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Research Guides

How to use LibrarySearch

A guide to using the University of Toronto Libraries’ search tool

Topic search

Every item in LibrarySearch has a record. Each record has subject tags to describe the topic of the item. When using Topic Search, you are retrieving everything linked to one subject tag. This is helpful if you want to retrieve all items under one subject or "topic". 

First input your search terms:

Search terms women and gaming are indicated in green

Next, choose the most relevant result and open the full record by clicking the title:

A relevant record is indicated in green

Once you have opened the full record, scroll down to the "Details" section:

A detailed record is shown

There is a lot of information in this section, but the part you need is next to the heading "Subject":

Subject headings in a detailed record are indicated in green

Of the four subjects assigned to this book, "Women video gamers" is probably the closest to the topic of women and gaming. To view other items assigned to the same subject, just click Women video gamers and a new set of search results will appear that are all assigned the same topic phrase.

The topic search statement is indicated in green

Also look at the subjects assigned to the new results. You may find a related subject that fits even more closely with your topic. For instance, the book highlighted in the following image is described with the subject "Women video gamers", but also the subjects:

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