The document provides tips for conducting searches in a library catalog. It recommends starting by focusing a topic, such as researching subtopics related to Vikings by doing a subject search in the catalog. It also suggests choosing important search terms from the topic and finding synonyms. The document explains different search operators like AND, OR, and NOT to narrow or expand search results, as well as using quotation marks for phrases and truncation with asterisks. It advises combining these operators, along with parentheses, to create an effective search string.