Frequently Asked Questions

Search results are ordered based on the best match. The items at the top of the search results will be those that contain your exact search text, in the exact order you typed them (if you used more than one word). After exact matches, words in the title are given a priority, followed by author name, headings, and tags. Popular titles appear ahead of less popular ones.

You can filter your search results by selecting from the headings on the left side of the page

Here are a few things you can try if your first search isn’t successful:

• Check your spelling. On your results page, you may see a “Did you mean?” link with a suggestion. If not, review what you typed.
• If you searched by author, title or tag, trying searching by keyword.
• If keyword search gets only a few results, click on Broaden Search link on upper left above the search result.  It searches more fields and the result might be less relevant.
• Don’t worry about typing an author’s name with the last name first. You don’t need to type kinsella, sophie. Just type sophie kinsella.
• If you know the ISBN of a title, you can use that as your search keyword.

You may use facets on the left side of the search result screen.  They are a series of clickable headings.  You can select a specific format, or view only new items, currently available items, or electronic resources. You can also see only those items available at a specific branch, handy if you want to pick up something immediately.

In addition, you can filter by:

• Content (fiction/non-fiction)
• Audience
• Form/Genre (mystery, biography, and so on)
• Topic
• Region
• Author
• Language
• Published date
• Average rating, if added by other users
• Tags, if added by other users
• Reading Level (Lexile score)

You can search for all titles in a specific format, or for a format in combination with an audience or language. 

Instead of looking for these words in titles or author names, search returns the entire library catalog, and then applies filters based on what you type. You can use:

• Format, alone or with an audience or language term -- DVD Spanish, DVD children
• Audience (children, kids, teen, adult) with a format  -- children DVD
• Language (any) with a format   -- Spanish DVD
• Add the word new to a smart search, to limit your results to titles your library has acquired in the last 180 days. -- new kids book for children's books acquired in past three months. 

Yes.  By searching -- there are two ways to do this. The fastest way is to just type harry potter dvd in the search box. If you prefer, you can use the advanced search options. In the Includes box, type what you want to find, then select DVD from the Format options at the bottom of the page.

By Facet -- you can filter the search by format using the Format facet. This is available for all searches, though which formats are displayed will depend on the search you  performed.

By default, search results group all available formats of a title together in a block.  This grouped view allows you to easily determine which formats the library owns, so that you can choose the one you want.

If you prefer, you can show each format as a separate item in your search results.   The list view and cover view along with the grouped view buttons are right above the search results. 

The new titles and on orders are readily browsable on the Explore page.

Please use the filter to narrow down by Format, Content, Audience and Language.

You can find the link to Advanced Search right beneath the search box.  

It has tools that enable you to describe precisely where and how you want to search. You can do Boolean searches using the controls on the page, or by typing directly in the advanced Boolean query box.

Yes, you can save searches and re-run them later.  

1. Log in to your account
2. Search and filter the results until you get exactly what you want.
3. Click the Save Search link above the search results.
4. Give the saved search a name that will allow you to easily identify it later.
5. Click Save it.

To re-run the saved search:

• Log in to My Account >>  My Settings >>  Account Preferences >> Saved Searches. 

Unavailable indicates that all copies of the title are checked out, in transit, being repaired, or otherwise not circulating. You can still place a hold on an item shown as Unavailable.

 The system is designed to aggregate information from members of all participating libraries. This provides a broader range of community created content than an individual library could provide by itself. You may find that you have a lot of interests in common with someone on the other side of the country.