Introduction to the Search Box

Narrator: Alyssa Russo, Collections and Instruction Librarian alyssa.russo@sfcc.edu

This tutorial reinforces the following SFCC Library Learning Goals:

Students will be able to search the Library Catalog, locate materials by Call Number, and access Library Services
Students will be able to locate authoritative information resources to solve specific problems

This is a transcript of the video tutorial, which includes links to the highlighted resources. Use this handout to refer back to whenever you need.

Video 1

Hello and welcome to the SFCC Library. This is the first video in our introduction to the library search box. This video will introduce what the search box looks like, where you can find it, and what the tabs and links do.

You may begin your library search at our website: http://www.sfcc.edu/library, in Jack on the Library tab: https://jack.sfcc.edu, or at our Library Research Guides website: http://libraryhelp.sfcc.edu/. This tool searches most of the library’s holdings including physical items like books, DVDs and CDs that are located in the library, and digital content such as eBooks, online articles, and streaming videos.

The Library Search Box defaults to search the “all resources” tab. Notice the dropdown menu on the side which defaults to a broad keyword search. You may toggle in the dropdown menu to perform a specific title or author search if you prefer. At the bottom of the box notice a checkbox that limits results find links to “catalog only”. Check this box if you want to limit your results to only search for physical items such as books, CDs, and DVDs. Next, notice the Advanced Search option. Clicking on this link brings you to a new page with expanded fields and limiters. Finally, notice the Course Reserves link. Course Reserves are materials, mostly textbooks, placed on hold at the library by instructors for students to use in the library. This link takes you to a special search box that only searches the Reserves holdings.

In the next tab labeled “Articles” notice a couple checkboxes at the bottom of the box. First is the “Full-text” checkbox, and by checking off that box ensures that all of your results will contain the entire article in either a PDF or HTML format. If you don’t check this box off you may get more results, but many results may only include a record with a citation and abstract rather than the full-text article. The second “scholarly-or peer reviewed” checkbox will ensure that all of the results you get have been refereed through a peer-review process. If you’d like to learn more about peer-review, check out our video tutorial dedicated to that topic.

The final book tab will narrow your results to only retrieve print or electronic books. At the bottom of the box we have provided a link to the Ebsco ebook database if you want to narrow your results to that collection of ebooks. As you practice using the search box you will figure out which tab best suits your needs. The first tab will provide the largest set of results, but if you know that you only want to search books or only articles the other tabs provide a convenient way to quickly narrow your search before you even hit the search button. In the next video you can see an example search using the Library search box, and if you have questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

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Video 2

Hello and welcome to the SFCC Library. This is the second part to our introduction to using the library search box. In this video you will learn how to search and access library materials using the Library Search Box.

Let’s try an example of a basic search. In a basic search I might begin with a single keyword, and I can add more keywords later in my results page. View our Keyword Searching video tutorial to learn more about the advantages of searching this way. We also have videos that can show you more advanced searching techniques too. If you are searching by phrase, such as “New Mexico”, surrounding those words with quotation marks will ensure that the entire phrase is searched together. If quotation marks are not used, each word is searched separately, so the results might not be as focused or relevant. Go ahead and press the search eyeglass when you’re ready. As our results open in a new tab it is important to remember that spelling counts in the search box.

Ok, here are our results. The first thing I notice is that we have too many results to be useful so I would like to narrow my search down by adding another search phrase. I’m going to go ahead and connect two different search phrases then I can continue New Mexico with my quotation marks around it and so I will search for “global warming” AND “New Mexico”. My results have updated and I am down to a better search number. So at this point I can use the limiters on the left-hand side.

The first thing to notice is “Full Text”. That will allow you to read any result that appears. There is also “Peer Reviewed”. Oftentimes you will be asked to use peer reviewed articles. As you scroll down there is also a section where you can narrow down the publication year. For example, I will limit this search to the last five years because I would like current results.

At this point I have a reasonable amount of results, so I can browse the results. I browse through the results until I find a title that catches my attention. Next click the title. The left hand side still has the result page so that you may continue to browse results. The right hand side displays the availability of the item. In this case you can see that we are able to access the full-text online. Use the “view full text” link to get to the item.

A new tab opens, and what you are seeing is called the detailed record. It contains information about the article, like an abstract (or summary) about the article, but it is not the article itself. To read the article, look on the left hand side and click on the PDF full-text link. When you click this link the article will open in an eReader and you can read it. Or, you may email it to yourself and include a citation in that email. There are other tools on the right-hand side. There is the cite tool including several writing style formats, and you may scroll to your preference and copy the citation.

It is important to remember that research takes time. There are helpful resources on how to get started writing paper topics and creating relevant keywords in the Library Research guides. These Library Research Guides are accessible through the How do I section? Of JACK.

Librarians may also be reached through email or over the phone if you need assistance.