Help Pages

Searching the catalogue

This page gives help on:

• searching from the Home Page
• using the Advanced Search
• tips on searching
• search results

There are two main ways to search for publications on the Bookfinder website:

• entering a word or phrase in the search box on the Home Page and clicking on the Go button;
• clicking on the Advanced Search link from the Home Page.

Searching from the Home Page

To carry out a search, simply enter your a word or phrase into the box and click on the Go button. This will search across all parts of a publication's details, eg title/sub-title, ISBN, series code, subject category, author, abstract, and keywords.

Using the Advanced Search

Clicking on the Advanced Search link on the Home Page takes you to a screen that has a number of options. You can search across all publications for a word or phrase in a title, abstract, etc, or for an ISBN number. Should you wish, you can further restrict that search to publications in a particular series, category of publication or new publications.

Search For

As with the search from the Home Page, select a word or phrase that you're searching for.*

Field

By default, all of a publication's record is searched. You can restrict the search to one or more parts of the record, for example only the title, or just the title and abstract.

Category

To restrict your search, you can select a specific category to search through. Each publication has been given one or more categories, eg an industry sector or a health and safety topic. So if you are looking for particular publication on printing, you can scroll down the drop-down list.

Series

A list of the series codes contained in the catalogue is available as a drop-down list adjacent to the Series tick box. Each entry in the list shows the series code followed, where available, by a brief description.

New publications

If you want to search across just recent publications (those published in the last three months) you can select the check box.

*Note If you want to search for all the publications in a particular category or series, or across all new publications, you should leave the Search For box empty.

Carrying out the search

When you've finished completing your options in the Advanced Search, click on the Search button to bring up a summary of the publications the search has found.

Tips on searching

If you're not sure what publication you're looking for, try entering just one or two keywords, eg welding, lifting. If you get too many results, you can then refine your search by adding in additional words or using the Advanced Search.

Connect words and/or phrases with AND to find all records which contain both of the words or phrases.

Connect words and/or phrases with OR to find all records which contain either of the words or phrases.

To find a phrase which contains AND or OR, surround the phrase with quotes.

The following are examples of simple search criteria:

• radiation protection containing the phrase "radiation protection";
• danger AND electrical containing both the word "danger" and the word "electrical";
• danger OR electrical containing either the word "danger" or the word "electrical" (or both);
• 'assessment and control ' containing the phrase "assessment and control".

Search results

Searching from the Home Page or from the Advanced Search produces a results summary page giving the:

• stock code - either the ISBN (if a priced item) or the series number if the item is free;
• title;
• price.

Clicking on a title produces the full catalogue record for that publication. You can then go on to create your order.

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