The Following Directions Show You How to Use the Basic Search Tap

OPAC Home Page: From here you will click “Catalog”

Once you click “Catalog” you will see a search box and different search options below.

You can choose from the following searches: Keyword, Title, Author, Subject, or Series. You also have other options on the top tabs including: Basic, Power, and Visual.

The following directions show you how to use the Basic Search Tap.

You would conduct a “Keyword” Search if you do not know any titles or authors of books on that topic. To do so, type your topic in the search box and click “Keyword.”

You are then given a list of possible books based on your Keyword.

You would conduct a Title Search if you know the title of the book you are looking for. To do this, type the title in the search box and click “Title.” Hint: Make sure you spell the title correctly or there will not be any results. I searched “To Kill A Mockingbird” and you see the list includes books, movies, and audio books.

You would conduct an Author Search if you know the author but don’t know the title of a book or if you like that author and want to know if the media center has any other books by that author. To do this, you type in the author’s last name then first name and click on “Author.” I searched “James Patterson and was given a list of every book we have by him.

You would conduct a “Subject” Search if you are looking for information on a particular subject. To do this, type in the subject in the search box and click “Subject.” I searched “Automobiles” and was provided with a list of Non-fiction and Fiction books available on the subject.

You would conduct a “Series” Search if you are looking for the next book in a series or for a series of books. Here it helps to have the title of the series or the author. To do this search, type in the name of the series in the search box and click “Series.” I search “Lord of the Rings” and was provided a list of the complete series.

The Power Search Tab is basically an advance search. Here you are searching for more specific topics. Below is what you would see if using the Power Search.

The Visual Search Tab simply makes searching a little more fun by adding colorful icons with topics. Below is what the Visual Search Tab looks like.