University of St Andrews Library Classic Catalogue - Entire Catalogue: Keywords Search

Advanced Keyword Search

Type KEYWORD(S) in the query boxes and set the fields (Any Field, Author, Title, Subject or Note) for your search. Select limits if required, press ENTER or click Search.

Or use the Simple Keyword Search.

Enter Keyword(s)

Optional Limits

Collection:	Search Scope
Search and Sort:
Location: (Hold down Ctrl to select more than one location.)
Material Type:
Language:
Year:	After and Before
Publisher:

Search Tips

Use ADVANCED KEYWORD search for

LIMITING by field, location, material type, language, publication date
SORTING your results alphabetically by title, publication date or relevance
BUILDING a search with multiple query boxes

Multiple Words

Use more words to narrow your search. You may enter them in one box or in individual boxes separated by operators from the drop down menus marked 'AND'. For example,

education primary scotland

Phrase Searches

Search for an exact phrase by enclosing it with double quotes. For example,

"highlands and islands"
"roman empire"

Truncation and Wildcards

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. You may also use a question mark to replace a single character anywhere within a word. For example,

education*
environment* polic*
fyodor dost**
wom?n

Search Operators

Operators (AND, OR, AND NOT, etc.) can be selected from the drop down menus marked 'And' to connect query boxes. Use AND NOT to exclude words and the NEAR operator to retrieve records that contain the specified words or phrases within ten words of each other in the same indexed field. Parentheses group words together when using operators. For example,

(indian OR pacific)
AND (ocean life AND NOT mammals)
fife near council

Field Limits

Field limits may be selected from the drop down menus marked 'Any Field'. A field limit causes the system to search only the specified field for the specified word(s).

Or you can specify fields to search, using field abbreviation. The following field limits are supported:

Field limit	Meaning
`author:` or `a:`	search only author fields
`title:` or `t:`	search only title fields
`subject:` or `d:`	search only subject fields
`notes:` or `n:`	search only note fields
`rare:` or `f:`	search only rarebook keyword fields

For example,

a:smout
a:austen t:pride

Additional Limits

You can further restrict your search to a specified subset of the catalogue by selecting one of five options from the drop-down menu marked 'Collection'.

The default is VIEW ENTIRE COLLECTION, which will allow you to search across all of the material in the catalogue. The other specialised subsets are Journals, Rare Books, Audiovisual material and Electronic resources.