Guidelines for Using IPS-Library Online Catalog

The IPS-Library Online Catalog gives access to the vast collection of materials held by the Library. It contains records covering books, serials, journal articles, cartographic materials, audiovisual materials, etc.

Users can browse the catalog by selecting one of the following search methods:

• Title and Name search
• Keyword search
• Name only search
• Subject search
• Advanced Search
• Classmark search
• ISBN / ISSN
• Series search
• Publisher search

Title and Name Search
This search option is used to find items when you know the exact title and/or the author.

1. Enter the title or just the first few words in the Title box.
2. Enter the surname or the corporate name (organization, company, name of meeting, etc.) in the Author or Corporate name box.
3. Click on the Go button.
4. The hitlist (i.e. list of search results) shows all the items that matched your search.
5. Click on the title hyperlink to view the bibliographic information.

Keyword Search
This search option allows you to find records containing any of the words you enter. Results are displayed in relevance ranked order. Keywords could be terms taken from the title, subtitle, name, subject, series and abstract fields.

1. Enter the keyword you want to find in the Keyword box using a Boolean operator (AND, OR, NOT).
2. Un-check any of the options that do not apply; i.e. Exact phrase, and/or All exact or similar words, and/or Any word or similar word.
3. Click on the Go button.
4. The hitlist shows all the titles which match the words.
5. Click on the title to view the bibliographic information.

Name Only Search
This search option permits you to browse the catalog by author (personal, corporate or conferences).

1. Enter the last name of a person or the corporate name in the Author or Corporate Name box.
2. Click on the Go button.
3. Click on Names then on All Titles to retrieve the titles listed under a specific name.
4. Click on the title to view the bibliographic information.

Subject Search
This option permits to find titles which have the same subject, and to browse the subject headings authority list.

1. Enter the subject you are looking for in the Subject box.
2. If you want to retrieve a list of subject headings, tick the box and this will bring up all the matching subject headings, which will allow you to browse through the authority list.
3. Un-check the option Retrieve a list of subject terms in case you want to retrieve titles with matching subjects.
4. Click on the Go button.
5. Click on the Title you need to retrieve from the hitlist, or click on the Subject you need to retrieve from the subject headings list, then click on Show titles to view the titles related to a specific subject.
6. Click on the title to view the bibliographic information.

Classmark Search
This search option allows you to find books classified according to the Dewey Decimal Classification. Theses, CD-ROMS, audiovisual materials, microfilms, maps, pamphlets, etc. are classified according to a special internal classification.

1. Enter all or the initial part of the classmark in the Classmark box.
2. Click on the Go button.
3. A list of titles having the requested classmark is displayed.
4. Click on the title to view the bibliographic information.

ISBN / ISSN Search

1. Enter the barcode (ISBN for books, or ISSN for journals) you want to find in the Barcode box. Do not include hyphens, i. e. 0887282199
2. Click on the Go button.
3. The title with the allocated barcode is retrieved.
4. Click on the title to view the bibliographic information.

Series Search
This search option allows you to find titles that are part of a series of publications.

1. Enter the title of the series you are looking for in the Title of Series box.
2. Click on the Go button.
3. A list of titles having the same series is displayed.
4. Click on the title to view the bibliographic information.

Publisher Search
This search option permits you to find titles under a specific publisher.

1. Enter the name of the publisher your are looking for in the Name of Publisher box.
2. Click on the Go button.
3. A list of titles having the requested publisher is retrieved.
4. Click on the title to view the bibliographic information.

Helpful Hints

• The database accepts lower and/or upper case letters.
• When performing a search query, initial articles in any language (“a”, “an”, “the”, “ha”-, "ال" etc.) are ignored.
• Minor spelling errors do not count at the end of any search term.
• The wildcard character “ % ” is used in any search option (Title, Name, Subject, Keyword, Series, etc.).
• To display the bibliographic details (ISBD List), select the records by checking the box next to the record. Click on "Show selected".
• Click on CTRL+Shift at the right side of the keyboard, in order to check the holdings of our Arabic language collection.
• Hebrew language records are included in the catalog in the roman alphabet, with English language subject headings.

Boolean Operators

• The Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are only used in keyword searches.
• The connectors AND and NOT generally limit your search (decreases the number of hits); and the connector OR expands it (increases the number of hits).
• If you are retrieving too many records on your topic, try adding another search term with the connector AND.
• If you are retrieving too many records on an unrelated topic, try eliminating a word with the connector NOT.
• If you are retrieving too few records on your topic, try adding another search term with the connector OR.
• Boolean operators should be used in English when undertaking an Arabic search for keywords.