This document provides a 12-part tutorial on how to search the library catalogue to find resources. It explains how to perform simple searches, use search operators like AND and OR to combine terms, do advanced searches within specific fields, and tips for developing an effective search strategy like thinking of related terms before searching. The goal is to help users efficiently find relevant books, articles and other materials.

1. Searching
Library Catalogue
A 15 minute tutorial to find what you need
All library catalogues are similar;
once these skills are learnt,
they will be of use all your life.

2. Online Library Catalogue
The online library catalogue is a website with
information about everything you can find in the
Library and where to find it. Go to
heritage.nwhc.ac.uk to access the College Library
catalogue. It looks a bit like Google, but has its
own specific rules and functions.

3. Simple search (1/12)
Simple Search is good for
exploring resources on a
particular topic.
For example, type nutrition and
click on the search button (a
magnifying glass).
TIP Search for simple, short
phrases. Break down what you
want to search for into small
pieces.
For example, if you are
interested in how nutrition
affects sport performance, you
should search for nutrition AND
sport, not How nutrition affects
sport performance.

4. Search results (2/12)
A Simple Search found all the
resources where nutrition is
mentioned in the title or
description – books, DVDs etc.
326 resources have been
found; use the arrows to jump
from one page of the results to
another.
If any of those resources seem
to be useful, click on the title to
see more details and find
where it is in the Library.

5. Catalogue record (3/12)
This is a catalogue record –
information about a resource
and where to find it.
There are six copies of this
book in the Library. All six
copies are available – they
should be on the shelf.
Shelfmark describes this
resource’s location. All books
in the Library are arranged in
numerical and alphabetical
order.

6. nutrition AND sport
(4/12)
We found 326 results when
searched for nutrition. It’s too
many to look through all of
them. It is possible to run a
more precise search.
If you are interested in how
nutrition affects sport
performance, you can search
for only those resources which
contain both words, nutrition
AND sport in the title and
description.
We found 64 results for
nutrition AND sport and they
seem to be exactly what we
are interested in.

7. AND (5/12)
AND (in capitals) in between
nutrition AND sport tells the
catalogue that those two
search terms must be in the
same resource, otherwise we
are not interested. – We are
not interested in nutrition AND
children, not interested in
nutrition AND health, not
interested simply in nutrition.
We are looking for how
nutrition affects sport
performance, therefore we
should search for
nutrition AND sport.

8. OR and AND NOT
(6/12)
In addition to AND, there are
two other useful words to
know: OR and AND NOT.
OR means “either one, or
another”. For example, the
search woman OR female will
bring all the resources with
woman in the title or
description, as well as female
in the title or description.
AND NOT means “without”,
e.g. landscapes AND NOT
gardens search will find
resources on painting
landscapes, but not building
gardens.

9. * wild card (7/12)
* (asterisk, star) says “please
substitute me with other
characters”. Search for child*
and you will find resources with
child, children, childhood etc.
Try searching for psych*. What
did you get?
If you are not sure about
spelling, use an asterisk.
For example, when searching
for organisational behavior, use
* to find resources with either
British or American spelling:
organi*ational behavio*r.

10. Most important TIP
(8/12)
It is always tempting to grab a
computer and search straight
away. However, you will save a
lot of time and get better
results if you spend three
minutes thinking about what
you want to find.
Take a piece of paper and pen,
and write a list of words and
phrases relevant to your
topic. For example: nutrition,
nutrients, proteins, exercise,
energy… Think about similar
words, e.g. food and nutrition.
These are your search terms.
Now you are ready to search.

11. Advanced Search
(9/12)
Advanced Search saves time;
it allows building more precise
searches.
To switch to an Advanced
Search, click on the link
Advanced.
The Advanced Search form is
below.

12. Using
Advanced Search
(10/12)
In the drop-down menu,
Search in, you can specify that
your search term must be in
the Authors/Author field -
useful if you know the author’s
surname; or only in the Title
field – if you know the title.
Instead of dozens or hundreds
of results you will get only the
most relevant results.
In the drop-down menu, Media
type, you can specify that you
want only e-books or DVDs, or
only printed books.

13. More Complex
Searches
(11/12)
Are you looking for a book by
Richard Gross which has the
word psychology in the title? –
All this information can be used
to make your search very
precise.
Select Authors/Author in the
Search in menu; then add
Gross to the search field;
select Book in the Media type
menu. Click on + button to add
another line; select Title in the
Search in menu and add
psychology to the search field.
Bingo!

14. More… (12/12)
For more guides and support,
see the College Library
website,
www.nwhc.ac.uk/library.
Ask librarians for a one-to-one
or group session on finding
information for your study and
Harvard referencing.

15. College Library
North Warwickshire and Hinckley
College
2013
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NonCommercial 2.0 UK: England &
Wales License.
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