Construct a Search: A Step-by-Step Guide

This flowchart walks a newcomer to Alma through its Basic and Advanced search interface and help make choices from search indexes and three of the common search types.

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[1] I am searching bib fields only.

[2] Physical titles is also fine. Physical items or Physical titles search retrieves result at item or title level.

Example

I am searching for records that have keywords Buddhism and art in the title field, within the collection of Recap Marquand Library

1 Do I need Boolean operators?

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Yes.

I will combine data from two search indexes: permanent physical location and title.

Select Advanced search

2 Do my target records have items?

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I am not entirely sure. (They must have holdings, though, because location information lives in holdings records.)

Move on to the next question

3 Do my target records have holdings?

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Yes. My targets will all have holdings records, thus fall into the scope of Physical titles - records with physical holdings.

Select the search type Physical titles from the Search in drop-down menu

4 Where does target data live?

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There are two pieces of data in my search -

Location information lives in holdings records (852 $c);

Title keywords live in bib records.

5 First, select the search index that retrieves data from holdings records -

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Select the Holdings group (2nd group) of search indexes, scroll down the drop-down list, select Permanent physical location.

A faster method to pull up the field is to type into the box "location," which serves as text filter and significantly shortens the list of choices.

6 Select search operator

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Equals

7 Input search text

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Type "recap marq" or its location code "pj" to bring up the location rcppj: RECAP Marq. Lib. (pj)

Select it.

(Continue on to Step 8) →

8 Add a new row for searching title keywords

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Click on plus at the end of the first row

9 Select Boolean operator

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Select and

10 Where do title keywords live?

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Data lives in bib records (245 $a and other fields)

11 Select the search index that retrieves data from bib records

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Select the Title group (1st group), scroll down the drop list, select Title

A faster method to locate the field is to type into the box "title," which works as text filter and shortens the list of choices. You get the following -

The two Title have different meanings.

The first Title, followed by the colon, refers to the group of fields that retrieve data from bib records;

The second Title is the name of the search index

12 Select search operator

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Contains Keywords

13 Input search text

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Type Buddhism art into the box.

14 Verify Search Zone

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We are interested in records in Princeton's repository. Double-check that Institution is selected in the Search Zone radio choice


15 Execute Search

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This is the search you have constructed to locate RECAP Marquand materials that have the words Buddhism and art in their titles -