Online Resource of the Month

August - September 2007

We regularly feature one of our online premium resources, paid for by SDPL, and available at the locations indicated. This feature covers our new federated or multiple database searching tool, One-Search, as provided by Serials Solutions.

Using SDPL One-Search
SDPL provides a new way to search our databases that is both fast and easy. The service is from Serials Solutions, provides a federated search engine which allows you to search multiple databases simultaneously with a single query. We call our service SDPL One-Search, or just One-Search.

In addition to group or federated searching, One-Search also allows you to search each database individually using a database's normal (regular) interface. Many of our databases have been integrated into One-Search. Tip: please make sure all pop-up blocking software is disabled or configured properly to work with One-Search.

Please ask a Librarian or Library Staff member for help with One-Search, if needed.

Basic Search - Using One-Search
Select a CATEGORY and type the word(s) into the One-Search search box. If you want to start with a few broad databases, just select (check) the default category "Basic Search," and select the Search button to begin. Or, you can select a category (pre-selected databases) like "Business & Investing" or "Homework."

Screenshot of SDPL One-Search

You may choose to search the following fields:
Keyword: This is One-Search's default search.
Title: Searches the title field.
Author: Searches the author field.
Full Text: Searches the full text of the articles or items.
Subject: Searches the subject field.
Abstract: Searches the abstract field.
ISBN: Searches the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) field.
ISSN: Searches the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) field.
Any: Searches all the fields available.

You may use the Boolean Operators (AND, OR, or NOT) to expand or limit your search, as well as enclosing your search terms in quotes (example: "civil war").

Searching Databases Directly
If you do not wish to search using the One-Search interface, simply select on the database name (linked) you wish to search and you will be connected to the native (direct) interface for that database. These links will open another browser window, so be sure you don't have pop-up windows blocked.

Advanced Searching in One-Search
Select "Advanced Search" on the One-Search screen to begin an advanced search. All dates is the default search in One-Search. Select Limit by Year to limit to items published within a specific year.

Navigation in SDPL One-Search
The top and bottom parts of the main search screen include a header and footer area that can be helpful if you need to navigate to related or other Library sites. Here's an example, that shows you can use many other services from within SDPL One-Search:

| SDPL One-Search | Magazines & Journals List | Library Catalog | Databases | San Diego Public Library Home | Ask SDPL |

You may also want to visit the Search tips page for more help about searching.

Categories
We have 15 categories for your use, plus our "Basic Search" - all pre-selected databases by our Library Staff. You can also Select All to search all databases. Select a category to see which databases are included in the search, where you can add or remove selections.

Select a single or multiple categories, a specific list of databases or a sole database or select All Resources to search all databases. Be aware that searching for a broad topic such as "Vietnam" or "Animals" and selecting All Resources will yield an enormous list of results. Try to limit your search to specific terms, and categories or databases.

Search Operators
The use of search operators (AND, OR, and NOT) is supported in One-Search. However, please be aware that One-Search merely passes the search to all of the databases through its translator codes unchanged. If a database does not support a given operator, it is dropped. This may cause some inaccuracies in your search. Also, searching a large number of databases at the same time may increase the likelihood of false returns or hits in your results.

Boolean Operators
Use AND to connect separate concepts. AND will narrow your search.
Examples:
fish AND ecology
wine AND food

Use OR to connect similar terms. OR will broaden your search.
Examples:
atomic energy OR nuclear energy
space OR universe

Use NOT to eliminate separate terms. NOT will narrow your search.
Examples:
television NOT cable
TiVo NOT dvr

Searching for Phrases
There is no perfect method for searching for exact phrases in One-Search since each of our databases may do exact phrase searching differently. Using "quotation marks" around your search terms may yield beneficial results with some searches. For advanced searching, the Library Staff recommends that you use the native interface of the database for searching. Phrase searching is common now for Web search engines, like Google, but it is not supported fully in many online databases.

Using Your Search Results
Because One-Search is searching multiple databases, it may take a bit of time for the search engine to return the results. A searching icon will show that One-Search has completed its search.

Search times will vary greatly with the number of databases searched and with varying connection speeds. The results are returned dynamically, first found delivered first, and the screen is updated dynamically until all results are in.

The results will show the number of found items in each selected database. You may select the results of any specific database and link to their results (down the results' page). The results may be e-mailed or exported/saved.

You may also select how the results are sorted. The default sorting is by date, but you can also sort your results dynamically by title, author, and source. Use Results by Source to filter your search results to show only those from specific databases. The number of results for each database is shown in parentheses next to each resource. Select the results number to view a particular database's results.

Use Results by Source to filter your search results to show only those from specific databases. The number of results for each database is shown in parentheses next to each resource. Select the results number to view a particular database's results.

Clustered Results and Full-Text
Clustered results sort your 360 Search results into categories, to help save you time in deciding which results are most appropriate for your purposes. Clustering can also help you refine your search, by giving you new ideas for your search query. Clustered results are default sorted by subject or topic, and can also be sorted by tabs for date, journals, and authors. On the right side of each result page, you will see a box to limit the results to only full-text articles.

Other Features
SDPL One-Search also includes the following features:

• Refine Search - Select to re-do or edit your search terms.
• New Search - Select to start over, conduct a new search.
• Next Results - Use the next results' links to continue looking at results.
• Links to other Sources - More Full-Text Options may be available for each result, which uses our link resolver to find any other full-text source for a cited article or item.
• Abstract - Select the "Show Abstract" link to view the article or item abstract.
• E-mail - On the form, you may choose to send your selected records in a format compatible with bibliographic citation managers like EndNote or ProCite, in plain text, or in HTML.
• Save/Export - You may choose to export your selected records directly to RefWorks, or to save the records either in a format compatible with bibliographic citation managers like EndNote or ProCite, as plain text, or as HTML.

Please ask a Librarian or Library Staff member for help with One-Search, if needed.