UA+Libraries+Catalog+Tipsheet

= Connect to the UA Libraries Catalog =

=Database Description:= The UA Libraries Catalog lists library holdings for books, electronic books, government documents, audio-visual material, print and electronic journal titles, reserve materials, and subscription databases for University of Akron Libraries (Bierce and Science), UA Law Library, Wayne College Library, and UA Archives.

=Wildcard / Truncation:= Use a single asterisk (*) to truncate from 1-5 characters. Use a double asterisk (**) for open-ended truncation. Use a question mark (?) to replace a single character inside or at the end or a word.

=Boolean Operators:= The catalog uses: AND, OR, AND NOT


 * AND:** Finds records that contain both words, although not necessarily in the same sentence or in the given order. AND ties the two concepts together and provides a more narrow search than just a single word alone.

Finds records that contain either word or both words. Use OR for synonymous or related terms; this broadens the search.
 * OR:**

Finds records that contain the first word and that do not contain the second word.
 * AND NOT:**

=Adjacency / Phrase Searching:= To search multiple words as a phrase, place in quotation marks. Example: “copyright law”

=Proximity Operators:= You can use proximity operators to search for two or more words that occur within a specified number of words of each other

Find words within 10 words of each other, in any order. Example: California near university
 * Near:**

Specify terms which occur within a certain number of each other. Example: America within 3 economics
 * Within:**

=Field Searching:= Use abbreviations in the Keyword (Words) search to specify which fields to search. Fields available include author (a:), title (t:), subject (s:), and notes (n:)

Example: (a:twain) and (t:huck*) will find books by Twain with a word in the title that starts with “huck”

=Ranked Results:= Keyword searches (unless performed with quotation marks around adjacent phrases) result in a relevancy-ranked list. This is intended to bring the best results to the top. Results will appear in up to 5 groups. Each group is ordered by date unless title or relevance is selected from the "Sorted By" menu.


 * Most Relevant:** The very small number of titles where the primary title contains the search as a phrase. (e.g. Small Business Management).


 * Highly Relevant:** The search phrase appears in the sub-title . (e.g. Performance measures for growing businesses: a practical guide to small business management).


 * Very Relevant:** The search phrase is in the contents, series notes, or subject headings. (e.g. The Foundations of small business enterprise which has the phrase "small business management" as a subject heading).


 * Relevant:** The Boolean AND pulls words from the search phrase in the primary title and/or sub-title. (e.g. Smart financial management: the essential reference for the successful small business).


 * Other Relevant:** The Boolean AND pulls the words from the search phrase from anywhere in the record. (e.g. Raising venture capital for the serious entrepreneur which has "management" in the contents notes and "small business" in one of the subjects).

=Limiting:= Limit results by Location (Wayne, Bierce, etc.), Language, Material Type, or Date.

= __View a tutorial:__ = How to Search the UA Catalog and Expand to OhioLINK and SearchOhio

During the library's normal operating hours you can stop by, call, text message , or chat with the library staff live:

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