Using Quick Search

The Quick Search box is designed to be a simple and quick way to locate records in the library catalogue. A single word/phrase or number can be typed in and the application will try to find the best results in that table. If a more detailed search is required, involving multiple criteria then this can be achieved using Advanced Search.

Quick Search is available in each area of the application and will only return results from the respective table. For example, searching from Resources will only return results related to the resource catalogue.

Note also that a Quick Search only searches the current page view so if a view of all Websites is selected the system will only search through these records.

The steps below show an example of quick search in use.

·Open the table that is to be searched. For example, if searching for books, click Resources.

·To perform a quick search in that table, locate the Quick Search box at the top right of the screen as shown in the image below.

·Type in the word/phrase or number and press Enter using the keyboard or click the arrow icon to perform the search. In this example, the word 'Science' has been entered.

·After the results to be displayed have been generated they will display in the main grid.

Quick search can be customised as necessary to search through only a select number of fields. This functionality was requested because some users found that irrelevant results were being displayed primarily due to the summary field being searched. For more information on altering the Quick Search fields, see the dedicated topic here.

Quick Search can also be used to locate a specific resource using the barcode number if it is known. Enter the barcode number into the quick search box and click the arrow or press Enter and the item will be located if it is included somewhere within the current view. If the barcode number is used in the search then any books with a matching number in any of the other included fields will be included in the results. For example, when searchin for a barcode of '1984', that resource will be found with addition to any books titled '1984'.

However, scanning the physical barcode number using the barcode reader will only search the accession number field. It is also possible to search the system for a specific ISBN using quick search or using the barcode scanner.

When using quick search, all fields are searched on an including basis. This means that when a search is done, it will return matches for part of the word. For example, If the word ‘plane’ is entered, the system will return matches for any words which include plane e.g. planets, aeroplane etc. If this poses a problem in some circumstances then it is recommended to use Advanced Search to overcome this.