Catalog Changes, Beginning With Keyword Search

On Friday, August 4th, the catalog will be re-indexed to give us a much larger and more flexible keyword search. Right now when you do a keyword search it is searching only title and notes fields. After the re-index, it will also be searching subjects and other fields. You should get a much more inclusive set of results when you search.

While this work is happening inside the catalog server, there will be a couple of hours where you won't be able to do a keyword search at all. Call the library if you are having trouble locating what you need during that period.

Once the re-index is done, you will have two different keyword searches available. (We can't show you today because they're not THERE yet.) The simple keyword search will be quite similar to the present one in how it functions, except that it will have more points to help you find what you want. The advanced keyword search will allow you to limit by location, format, etc. before you search so your results are more focussed on what you know you want.

The new search screens will not match the look of the present catalog screens. Next week we will be shifting to a somewhat new look, and the new search screens you see late on Friday will be borrowed from the-catalog-as-it-will-appear-next-week.