Searching Indexes - Top of Page
Librarian		Searching a Specific Index In Open SiteSearch's Out-of-the-Box-Interface (OBI), a patron may search a specific index by either clicking on the appropriate search tab from the search screen, or by selecting indexes from pull-down menus in the advanced search interface. Searching a Phrase Index Databases can differ in how phrase indexes are created. In general these indexes have been built by indexing the entire contents, or "phrase", within a specific field or set of fields. The advantage to this type of search is increased search precision. The disadvantage to phrase searching, from the patron's perspective, is having to know how something may actually be indexed in the database. Exact phrase searching is often best used for author or title searches. In the OBI, phrase searching is available in the advanced search mode.
SA		About Searching a Specific Index With Open SiteSearch Database Builder, you can support searching multiple indexes by building a database with more than one index, then configuring the database to enable searching each index. You can also build phrase indexes in your local database. More information - Creating a New SiteSearch Database About Searching a Phrase Index If you are accessing a remote database via z39.50, and would like to support searching multiple indexes, you will need to find out what indexes are available for that particular database, and configure access to the database accordingly. More information - Database Configuration Files Display of available indexes The display of available indexes is defined in each database's configuration file. Once you have built a local database, or discovered what indexes a remote database has, you can decide which of these indexes to display and indicate their display in the database configuration file. More information - Database Configuration Files
Boolean and Proximity Searches - Top of Page
Librarian		Boolean operators allow patrons to manipulate and combine search result sets to execute a more precise search. Most databases allow for the use of all three boolean operators -- and, or and not. The use of specific boolean operators are described in more detail below.   AND To search for Use Refines a search and specifies that records found must contain both search terms. The default operator is 'and' so "dog breeding" and "dog and breeding" return the same result sets. Records containing 'dog' and 'breeding' with any number of other words between them dog and breeding OR To search for Use Expands a search and returns records that contain at least one of the related search terms. Records containing either 'dog' or 'canine' dog or canine NOT To search for Use Refines a search by restricting excluding certain records. A search using not will retrieve a smaller result set than searching the first term on its own. Records containing 'jazz' excluding records containing 'blues' jazz not blues Proximity operators allow patrons to combine terms and specify where the terms appear in relation to each other. Not all databases support proximity operators. The use of specific proximity operators is described in more detail below.   WITH To search for Use Type 'w' (with) between two search terms to specify that records found contain both terms, in the order typed, with no intervening terms. Add a number directly after the operator to specify the maximum number of intervening terms allowed. The maximum number for OCLC FirstSearch databases is 25. Records containing first 'dental' and then 'research' with no other words between them dental w research Records containing first 'dental' and then 'research' with no more than three word between them dental w3 research NEAR To search for Use Type 'n' (near) between two search terms to specify that records found contain both terms, in any order, with no other words between them. Add a number directly after the operator to specify the maximum number of intervening terms allowed. The maximum number for OCLC FirstSearch databases is 25. Records containing 'civility' and 'congress' with either word appearing first and with no other words between them. civility n congress
Records containing 'civility' and 'congress' with either word appearing first and with no more than three words between them.	civility n3 congress

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About Proximity Operators With SiteSearch Database Builder, you can build a database to support searching with proximity operators. More information - Term Adjacency Definitions You may also be able to support searching with proximity operators in a remote database, if the server supports query type 101 according to the z39.50 standard. More information - Database Server Configuration Files

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