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Introduction | Workflow Preferences | Performing a Search | Titles List | Browse Search | Headings List | Search History | Special Search Types | Keyword Search | Freetext Keyword | Boolean Search | Builder Search | Table of Contents (Voyager System) | Table of Contents (Top)]
Searching is more or less the same across the various staff modules. There are more indexes available on the staff side, and not all of the indexes will work identically in the staff modules and in the OPAC. However, these indexes are customizable. We have the option to add and delete indexes, and to determine which fields are indexed within each type of search. The Voyager system comes with approximately 130 default index choices. We have reduced these to approximately 95 different index choices here at Queen's.
The indexes can be considered to fall into three main categories. About 100 are "simple" indexes, including only one field or subfield each, with search results appearing in a "Titles Index" display. Others are "composite" indexes which combine two or more such "simple" indexes, with similar display results. Still others, the "authorities" indexes are constructed to include authority records and references, and to gather all bibliographic records with the same heading together in the "Headings List" display, each heading when selected having its own Titles Index. The Call Number index and the J.T. Keyword index do not fit any of these categories.
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You can make your searching easier if you change your session preferences on your computer.
Call up your Preferences by going to the Options menu and selecting Preferences, or by hitting the key combination ALT-O + P. Then click on the Workflow tab.
Checking off the first option Retain last search means that the system will remember the last search you made on your computer. This can help because you frequently make the same type of search repeatedly.
Checking the second option causes the system to automatically search for your search term as the beginning part of the search. You will retrieve results beginning with the text you enter as a search term. If you do not check this, the system will search for exactly the text you enter. If you choose to leave your preferences set that way, you may manually set the search to do truncation by ending the search with a ? symbol.
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To perform a search, click on the Search button, or type ALT-R + S. |
A search dialog box will appear. This dialog box has four tabs: Keyword, Non-Keyword, Builder and History. Non-Keyword appears to be the default.
To the left there are two different options--Find and Browse The system defaults to Find or Browse depending on what type of search key is used. Find is more limited than browse.
The box in the center offers a drop down menu containing the complete list of available searches. The default Voyager setting offers about 130 choices. The top 40 choices represent the most heavily used staff searches across the system. The rest are in alphabetical order. The listings at the top will change somewhat over time to reflect the way we use the system at Queen's.
Select Title < from the drop down list. In the Search for box type "Queen's". Using an apostrophe or not does not matter. Click on the Do Search button, type ALT-S or hit the ENTER key.
Once you have done so a window containing the search result will appear.
Select one of the titles from the list and hit the ENTER key, or type ALT-O.
Doing so will call up another window containing the selected MARC record.
Please note that the < symbol in the index name indicates that the index is "left anchored". This means that the index begins with the word(s) on the left. Some of the other indexes without this symbol are actually keyword indexes. One example is the J.T. Keyword index. When searching for Psychology in the J.T. Keyword index, the system is actually looking for the word Psychology anywhere in the journal title index.
When the cursor is positioned in the index list, typing a letter can jump to the appropriate place in the index list.
Some searches may also be further qualified by making selections from the filter boxes under the search key.
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At any point in your session, you may return to your previous search result window by clicking on the Titles button, or by typing ALT-D + T. You may also go to the Display menu, and select Title index. |
Selecting another record from the list will bring up a second MARC record.
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With some kinds of searches, you may select a Browse search. This type of search gives a broader result. You can access the entire index using this kind of search. Only headings and call number type searches allow for the browse option. The example shown below is a subject headings search.
The top and bottom arrows on the right side of the dialog box will allow you to jump to the very beginning and to the very end of the index; the up and down arrows will move the list up or down one screen.
This type of list will also integrate authorized headings and references. The number of bibliographic records under each heading will be shown.
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You can return to the Browse search result by clicking on the Headings List button. You can also type in ALT-D + H. |
You can display the list of related authority records by selecting a listing Authorized beside it and clicking on the Authority button, or by typing ALT-A. You may also do so by right-clicking on such a heading.
You may then display the Authority record itself from the list of record(s).
Similarly, right-clicking on a reference, will display the reference information. You may also access this information by clicking on the Authority button or by typing ALT-A. Double-clicking on the reference information will display the new section of the index based on the reference. (You may also move to the reference by using the Down-Arrow, and select it by hitting Enter.)
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Once you have started searching, you may call up your search history at any time by calling up the Search dialog box, and clicking on the History tab. This will contain a list of all of the searches you have made during the current session.
You may repeat any of these searches by selecting one from the list and clicking on Do Search or hitting the ENTER key. You may also repeat a search by double-clicking on the search in the list.
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To perform an ISSN search type select the index ISSNa|y|z This type of search includes both valid and invalid ISSN numbers. You must use either a space or a dash when entering this type of search key.
An ISBN search should be entered with no spaces or dashes.
Searching for a NOTIS record number can be done using the Original System Number (0359) index. A search of this type is formatted as: NOTIS abc1000. You may also use a Keyword search to locate the NOTIS record number.
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You are also able to do several different types of keyword searching in Voyager
There are two basic types: Free Text and Boolean.
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A free text keyword search will check for whatever words you enter into the search string.
One significant difference between NOTIS and Voyager is that Voyager uses no stopwords. All words, including ones such as and, the, and but are indexed. Using these terms will make a free text keyword search significantly less useful.
Not only will the search check for all of the terms, but the search result will provide an indication of relevance. The longer the bar, the more likely the record is going to be about your topic. Relevance is determined by the Voyager system. Some of the considerations used to calculate relevance include:
However, if you enclose a phrase in quotes, the words will be searched for as a phrase.
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A boolean search requires that you use the Boolean operators of AND, OR and NOT.
| AND | This type of search requires that the records include all of the terms. |
| OR | This type of search looks for either of the terms. |
| NOT | This search checks for records which include one term, but not the other(s). |
With release 2000, it is no longer necessary to capitalize the Boolean operators.
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A Builder search is also a keyword type of search. However, Voyager uses a set of drop-down menus and buttons to allow you to structure your search.
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Page maintained by Elizabeth A. Read, readel@queensu.ca. Created: 10-10-2000 Updated: 28-07-2003 at 10:36:56 AM