Help Center

• Searching
• Searching (Advanced)
• Saving your searches
• My Lists

Searching

Type the keyword you want to find. For example:

• design
• bleachers grisham

Search Tips

Wildcards	Words may be right-hand truncated using an asterisk ('*') in place of other characters. The '*' wildcard may also be embedded in a search string. You may use '?' to replace a single character anywhere within a word. Examples : environment* polic*, wom?n
Boolean Operators	Use "and" or "or" to specify multiple words in any field, any order. Use "and not" to exclude words. Example : stocks and bonds Example : (alaska or canada) and (adventure and not vacation)
Field limits	A field limit causes the system to search only the specified field for the specified word(s).
Grouping	Keyword search results are usually grouped by relevance to bring the most likely titles to the top of the list. Each group represents a similar level of relevance and results are sorted within the group by date or title. To get an ungrouped result set, use boolean operators to form a complex query.

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Advanced Keyword Search Tips

Multiple Words

When searching multiple words the system will automatically supply the Boolean "and" operator between each word; multiple words entered for the search will all occur somewhere in the retrieved records though not necessarily in the order entered. Both examples on the right will retrieve the same results.

Phrase Searches

Search for complete phrases by enclosing them in quotation marks. Words enclosed in double quotes will appear together in all results exactly as typed.

Wildcards

*   Matches any number of non-space characters, starting at the specified position in the word. For example, "comput*" will match all words that begin with "comput" (e.g., "computer", "computation", etc.).
The '*' wildcard may also be embedded in a search string.

?   You may use a question mark ('?') to replace a single character anywhere within a word.

Boolean Operators

Use AND or OR to specify multiple words in any field, any order. Use AND NOT to exclude words. Select the operator you wish to use from the selection list on the Advanced Search form.

Field Limits

Field limits may be specified by selecting a field limit from the selection list. These limits appear before the word or phrase to be searched. A field limit causes the system to search only the specified field for the specified word(s).

Field Limits and their meanings:

• Author: Search only author fields
• Title: Search only title fields
• Subject: Search only subject fields
• Note: Search only note fields
• Subject: Search only subject fields

Grouping

Keyword search results are usually grouped by relevance to bring the most likely titles to the top of the list. Each group represents a similar level of relevance and results are sorted within the group by date or title. To get an ungrouped result set, use boolean operators to form a complex query.

 Most relevant titles 

 Highly relevant titles 

 Very relevant titles 

 Relevant titles 

 Other relevant titles 

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Saving your searches

If you have a favorite author or subject for which you often search when using the catalog, you can save the search with the click of a button. This will prevent you from having to key in the search each time and let you place reserves on new materials quicker.

How to:

1. Log in to your My Millennium Account.
2. Click on the "New Search" button.
3. Search for your favorite author, subject, title, etc. or create an advanced keyword search including limits to material type, language, publication year, etc..
4. When your results are displayed, click the button marked "Save as preferred search".
5. The next time that you log in to your My Millennium Account, you can click the "Preferred Searches" button to see a list of your saved searches.
6. Click on the search link associated with any of the preferred search terms in the list to quickly execute your search.
7. You can be alerted of new materials added to the library collection which match your searches. Just check the "Mark for Email" box and be sure that your patron record information includes your current email address.

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My Lists

To create a list of records you must be logged in. You can log into your library account either before you do a search, or after you have searched and found items you want to save.

Saving Records

• Do a search and click on the checkbox(s) for the record(s) you want to save to a list.
• Click the "Add Marked to My Lists" link. If you are not logged in you will be prompted to login.
• To add records to an existing list, select the name of the list from the pull-down. To create a new list select "create a new list" from the bottom of the pull-down.
• The selected records will be saved to your existing or new list.

Using a Saved List

• Log into your account.
• If your lists are not on the screen, click the "My Lists" link on the left.
• To delete lists either select the individual list by clicking in the checkbox to the left of the list, or click on the "Delete All" button to delete all of your lists. Once deleted you will have to re-create the list if you make a mistake.
• To Manage a list, click on the list name.
• To export, click on "Export List."
• Click on the appropriate format for the list (we recommend selecting Brief Display).
• To e-mail a list, add your e-mail address.
• Click the submit button to send the email.
• To send the list to the screen so you can cut and paste records select Screen. Formatted records will be sent to the screen.
• To save the list to your computer, select Disk and you will be prompted for a location on your computer where the records will be saved.

Removing Duplicates

• Click on the Remove Duplicate button to have the system look for duplicate records within your list.

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