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How to Search

How to do a keyword search?

The SJC Public Library System search engine offers a few ways to search for documents and web pages. They are:

• Keyword Search
  Keyword searches search for documents that contain all of the provided keywords.
  Examples

  • word1 - returns all documents which contain the keyword "word1"

  • word1 word2 - returns all documents which contain the keywords "word1" and "word2"

• Phrase Search
  Phrase searches search for documents that contain the exact phrase. Phrases are wrapped with open & close quotes.
  Examples

  • "Hello world!" - returns only documents which contain the exact phrase "Hello world!".

• Boolean Search
  Searches for documents in which the provided expression is equal to true. Syntax includes "not", "and", "or" and "()".
  Examples

  • word1 and word2 - returns documents which contains "word1" and "word2" only

  • word1 and not word2 - returns documents which contains "word1" and do not contain "word2" only

  • word1 or word2 - returns any documents which contains "word1" or contains "word2"

• Wildcard Search
  Wildcards are used to search for documents which contain parts of words. Syntax includes "*" and "?".
  Examples

  • word* - returns documents which contain words that start with "word" such as "word", "word1", "word2", etc.

  • *ord* - returns documents which contain words that have "ord" in them such as "word", "sword", "words", "word1", "ordinance", etc.

  • word? - returns documents which contain words that start with "word" such as "word", "word1", "word2", etc.

Document Types

The Public Library System search engine offers the ability to search for all or specific document types. Available document types are HTML, PDF, MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint.

To search for all document types, check all of the document type boxes. If you would like to search specific document type(s), check only those you wish to search.

Results per page

The "Results per page" allows you to choose how many resulting documents you would like to display per results page.