Your initial set of results will be automatically sorted by "relevance". LibrarySearch relevance ranking is determined by:
You may want to change this default setting to sort in other ways. Alternative sort options include Date-newest, Date-oldest, Title, or Author. Each of these options are available through the Sort By dropdown menu highlighted in the following image.
Choose any filter option from the left side menu to narrow your search results.
Once you have selected one or more filters, you must click the Apply Filters button highlighted in the following image before the list will be updated with your search preferences. You may need to scroll down to the bottom of the filter section to locate the Apply Filters button.
Results can be narrowed by selecting one or more filters from the following filter groups:
| Show Only |
These filters allow you to refine your results to include only results that are:
|
||||
| Format |
This group of filters allow you to narrow your results to items available in a specific format or group of formats. The list of format options is dynamic, always beginning with the format appearing most commonly in your set of results and descending through all relevant formats in order of frequency. While only formats present in your search results will appear in this filter group, the following list includes all currently available formats:
|
||||
| Library |
This filter can be used to narrow your results down to items located in a specific library or in multiple library locations. For instance, selecting "New College Library (Ivey)" will narrow your results to only those books in this library location. Click to the left of a location to select it. Click to the right to exclude it. |
||||
| Subject |
This filter lists the Subject Headings each source in your results list has been tagged with. Subjects are listed in order of prominence within your results. LibrarySearch uses a combination of Library of Congress, Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), and subject tags from article databases. Search results can be narrowed through the selection or exclusion of multiple subject headings. Click to the left of a heading to select it. Click to the right to exclude it. |
||||
| Publication Date |
Input a specific date range and select "Refine". |
||||
| Language | The University of Toronto Libraries purchases material in more than 300 languages. This filter lists all languages represented in your search results. | ||||
| Author/Creator |
Only available in catalogue search (for more information on catalogue search, see Basic Search) Options include principal authors, corporate authors, and government agencies.
Click to the left of a heading to select it. Click to the right to exclude it. |
||||
| New to the Library |
This filter is a great way to keep up to date on the newest items added to the library collection.
Click to the left of a heading to select it. Click to the right to exclude it. |
By default, your LibrarySearch results include your search terms in fields such as title, subject, and author, but some records in LibrarySearch allow you to expand your search to the full text of the resource.
On your results page, use the "Search in Full Text" to exapnd your search.
Keep in mind that only full text searching is only supported for certain types of electronic resources, and does not affect many items in the library collection, including print books.
If your search terms are only found in the full text of the resource, those results will appear lower in the relevancy-ranked list of results than those which have your search terms in fields such as title and subject.
Searching in full text is most useful when your search terms are quite specific and you would be interested in results which mention your topic briefly.
