Using the Public Access Catalog

You can limit your search by formats based on MARC fixed field type:

By default, the search results are in order of greatest to least relevance, see Order of Results. In the sort results menu you may select to order the search results by relevance, title, author, or publication date.

The current search library is displayed under Search Library drop down menu. By default it is your library. The search returns results for your local library only. If your library system has multiple branches, use the Search Library box to select different branches or the whole library system.

This checkbox is at the bottom line of Search Library. Select Limit to Available to limit results to those titles that have items with a circulation status of "available" (by default, either Available or Reshelving).

This checkbox is below Limit to Available. Select Exclude Electronic Resources to limit results to those bibliographic records that do not have an "o" or "s" in the Item Form fixed field (electronic forms) and overrides other form limiters.

This feature is optional and will not appear for patrons or staff until enabled.

You can filter your search by Item Type, Item Form, Language, Audience, Video Format, Bib Level, Literary Form, Search Library, and Publication Year. Publication year is inclusive. For example, if you set Publication Year Between 2005 and 2007, your results can include items published in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

For each filter type, you may select multiple criteria by holding down the CTRL key as you click on the options. If nothing is selected for a filter, the search will return results as though all options are selected.

If you have details on the exact item you wish to search for, use the Numeric Search tab on the advanced search page. Use the drop-down menu to select your search by ISBN, ISSN, Bib Call Number, Call Number (Shelf Browse), LCCN, TCN, or Item Barcode. Enter the information and then click the Search button.

If you are familiar with MARC cataloging, you may search by MARC tag in the Expert Search option on the left of the screen. Enter the three-digit tag number, the subfield if relevant, and the value or text that corresponds to the tag. For example, to search by publisher name, enter 260 b Random House. To search several tags simultaneously, use the Add Row option. Click Submit to run the search.

A search for dogs will also return hits with the word dog and a search for parenting will return results with the words parent and parental. This is because the search uses stemming to help return the most relevant results. That is, words are reduced to their stem (or root word) before the search is performed.

The stemming algorithm relies on common English language patterns - like verbs ending in ing - to find the stems. This is more efficient than looking up each search term in a dictionary and usually produces desirable results. However, it also means the search will sometimes reduce a word to an incorrect stem and cause unexpected results. To prevent a word or phrase from stemming, put it in double-quotes to force an exact search. For example, a search for parenting will also return results for parental, but a search for "parenting" will not.

Understanding how stemming works can help you to create more relevant searches, but it is usually best not to anticipate how a search term will be stemmed. For example, searching for gold compass does not return the same results as golden compass, because -en is not a regular suffix in English, and therefore the stemming algorithm does not recognize gold as a stem of golden.

By default, the results are listed in order of relevance, similar to a search engine like Google. The relevance is determined using a number of factors, including how often and where the search terms appear in the item description, and whether the search terms are part of the title, subject, author, or series. The results which best match your search are returned first rather than results appearing in alphabetical or chronological order.

In the Advanced Search screen, you may select to order the search results by relevance, title, author, or publication date before you start the search. You can also re-order your search results using the Sort Results dropdown list on the search result screen.

At the left, you may see a list of Facets of Subjects, Authors, and Series. Selecting any one of these links filters your current search results using that subject, author, or series to narrow down your current results. The facet filters can be undone by clicking the link a second time, thus returning your original results before the facet was activated.

The number of available copies and total copies are displayed under each search result’s call number. If you are using a catalog inside a library or accessing a library’s online catalog from its homepage, you will see how many copies are available in the library under each title, too. If the library belongs to a multi-branch library system you will see an extra row under each title showing how many copies are available in all branches.

You may also click the Show More Details link at the top of the results page, next to the Limit to available items check box, to view each search result’s copies' individual call number, status, and shelving location.

Click on a search result’s title to view a detailed record of the title, including descriptive information, location and availability, current holds, and options for placing holds, add to my list, and print/email.

Holds can be placed on either title results or search results page. If the item is available, it will be pulled from the shelf and held for you. If all copies at your local library are checked out, you will be placed on a waiting list and you will be notified when items become available.

On title details page, you can select the Place Hold link in the upper right corner of the record to reserve the item. You will need your library account user name and password. You may choose to be notified by phone or email.

In the example below, the phone number in your account will automatically show up. Once you select the Enable phone notifications for this hold checkbox, you can supply a different phone number for this hold only. The notification method will be selected automatically if you have set it up in your account references. But you still have a chance to re-select on this screen. You may also suspend the hold temporarily by checking the Suspend box. Click the Help beside it for details.

You can view and cancel a hold at anytime. Before your hold is captured, which means an item has been held waiting for you to pick up, you can edit, suspend or activate it. You need log into your patron account to do it. From your account you can also set up a Cancel if not filled by date for your hold. Cancel if not filled by date means after this date, even though your hold has not been fulfilled you do not need the item anymore.

Evergreen now provides additional functionality for printing and emailing bibliographic record and holdings information from the catalog. Users can print or email bibliographic information from an individual bibliographic record or from a basket.

After selecting Print or Email, the user will be presented with a preview of the printout or email, respectively. From the preview users can choose to view Brief or Full record information (Full includes holdings information) and how records should be sorted (Author, Title, Publication Date). Holdings information can also be limited to a certain library. Users can be required to log in to their OPAC account to send an email or this feature can be configured to allow sending an email without signing in to the OPAC.

Print Preview

Email Preview (logged in to OPAC account)

Email Preview (not logged in to OPAC account)

Printing from the OPAC while not logged in is controlled by a Library Setting called “Allow record emailing without login”. If set to True, users are not required to log in to an OPAC account to use this feature. Instead they can provide their email address and answer a CAPTCHA test. If set to False, users will be required to log in to their OPAC account and Evergreen will email the records to the address set in their account or they may provide a different email address.

The record summary page offers a link to a shorter permalink that can be used for sharing the record with others. All URL parameters are stripped from the link with the exception of the locg and copy_depth parameters. Those parameters are maintained so that people can share a link that displays just the holdings from one library/system or displays holdings from all libraries with a specific library’s holdings floating to the top.

If configured by the library system administrator, you may send yourself the call number via SMS message by clicking on the Text link, which appears beside the call number.

When you are viewing a specific record, you can always go back to your title list by clicking the link Search Results on the top right or left bottom of the page.

You can start a new search at any time by entering new search terms in the search box at the top of the page, or by selecting the Another Search or Advanced Search links in the left-hand sidebar.