Use Boolean, wildcards and truncation

You can use Boolean and other operators but you can often get better results using filters or advanced search. The Library Search has automatic functionality to help improve search results (such as word stemming, synonym mapping and including alternate spellings of common words).

Boolean operators

Use the operators AND, OR and NOT (must be written in ALL CAPS), e.g. Joss Whedon AND firefly AND buffy

Wildcards and truncation

Use these if your search term has multiple spellings or various endings:

  • question mark (?) to match any one character, e.g. a search for "wom?n" will find the terms "woman" or "women".
  • asterisk (*) to match one or more characters within or at the end of a word, e.g. a search for "child*" will find the terms "children", "childhood" and "childs".

Note: if you use wildcards and truncation you lose the benefit of the Library Search's automatic stemming and inclusion of common alternate spellings.