Grainger Multiple Library Search Help


Choose a section from the help menu or scroll down for more info:

Contents:


Search Tips:

  • Please enter search terms in ONE or MORE of the fields on the right.
  • Multiple terms entered in different fields are combined with the boolean AND.
    • (E.g.) "active server pages" in the "Title Words" field and Mitchell in the "Author Words" field returns only those items written by "Mitchell" which also have the phrase "active server pages" in the title.
  • By default, multiple terms entered in the same field are combined with the boolean AND. See the Boolean Searching section below for more details on how to perform other types of boolean searching.

  • Boolean Searching can be performed by placing boolean operators between terms in a single field. The boolean operators may be used as follows:
    • AND - Combine terms with "and" to find all items containing both terms in that field.
      • (E.g.) abbey and road in the "Title Words" field returns all items with both "abbey" and "road" in the title
    • OR - Combine terms with "or" to find all items containing either one term or the other (or both) in that field.
      • (E.g.) Mischo or Schlembach in the "Author Words" field returns all items written or edited by either "Mischo" or "Schlembach" or both.
    • NOT - Combine terms with "not" to find all items containing the first term, but not the second in that field.
      • (E.g.) Lennon not McCartney in the "Subject Words" field returns all items written about "Lennon" that are NOT also about "McCartney".
    • ADJ - Combine terms with "adj" to find all items containing the first term adjacent to (i.e. within one word of) the second term in that field. The terms need not be in the correct order!
      • (E.g.) electronic adj library in the "Keywords Anywhere" field returns all items having to do with "electronic library" or "library, electronic", but not items having to do with "electronic publishing and library" (since the terms "library" and "electronic" are not adjacent).
      • (E.g.) library adj electronic returns the same results as electronic adj library
    • [Back to top]

  • Phrase Searching can be performed by putting double quotes (" ") around all terms in the field. Please note that not all catalogs support phrase searching. For catalogs that do not support phrase searching, adjacency searching (ADJ) is used when double quotes are found.
    • (E.g.) creative destruction in the "Keywords Anywhere" field returns all books having the terms "creative" and "destruction" somewhere in their description.
    • (E.g.) "creative destruction" (notice the double quotes) in the "Keywords Anywhere" field returns all books having the phrase "creative destruction" somewhere in their description.

  • Truncation can be performed by putting an asterisk (*) at the end of a word fragment. Only right-hand truncation is supported. Most catalogs require that at least two (2) characters are provided before the asterisk. Please note that Truncation and Phrase Searching cannot be used in the same field
    • (E.g.) comput* in the "Title" field matches all books having a term beginning with "comput" in the Title: computer, computers, computational, computing, etc.
    • (E.g.) comput* and program* in the "Keywords Anywhere" field matches books having terms beginning with both "comput" and "program": 'computing and programming', 'computer and programming', 'computer and programs', 'computational and program', etc.

    [Back to top]