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Research Guides

Contemporary Visual Arts Research Guide

Boolean Operators

Boolean Operators

Boolean operators can greatly improve your searches whether you are using a library catalogue, database, or the Internet. They are a set of commands that creates relationships between search terms in a search strategy telling the search tool what you want it to find. The search strategy is like a mathematical formula that translates your concepts so that the library catalogue or database understands what to find.

Narrow or Broaden the Search

The most popular Boolean commands are AND and OR. Other commands include parentheses, phrasing, and truncation.

Narrow your search using AND   Broaden your search using OR
Using the Boolean command AND in your search tells the search tool that both terms must appear in your results. Use AND to combine your key concepts in your search strategy.
Example: women AND sculpture
  Using the Boolean command OR tells the search tool that either term must appear in your results. Use OR to combine your synonyms or similar terms for your key concepts as catalogue or database records may use different words to describe the same concept. You do not want to miss relevant results. OR gives you mORe! To find synonyms or similar terms it is recommended you use an online thesaurus such as The Oxford paperback thesaurus.
Example: Contemporary OR 21st century
 

 

Using Parentheses

By using parentheses, you can ask a search tool to perform several Boolean searches at the same time to find more specific results. In order for the search tool to understand exactly what you are looking for, parentheses are used to group keywords for each concept, like a math question. The catalogue, database, or search engine will execute searches in the order the terms appear, unless you tell it what to do, and when. Parentheses ensure that the search tool enacts your search strategy properly.

Place parentheses around a keyword, and its accompanying synonym(s) or similar term(s), i.e. your OR statements.

Example: women AND (art OR design) AND (Contemporary OR 21st century)

 

Phrasing

Phrasing allows you to search for two or more words as a unit by putting them in quotation marks:

  • "Art Toronto Canada’s Art Fair"
  • "Audio and Film"
  • "Industrial Revolution"

This can sometimes eliminate relevant results, especially if you aren't using the correct words or the order of the words. For example, "sculptures Jeff Koons + Balloon Dog" will not get you results for "Jeff Koons + Balloon Dog". Make sure the phrases you create are actually recognized terms and are free of spelling errors.

Phrasing gives you more control over your searching, as some catalogues and databases will automatically treat any search terms that are not connected by the Boolean operators AND or OR as phrases. For example, a search for women’s art might only find records where the terms women and art appear right next to each other.

 

Putting it all together

To enter a search strategy with more than one Boolean command into the library catalogue, use the Advanced Search option. 

Captured below is an example of how you would enter the search strategy for women participating in Contemporary art movements in Canada.

 

 

Boolean operators also work in databases. All databases are slightly different -- in this case, the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals provides OR and the parentheses, and the Advanced Search is the default. Most databases also allow for truncation. Here is an example of how you would enter the search strategy women AND (contemporary* OR design*) AND (Modern OR "21st century"):

 

 

Boolean operators even work in Google, and will greatly improve your results there as well. For search strategies with more than one Boolean command, enter them as a single string of text in the search box:

 

Subject Headings

Subject Headings

Using subject heading linking can also greatly improve your searching, as the results you get back are often very specific, and highly relevant to your topic. A subject search is based on pre-defined, controlled vocabulary assigned to describe the item's content called subject headings.  Items in both library catalogues and databases are assigned subject headings, including books, ebooks, articles and more.

 

 

If you already found a book, and wish to find others like it, clicking on a subject heading link in the catalogue record, found under "Subjects", will return a list of all the other items assigned to that same specific subject.

 

Most Common Library Subject Headings for Contemporary Art: 

Articles are also assigned subject headings in their database records, and clicking on a specific subject heading will return a list of other articles on similar topics. 

 

Browsing

Physically browsing the library shelves can be a powerful way to find information, especially if you are not quite sure what you are looking for, or you want to be inspired by random images. Most fine arts books are located in the N-NX call number range. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CLASSIFICATION 
CLASS N - FINE ARTS:
 
Subclass N Visual arts
Subclass NA Architecture
Subclass NB Sculpture
Subclass NC Drawing. Design. Illustration
Subclass ND Painting
Subclass NE Print media
Subclass NK Decorative arts
Subclass NX Arts in general
 
*Note - Some libraries, might have material placed within their Reserved, Reference or Special Collections.