Library User Guide

The library website is a directory of all the items that you have access to through the library, both physical and electronic. In order to find the best items for your research, you must ensure that you are comfortable in using search strategies, as well as using the library search tools effectively.

This guide is designed to familiarize you with the tools that the library website provides for finding items. In the subpages of this section, you'll find information on how to search the library and filter your results. 

For more information on identifying keywords, crafting search strings, or using good search strategies, you can check out the library's Research Tips and Tricks guide!

Worldcat Discovery is the library's search system. It is designed to search across all library resources from one convenient search bar. You can search from the library home page by typing your terms and hitting search. By default, you will be searching across all library resources held by The King's University. You have the option to further refine your search using the tabs along the top of the search bar:

• Everything: Searches across all King's Library materials, including books, articles, audiovisual materials, music scores, and more.
• Articles: Searches for articles from academic journals
• Books: Searches for print books available at The King's University Library
• eBooks: Searches for electronic books available at The King's University Library

To further refine your search, you can either use the filters available on the results display, or use the advanced search feature. 

Advanced Search allows you to have more direct control over your search. You have access to multiple search bars and can use different operators, search different fields, or apply filters before you search.  You can access the advanced search from the search result page or by clicking the link in the top left corner of the screen (if on desktop) or underneath the "Quicklinks" dropdown menu (if on mobile).

The advanced search page is divided into three sections: Search For, Filter by, and Search Tols 

Search For

The "Search For" section allows you to enter in your search terms and specify where these words will be searched and how they will be combined. Read the information below for detailed information about the advanced search options.

• Search Index: Use the dropdown menu to identify where you would like to search for your terms. There are several options for search index. The following are some that may be particularly helpful:
  • Keyword: Searches all information about the document that is available, including the title, abstract, and full-text.
  • Title: Will search for your key terms in the title field
  • Author: Searches for the creator of the work, including authors, composers, directors, artists, and any other primary creator of a work
  • Call Number: You can select this to search for a specific call number. A call number is a string of letters and numbers that describe where a physical item is held in the library.

  • Subject: Searching here will search for subjects associated with an item. 

• Operator: Select whether you wish to use OR, AND, or NOT when combining search terms. By default, the search will use AND between terms unless otherwise specified.

• Add Row: Add another row to add terms to your search. You can adjust the Boolean operator and the Search index for this new row

Filter By

The "Filter by" section allows you to pre-select filters for your search. Filters will limit your search results to the parameters you set, including only showing items from a certain date range, for a certain audience, or in a specific language. You can further adjust these filters on the search result page, and you can read more about many of these tools on the [FILTER] page. From the advanced search, you have the option to filter by the following:

• Full Text: Items retrieved will be available as a full-text document
• Peer-reviewed: Your search results will only include items that have been categorized as peer-reviewed
• Open Access: Your search results will only include items that are open access, which means that they are available to anyone regardless of institutional access
• Source Types: You can limit your search to only show you items of a particular format, such as books, journal articles, and more. You may select multiple source types to apply to your search
• Publication Year: Limit your search to only show items published within a certain time frame. You can include a range by entering in the earliest year and the latest year you want to target, or show only items past a certain point by just entering in the earlier year and leaving the later year blank
• Language: You can choose a specific language you would like your search results to be in. You may select multiple languages 
• Audience: Audience is divided into two sections: juvenile and nonjuvenile. Juvenile items are aimed at a younger audience, and can range from early childhood to young adult. Non-juvenile are all items that are beyond that range. 
• Limit To: You can limit your search to only show a certain content format

Additional Tools

The "Additional Tools" section of the advanced search allows you to adjust how your search results will be grouped and displayed. You can adjust the settings or keep the default settings that have been applied by the library. You can adjust the following settings:

• Sort by: Change how your search results will be ranked. The default setting is by best match. 
• Search Results Display: Choose whether different editions and formats of an item will be grouped together or if they will be displayed separately. The default setting is to group editions and formats. For more information, see Search Results Display Filter Page
• Expand This Search With: Choose whether your search results will include related key terms, book reviews, and news articles. The default setting is that related terms are included, but book reviews and news articles are not. For more information, see Expand this search with Filter Page
• Held By Libraries: You may expand your search to look for items outside of the King's library, but keep in mind that there may be restrictions on accessing these items. The default setting is to just search within the King's University Library. For more information, see the NEOS Libraries Page