Advanced Search
Use Advanced Search to perform a precise search if you know what you are looking for.
Expand or collapse search options
Select “search options” to expand or collapse the search panel.
The search panel will automatically collapse after you conduct an Advanced Search. An abbreviated search bar remains available, where you can modify your search terms. You must expand the panel to modify Resource Type, Language, Publication Date, and search scope (e.g. eBooks).
On the Advanced Search page, select the “keywords anywhere” dropdown to choose a search filter.
For more information and examples of how to use a search filter, follow the jump link in the list below.
- Title
- Author/creator
- Subject
Title
Searches an array of fields, including title, variant and alternate titles, series title, preceding and succeeding titles, related titles, and tables of contents, and series title.
To conduct a “starts with” search for title, use Starts with/Browse.
Author/creator
Searches an array of creator roles, including author, translator, editor, contributor, illustrator, former owner, and names of corporate bodies and conferences.
Examples
“Library Catalog” uses Library of Congress Names. For phrase searches, make sure to use last name followed by first name. Birth and death dates help disambiguate people with the same name.
- Adams, John, 1735-1826
- Adams, John, 1750?-1814
- Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892-1973.
To conduct a “starts with” search for an author, use Starts with/Browse.
Subject
Searches all available subject headings. There are often several pertinent subject terms for a given topic.
Library Catalog records use subjects from several well-controlled but complex taxonomies. Library Search displays only the subjects from the most commonly used taxonomies.
A Library Search record may have subjects from additional taxonomies: these do not display in the record but they are indexed for search and may show up in the Subject filter. Library Catalog records can include terms from any taxonomy on the Library of Congress’s list of subject heading and term source codes.
Examples:
Find materials that contain specific types of information
- Statistics - finds works about the study of statistics or consisting of statistical data
- Sources - finds anthologies of primary sources
- Correspondence - finds collections of letters
Differentiate between related topics
- Drama - finds works on the literary form, such as textual analyses of plays, while Theater finds works on performance
- Darwin - finds works about Darwin (not works by Darwin)
Subjects can overlap
- “war neuroses,” post-traumatic, PTSD, “combat disorders” - each return different but slightly overlapping results. (Consider searching “war neuroses” OR “post-traumatic” OR PTSD OR “combat disorders”)
- “Shell shock” will return results that display only “war neuroses” - these are cross-referenced terms
Check for general categories and specific subheadings
- Reconstruction (1865-1877) or Reconstruction (1914-1939)
- Civil rights movements
- Wine - Religious aspects or Wine - Social aspects