| The Boolean Operators
-- AND, OR, and NOT -- may only be used with Basic Search
- Command Keyword and Guided Keyword. |
Boolean Searching
Use Boolean operators and nesting to search for combinations of words or phrases.
Enter Boolean operators (i.e., AND, OR, NOT) in either uppercase
or lowercase.
Note: Boolean operators and nesting may not
be used in Basic Search types: Author/Creator, Title, Subject, LCCN-ISBN-ISSN,
Call Number or Keyword.
| Concept |
Search Examples |
Retrieval Formula |
| AND |
rodgers AND hammerstein
children AND
poverty
"civil war" AND virginia |
Retrieves only
records
containing both terms. |
| OR |
sixties OR 60s OR 1960s
labor OR
labour
email OR e-mail OR "electronic mail" |
Retrieves records
containing
either one or more terms. |
| NOT |
caribbean NOT cuba
jockey NOT disc
"civil
war" NOT american |
Excludes records
containing
the second term. |
| NESTING |
fruit AND (banana OR apple)
(women OR woman) AND basketball
((color OR colour) AND (decorate OR decoration))
NOT (art OR architecture)
|
Use parentheses (
) to group portions of boolean queries for more complex
searches.
|
Use the browser's [Back] button to resume searching. >>Top of Page
|
