Searching the Library Catalog Newfound Regional High School Library Media Center

Types of Searches: keyword, subject, title, author This is a sample catalog record. The type of search you choose will determine what part(s) of the catalog’s records you will search. Keyword searches the entire record. Subject searches line 600. Title searches line 245. Author searches line 100. A keyword search will produce the most hits.

Keyword Search: Cars Use keyword searches when you want to search the entire record of an item. Notice that a keyword search for “cars” results in 11 hits.

Subject Search: Cars Searching by subject limits your search to the subject line of all catalog records. Subject searches tend to limit your search results, but they tend to be more relevant than keyword searches. In the example below, a subject search for cars yielded no hits. This is because the correct subject term is “automobile.”

Subject Search: Automobile Notice that a subject search for “automobile” results in numerous hits, all broken down by more specialized subjects.

Title Search: Cars Searching by title limits your search to the title line of all catalog records. Use title searches when looking for a particular book or if you want to limit your search to books with your search term at the beginning of the title.