What is Library Search?
Library Search is the new search tool to find Emory Library's materials, including books, e-books, videos, journals, and much more! You can use Library Search to:
- Search for items at any of the Emory University Libraries
- Request items and have them delivered to any library on campus
- View items you have checked out and renew items online
- Bookmark, organize, and retrieve library records from any device
Library Search is a great place to start looking for books or videos on a topic, but for powerful, targeted searches that use subject headings or a controlled vocabulary, try a database specific to your discipline or topic.
Simple Search
The simple search on the Library Search homepage allows you to search for items by keyword, title, author/creator, or subject. To start searching, simply begin typing your search terms in the search box.
Narrow Your Results
Once you do your search, you can now filter your results under "Limit your search" on the left side of your screen. You can narrow by access (including items available online), resource type, library (which library is the physical copy available in), author/creator, publication/creation date, language, and more. When you click on an filter you are taken to a new results page - keep adding filters until you find the item that meets your needs!
Broadening and Narrowing Your Search
Library Search assumes you are searching for all the words individually–unless “OR,” "AND" or “NOT” appear between words and phrases. Put quotation marks around a phrase (e.g. “cloning humans”) if you want it to be treated as a connected phrase.
AND, OR, NOT (known as Boolean Operators) are used to connect and define the relationship between your search terms. Use uppercase letters for Boolean operators within searches.
AND
Narrows the search by telling Library Search to search for all records with both keywords or phrases.
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- college AND "social mobility"–will only find records with both words/phrases.
OR
Broadens the search to include records with either keyword/phrase, or both.
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- college OR "higher education"
NOT
Narrows your search. Tells database to search the first word but exclude the second word.
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- cloning NOT sheep
Wildcard characters
Use a question mark to perform a single character wildcard search.
- wom?n -- will find records containing the words “woman”, “women” and “womyn”.
Use an asterisk to perform a multiple character wildcard search.
- cultur* -- will find records containing “culture”, “cultural”, “culturally”, etc.
Group terms within a search
Use parentheses to group terms within a search.
- shakespeare AND (tragedy OR sonnet) -- will find records with the words “Shakespeare” and either “tragedy” or “sonnet”.