Help - Using the Catalogue
Basic features
You can choose to do either 'keywords' or 'starts with' searches and you can also choose between searching the full catalogue or periodicals only.
Once you have made an initial search, you can 'browse', limit or sort your results by searching again within those records. You can also save and email your results.
Full catalogue or periodicals
Select Full catalogue to search all the records in the catalogue.
Select Periodicals only to search only the records of periodical titles held. Periodicals are journals, newspapers, magazines, annual reports, and other items published at regular intervals.
The Catalogue does not include the titles of articles published in periodicals, only the titles of the periodicals held.
'Starts with' search types
In 'Starts with' search types what you enter is used to show you an alphabetical list of results showing items that start with the word or part word used. The results link to full bibliographic information about the item, including the location and call number.
Keywords search types
In keyword search types you can enter your search word(s) in any order. Keywords searches give you a list of item Titles which contain your search words in their records. Click on a Title to see the full bibliographic information including the location and call number.
In all keywords search types you can search by:
Truncating search words
Use an asterisk to find multiple endings of your search words, for example:
adult*
will find adult, adults, adulthood, adulterated
aborigin*
will find aboriginal, aborigine(s), aboriginality.
Combining search words using Boolean operators
In all of the keyword search types you can use Boolean operators (the words: "AND", "OR", "AND NOT") to combine your search words. The best way to understand how this works is to compare the numbers of records found in some test searches, for example:
In Keywords:
falcon AND ford
will find records which contain both those words
falcon OR ford
will find records which contain either the word Falcon, or the word ford
falcon NOT ford
will find records which contain only the word Falcon.
in Subject (keywords):
Passenger lists AND New South Wales
will find records containing both those phrases.
When you use or in conjunction with another Boolean operator , put the 'OR ' words in brackets, for example:
(Passenger lists OR immigrants) AND NOT Victoria
will find records containing either the words 'passenger lists' or the word 'immigrants', but excluding those records which also contain the word 'Victoria'.
((Passenger lists OR immigrants) AND (registers OR indexes) AND NOT Victoria
will find records which contain either the words 'passenger lists' or the words 'immigrants', as well as either the word 'registers' or the word 'indexes', but excluding those records which also contain the word 'Victoria'.
Selecting keywords
To find items on a particular topic, first ask yourself what words are likely to be used in the titles or subject headings of relevant items, for example:
in All keywords:
if your question is about women on the home front in World War I, try:
women AND home front AND world war AND 1914
It is best to choose nouns as your keywords, and words which are unusual or very specific to your topic. Start with specific words and if you get no results, choose new words which are broader in meaning, for example:
in Subject (keywords) use:
falcons
rather than birds
If your keywords are very common in the Catalogue for example, management, economic, history , new south wales, australia they will give too many results, so combine them using AND with other words related to your topic, for example:
in Title (keywords) use:
management AND planning
You can also truncate your search word(s) to find both singular and plural forms.
Selecting keywords for Subject (keywords)
The Library uses Library of Congress subject headings, so try American spelling and terminology. For example:
use:
automobiles not motor cars
airplanes not aeroplanes
encyclopedias not encyclopaedias
use plurals:
artists not artist
The words 'and', 'or', 'near', 'before' and 'after' are used as Boolean operators, not keywords. For example, "near" searches for one word near another word. It does not search for the word 'near'.
A keyword search before the fall will not find any results unless it is surrounded by inverted commas - "before the fall".
Searching for titles containing these operators is best done as a title (start with) search rather than a keyword search.
Selecting keywords for Author (keywords)
To find government departments as Author
use dept not department.
When looking for state government bodies, do not abbreviate the state name. For example:
New South Wales Dept of Land and Water Conservation
Victoria Dept of Treasury and Finance
When looking for federal government publications, include the country name. For example:
Australia Dept of Health and Family Services
