\n

By default, all terms in a search are combined with the AND operator. To expand the results set, use the OR operator \u201cmicrocircuits OR nanocircuits\u201d will return items that contain either term.<\/p>\n

This can be combined with quoted terms such as \u201cteacher education\u201d OR \u201ceducator training\u201d.<\/p>\n

To exclude items, use the NOT operator or \u201c-\u201d character before a term. When used in the following query \u201canimal NOT dog\u201d the results will not include the term \u201cdog\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wildcard Use <\/strong><\/p>\n

Searches within LS+ can be performed using the wildcards \u201c?\u201d and \u201c*\u201d.<\/p>\n

The question mark (?) will match any one character and can be used to find \u201cOlsen\u201d or \u201cOlson\u201d by searching for \u201cOls?n\u201d.<\/p>\n

The asterisk (*) will match zero or more characters within a word or at the end of a word. A search for \u201cCh*ter\u201d would match \u201cCharter\u201d, \u201cCharacter\u201d, and \u201cChapter\u201d. When used at the end of a word, such as \u201cTemp*\u201d, it will match all suffixes \u201cTemptation\u201d, \u201cTemple\u201d and \u201cTemporary\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wildcards cannot<\/strong> be used as the first character of a search nor within a phrase search.<\/p>\n

Proximity Operators<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Use the tilde (~) character and a number at the end of multiple words to limit results containing query words within close proximity. \u00a0When used on the phrase \u201cchloroplast import\u201d ~5, the term chloroplast and the term import will have to be found within 5 words of each other in the document. There must be NO SPACE between any part of the search string.<\/p>\n

Increasing the Weight of a Term<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Use the ^ character to increase the weight of a specific term. The ^ character should be followed by a weight. When used on the phrase “computer Olson^4” the term “Olson” will have more weight and result relevancy will favor that term.<\/p>\n

Searching Specific Fields<\/strong><\/p>\n

The single search box in LS+ (basic search box or keyword search box in advanced search) will search across many fields automatically. For example, entering an ISBN, ISSN, or Call Number will bring back associated records.<\/p>\n

You can explicitly search a field using the syntax: \u201cfield:(query).\u201d For example, the search ISSN:(1234-5678), finds records that contain that value in the ISSN field.<\/p>\n

Searchable fields:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Title<\/li>\n
  • SubjectTerms<\/li>\n
  • Author<\/li>\n
  • Publisher<\/li>\n
  • PublicationTitle<\/li>\n
  • Volume<\/li>\n
  • Issue<\/li>\n
  • Language<\/li>\n
  • Notes<\/li>\n
  • ISBN<\/li>\n
  • ISSN<\/li>\n
  • DOI<\/li>\n
  • DEWEY<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Search strategy options   Phrase Searching LibrarySearch+ allows for phrase searching with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_dimp_site_id":"","_dimp_override_contact":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"class_list":["post-5447","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5447"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5483,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5447\/revisions\/5483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}