With a Boolean search, you can do complex, precise searches by typing CQL (Common Query Language) search commands. The search command can include the following parts:
Example: To find the works of author Asimov published in or after 1970, you type the following command:
AU=asimov AND PD >= 1970
AU specifies the access point Author. The search text for this access point is asimov.
AND is the Boolean operator connecting the two conditions of this search (the author and the date).
PD specifies the access point Publication Date. The search text for this access point is 1970.
The symbol >= is the relative operator greater than or equal to.
If your library offers other databases to search, they are available to select for a Boolean search.
Fields that can be searched with CQL search commands fall into one of three categories:
Operators link one part of a search command to another, and direct how the parts are related.
The Boolean operators And, Or, and Not combine search terms:
Example:
AU=“isaac asimov” AND TI=planets
Finds only the items written by Isaac Asimov that have the word planets in the title.
Example:
AU=“isaac asimov” OR TI=planets
Finds all items written by Isaac Asimov and all items with the word planets in the title by any author, including Asimov.
If you have a number of terms to combine with OR, type the command this way:
AU={list}asimov, dick, ballard, lem, capek{/list}
You can insert as many terms as you need between {list} and {/list}
Example:
AU=“isaac asimov” NOT TI=planets
Finds only those items written by Isaac Asimov that do not have the word planets in the title.
If you use multiple operators in the same search command, use parentheses to group (nest) the operations to be performed.
Example:
(AU=rowling AND TI=potter) NOT (AU=rowling AND TI=phoenix)
Finds items by Rowling with the word Potter in the title, but not titles by Rowling with the word Phoenix in the title.
If you use multiple operators in the same search command but do not group the operations, the operators are processed according to the following precedence (lower values have higher precedence):
Relative operators are symbols that compare search terms:
Symbol | Relative Operation |
---|---|
= |
Equal to search term |
<> |
Not equal to a single search term: |
>= |
Greater than or equal to search term |
> |
Greater than search term |
<= |
Less than or equal to search term |
< |
Less than search term |
Example:
PD >= 1987
This example finds items published in or after 1987. PD specifies the publication date access point. See
Example:
KW=solar system AND PD < 1932
This example finds items published before 1932 that have the words “solar system” in any record field. KW specifies the keyword access point. See
With proximity searching, you specify the allowable distance between two terms, which can be keywords or phrases. The proximity-distance operator is PROX/distance. The proximity-distance is the difference between the positions of the left and right terms. The distance is never negative, and adjacent terms have a proximity-distance equal to 1. You can use the operator with the relative operators < (less than), <= (less than or equal to), = (equals), >= (greater than or equal to), > (greater than), or <> (not equal to).
You can use the following modifiers:
/ordered - The order of the two terms in the search results must be the same as the order of the terms in the query.
/unordered - The order of the two terms does not matter in the search results.
You can use keyword or phrase search access points (such as KW, AU, TI) but the access point must be the same for both terms. If no access point is specified, KW (keyword) is assumed. See
Example:
“cat” PROX/distance<=5 “the hat”
Find the keyword cat where it appears less than or equal to 5 words before or after the phrase the hat. That is, between 0 and 4 words exist between the keyword cat and the phrase the hat.
Example:
“Harry Potter” PROX/distance<10/ordered “J. K. Rowling”
Find the phrase Harry Potter where it appears less than 10 words before the phrase J. K. Rowling. That is, between 0 and 8 words must exist between the phrase Harry Potter and the phrase J. K. Rowling, counting from the first word in each phrase.
Example:
“United States” PROX/distance=2 “Union”
Find the phrase United States where it appears exactly 2 words before or after the keyword Union. That is, exactly 1 word must exist between the phrase United States and the keyword Union.
To search for text that includes an operator or other reserved word, or special characters, as part of the search text, put the text in double quotation marks.
For example, to find the title Bud, Not Buddy, type this command:
TI = “bud not buddy”
Put this text in quotation marks because not is ordinarily a Boolean operator.
As another example, to find the title Tim O'Toole and the Wee Folk, type this command:
TI=“tim o’toole”
Put this text in quotation marks because the apostrophe in the word o’toole is a special character.
The following text must be placed in double quotation marks when used as part of the search text:
Use these access point codes to specify what fields to search:
Access Point | Description |
---|---|
AB |
Assigned branch (requires library-specific codes) |
AU |
Author |
AVAILABILITY |
Filters search results to titles that have at least one available item. Type AVAILABILITY > 0. Example: To find Harry Potter titles with at least one available item, type TI = Harry Potter AND AVAILABILITY > 0.The AVAILABILITY access point works only for values greater than 0. (AVAILABILITY = 0 is not valid.) |
BRS |
Polaris bibliographic record set - control number (requires library-specific number) |
BRSN |
Polaris bibliographic record set - record set name (requires library-specific name) |
CALL |
Call number |
CODEN |
Identifier for scientific and technical periodicals |
COL |
Collection (requires library-specific codes) |
DD |
Dewey classification |
GENRE |
Genre (keyword) |
GOV |
Superintendent of Documents classification number for government documents |
ISBN |
International Standard Book Number. Type the wildcard character (*) at the beginning and end of the number you enter for best results. |
ISSN |
International Standard Serial Number. Type the wildcard character (*) at the beginning and end of the number you enter for best results. |
KW |
Keyword (any field) (keyword) |
LA |
Language (see |
LC |
Library of Congress classification |
LCCN |
Library of Congress Control Number. Type the wildcard character (*) at the beginning and end of the number you enter for best results. |
MAT |
Material type of physical items (requires library-specific codes) |
NAL |
National Agricultural Library classification |
NLC |
National Library of Canada classification |
NLM |
National Library of Medicine classification |
NOTE |
General notes (keyword) |
OCLC |
Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) control number. Type the wildcard character (*) at the beginning and end of the number you enter for best results. |
OCN |
Other system control number (requires library-specific codes). Type the wildcard character (*) at the beginning and end of the number you enter for best results. |
OWN |
Record owner (requires library-specific codes) |
PD |
Publication date |
PN |
Publisher’s number |
PUB |
Publisher (keyword) |
SE |
Series (keyword) |
STATB |
Record status (requires library-specific codes) |
STRN |
Standard Technical Report Number |
SU |
Subject (keyword) |
TA |
Target audience (see |
TI |
Title (keyword) |
TOM |
Format/Type of Material (see |
UDC |
Universal Decimal classification |
UPC |
Universal Price Code number. Type the wildcard character (*) at the beginning and end of the number you enter for best results. |
These are some common codes to use with the language access point (LA) in a Boolean (CQL) search. Use the code, not the language name. For example, to specify English, type LA=ENG.
Tip: You can see a complete list of language codes at the Library of Congress website: http://www.loc.gov/marc/languages
Language | Code |
---|---|
Arabic |
ARA |
Bosnian |
BOS |
Chinese |
CHI |
Czech |
CZE |
Danish |
DAN |
Dutch |
DUT |
English |
ENG |
French |
FRE |
German |
GER |
Modern Greek |
GRE |
Hebrew |
HEB |
Hindi |
HIN |
Italian |
ITA |
Japanese |
JPN |
Korean |
KOR |
Latin |
LAT |
Multiple Languages |
MUL |
Polish |
POL |
Portuguese |
POR |
Romanian |
RUM |
Russian |
RUS |
Serbian |
SCC |
Sign |
SGN |
Spanish |
SPA |
Ukrainian |
UKR |
Vietnamese |
VIE |
Yiddish |
YID |
Use these codes with the target audience (TA) access point in a Boolean (CQL) search. Use the code, not the target audience name. For example, to specify a preschool audience, type TA=a.
Note: Not all bibliographic records include target audience information.
Target Audience | Code |
---|---|
Preschool |
a |
Primary school |
b |
Elementary and junior high school |
c |
Secondary (senior high) school |
d |
Adult |
e |
Specialized |
f |
General |
g |
Juvenile |
j |
Use these codes with the Type of Material access point (TOM) in a Boolean (CQL) search. Use the format/type of material code, not the name. For example, to specify DVDs, type TOM=DVD.
Format/Type of Material |
Code |
Abstract |
abs |
Archival/mixed materials | mix |
Atlas | atl |
Audio books |
abk |
Audio book on cassette | abt |
Audio book on CD | abc |
Blu-Ray Disc |
brd |
Blu-Ray + DVD | bdv |
Book |
bks |
Book + Cassette |
bcs |
Book + CD |
bcd |
Book + DVD | bkv |
Braille |
brl |
Cartographic material |
cmt |
Digital collection |
dmc |
DVD |
dvd |
EAudioBook |
aeb |
Ebooks | ebk |
Electronic resources |
elr |
Emagazine | emg |
Globe |
glb |
Kit |
kit |
Large print |
lpt |
Manuscript cartographic material |
mcm |
Manuscript material |
mss |
Manuscript music |
mmu |
Map |
map |
Microform |
mic |
Motion picture |
mot |
Music CD |
mcd |
Musical sound recording |
msr |
Newspaper |
new |
Nonmusical sound recording |
nsr |
Periodical |
per |
Printed cartographic material |
pcm |
Printed music |
pmu |
Printed or manuscript music |
mus |
Projected medium |
pgr |
Serial |
ser |
Sound recording |
rec |
Streaming music | stm |
Streaming video | stv |
Three-dimensional object (artifact) |
art |
Two-dimensional nonprojected graphic |
ngr |
Video game | vgm |
Videorecording |
vid |
Videotape |
vcr |
Vinyl | vyl |
Visual materials |
vis |
To search by typing a Common Query Language (CQL) command
Note: For more information about CQL commands, see
Example:
The following command finds works of the author Asimov which have titles with the word foundation, except audio books published after 1990:
(AU=asimov AND TI=foundation) NOT (TOM=abk and PD>1990)
Terms inside the parentheses are processed first, then the entire command.
Example:
To find the title Bud, Not Buddy, type the following command:
TI = “bud not buddy”
Important: If you type your search term and then select more search options before clicking or tapping the search icon , you will need to re-type your search term.
Note: Detailed material types are defined by the library for the physical items the library owns. The formats in the Limit by box on the search bar refer to general formats and types of materials associated with title entries in the catalog. You can limit a search by format or detailed material type, but not both. If you selected a format in the Limit by box when you set up your search, your format choice is canceled when you set a material type.
To reset the search options to their original values, select the Clear link in the highlighted Options set message. The search is done again, using the original values.
Important: Search options retain their settings until you reset them or go to the home page.
If you selected remote databases to search, a status bar indicates how many results were retrieved and how many results are pending. To load the remainder of the results, select Add Pending Results. You can select Search Status to see the number of results for all the selected databases. If you have selected or entered a search Limit by option that a remote database cannot use, results from this database are returned based on the basic search terms you entered, and a message indicates that the limiters were not used in the remote database search.