Basic Search - Keyword
finds words or phrases located anywhere in the catalog record.
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Basic Search - Keyword
Use Keyword searches when it is not clear where words or
phrases relating to the material for which you are searching are
likely to fall in catalog records, when terms may appear in different
places in different records, or when there are no results using
other types of searches.
Because the keyword search is set up to look for any of the words
entered and because of the very large size of the Library of Congress
database, keyword search results can be very imprecise. The records
display according to the system's evaluation of their relevance,
but it is strongly recommended that special punctuation symbols
be used to ensure more precise searching.
NOTE:
Search limits are available.
Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
are not available.
Basic Search Examples:
| Search string . . . |
Retrieves catalog records containing . . . |
| "history of analog comput?" |
history of analog: computer, computers, computing, computation,
etc. |
| "eating and drinking" |
the exact phrase; would be different from the search "eating
drinking" or "eating & drinking" |
| +canadian !bacon |
the word "canadian" eliminating any that also include the
word "bacon" |
| "civil war" !fiction |
the exact phrase "civil war" eliminating any that also contains
the word "fiction" |
Search Tips:
- Enter words or phrases in any order.
- All words will be searched including "and", "or", "not", "the",
"a", "la", "das", etc.
- Use quotation marks (" ") to retrieve exact phrases (e.g.,
"tax reform")
- Use ? at the end of a search word for truncation (e.g.,
ecumen? will retrieve ecumenical, ecumenism,
etc.).
- Use special punctuation to refine the search: +
(in front of word that must appear), ! (in
front of words that must not appear), and *
(in front of words to raise relevance).
- Search results are ranked using a relevancy
algorithm. To improve the relevancy of the results it is usually
better to include more words or phrases in the search, in addition
to using the suggested punctuation tools.
Keyword search results are displayed as a Keyword
Titles List in ranked order using a special relevancy algorithm.
Although relatively new to library online catalogs, relevancy ranking
is used by many Web search engines (e.g., AltaVista, Lycos, etc.)
However, each formula for determining relevance is a little different.
Here is some information on the ranking factors used in the Library
of Congress Online Catalog:
- Uniqueness of search terms within the database
- Proximity of search terms to each other within the catalog
record
- Number of times a search word is present in catalog record
fields (e.g., subject heading field, author field, title field)
in which the terms occur.
- Use of * and + operators: the asterisk raises the relevance
of a term; the plus sign requires the term to be present in the
results.
| Alternative Search Options:
If specific information is known (e.g., an author, title,
subject term, etc.), it is better to use a Basic
Search (other types) or Guided
Search (offering guided structuring of Boolean and index-limited
searches).
If a Keyword search retrieves too many catalog records
(a common problem with Keyword searching), try using
a combination Keyword and Subject search by
following these steps:
- Within the Keyword search box, type in words and/or
phrases in any order.
- Review the results list and identify a relevant catalog
record.
- Select the Subjects/Content
tab to review the displayed subject headings.
- Perform a new search using one of the relevant subject
heading by selecting its hypertext link.
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Use the browser's [Back] button to resume
searching.
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