
Searching Discover
You may want to start by viewing our video guide:
Browser Support
Discover supports the following browsers and phones:
Internet Explorer 6.0+ | Firefox 3.0+ |
Safari 3.0+ | iPhone 2.0+ |
BlackBerry 8500+ | Android 1.0+ |
Search Query Help
Phrase Searching
Discover allows for phrase searching with the use of “ ”. The query “teacher education” will find results with that phrase.
Searching Specific Fields
The single search box in Discover™ (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.
You can explicitly search a field using the syntax: “field:(query).” For example, the search ISSN:(1234-5678), finds records that contain that value in the ISSN field.
Searchable fields:
Title | SubjectTerms |
Author | Publisher |
PublicationTitle | Volume |
Issue | Language |
Notes | ISBN |
ISSN | DOI |
DEWEY (Call or class numbers) |
Boolean Operators
Discover offers the following Boolean operations: OR, NOT, - (these should always be typed in captial letters)
By default, all terms in a search are combined with the AND operator (like Google).
The use of these ALL CAPS characters can be used to make queries more specific. To expand the results set, use the OR operator “microcircuits OR nanocircuits” will return items that contain either term.
This can be combined with quoted terms such as “teacher education” OR “educator training”.
To exclude items in Discover use the NOT operator or “-” character before a term. When used in the following query “animal NOT dog” the results will not include the term “dog”.
Wildcard Use in Discover
Searches within Discover can be performed using the wildcards “?” and “*”.
The question mark (?) will match any one character and can be used to find “Olsen” or “Olson” by searching for “Ols?n”.
The asterisk (*) will match zero or more characters within a word or at the end of a word. A search for “Ch*ter” would match “Charter”, “Character”, and “Chapter”. When used at the end of a word, such as “Temp*”, it will match all suffixes “Temptation”, “Temple” and “Temporary”.
Wildcards cannot be used as the first character of a search.
Proximity to Other Words
Use the tilde (~) character at the end of a multiple words. When used on the term “yeast bread”~10 results include instances where the terms are 10 words apart or less.
Search a Range
Use the { } characters to indicate a search range in DISCOVER. When used on the years {2006 TO 2008} any instance of 2006, 2007, or 2008 will be returned.
Similar Term Searches
Use the tilde (~) character at the end of a word to match similar terms. When used on the term “Lead~” it will match “Wead”, “Veade”, and “Tead”.