Search the Library Catalog
Search Tips
| Search Syntax | Type in phrase to search | Type in phrase to search |
|---|---|---|
| Adjacency | Multiple words within quotes are searched as a phrase. |
"economic policy" "thurston county" |
| Truncation | Use * to search for different endings of the word at the same time. Words may be right-hand truncated using an asterisk. Use a single asterisk * to truncate from 1-5 characters. Use a double asterisk ** for open-ended truncation. | environment* retrieves environment, environmental, environmentalism, etc. |
| Operators | The AND search is the default search. The Catalog will return results containing all the words typed in the keyword text box. | washington art* |
| Use OR to require that either term be present. | olympia OR thurston | |
| Use AND NOT to exclude the second term. | desert AND NOT mount | |
| Use parentheses to group combined terms. | washington AND (ski* or snowboard*) | |
| Proximity | Use "near" to find words within 10 words of each other in the same field. | washington near teachers |
| Use "within #" to find terms which occur within # words of each other in the field. | dream* within 5 interpret* | |
| Fields | Use a:, t:, s:, or n: to search the author, title, subject or notes parts of records. Note that there is no space between a, t, or s and colon. Truncation (*) cannot be used in field searching. | a:washington and s:handicapped s:criticism and (n:romeo or s:romeo) |
| Searching Boolean Operator words | Any of the Boolean operators may be used as a search term by enclosing it in double quotes. | "near" east |
Search Tips
| Search Syntax | Type in phrase to search | Type in phrase to search |
|---|---|---|
| Adjacency | Multiple words within quotes are searched as a phrase. | "economic policy" "thurston county" |
| Truncation | Use * to search for different endings of the word at the same time. Words may be right-hand truncated using an asterisk. Use a single asterisk * to truncate from 1-5 characters. Use a double asterisk ** for open-ended truncation. | environment* retrieves environment, environmental, environmentalism, etc. |
| Operators | The AND search is the default search. The Catalog will return results containing all the words typed in the keyword text box. | washington art* |
| Use OR to require that either term be present. | olympia OR thurston | |
| Use AND NOT to exclude the second term. | desert AND NOT mount | |
| Use parentheses to group combined terms. | washington AND (ski* or snowboard*) | |
| Proximity | Use "near" to find words within 10 words of each other in the same field. | washington near teachers |
| Use "within #" to find terms which occur within # words of each other in the field. | dream* within 5 interpret* | |
| Fields | Use a:, t:, s:, or n: to search the author, title, subject or notes parts of records. Note that there is no space between a, t, or s and colon. Truncation (*) cannot be used in field searching. | a:washington and s:handicapped s:criticism and (n:romeo or s:romeo) |
| Searching Boolean Operator words | Any of the Boolean operators may be used as a search term by enclosing it in double quotes. | "near" east |