One of the great features of the library's discovery service (which can be searched from the library web page), is that you only need to throw a keyword or two into the search box and you'll get lots of results back. But that ability also exposes one of the not-so-great features of such a powerful tool -- you might get way too many results that really aren't what you were looking for. One solution to this potential problem is learning to "refine" your library searches. We'll describe a few ways to do that.
One refinement is available to you before you even start your search. Beneath the search field are four little checkboxes for "books," "articles," "audio," and "video." If you already know that the goal of your search is to find or exclude any of those categories, go ahead and check the relevant box(es) ahead of time. Here's what each of the boxes do:
A much more powerful refinement tool is available after you get your discovery service search results back. If you're using a computer with a fairly large screen you'll see the refinement options on the left side; if you're using a phone or other small-screen device, you'll need to click the Filters option to open it. There you'll find lots or really helpful ways to focus your search. Here are a few of the most valuable ones:
Paying attention to these refinement options (and using them!) will go a long way to providing you with the most helpful library results.
In a future blog post, we'll look at the advanced search feature, which provides even more ways to refine your search.
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