Activity: Advanced Catalog Search

The Catalog Advanced Search feature on the library website allows for easy capture of search terms and synonyms with the appropriate Boolean operators in a simple form. You can search for several terms at once, such as Title and Author, or Keyword and Author. Once you have searched, you may filter results based on several elements such as format (book, DVD, etc.), date of publication, language, library location, etc.

Try the following activity to explore advanced search options.

Estimated Completion Time: 3 minutes

  1. Open a new browser tab and go to the University of Michigan library website's Catalog Advanced Search Links to an external site.. You can also access the advanced search by navigating to the Catalog Search link previously used and selecting "Advanced".
    catalog search with advanced option selected
  2. Perform the following search: technology AND "science fiction". Make sure to search for “science fiction” as a phrase by using quotation marks around the words science and fiction. Be sure to use the Boolean operator, AND, to search for works that connect technology to science fiction. Click "Search" to take a look at the results.
    catalog advanced search
  3. Take a moment to explore the results. To the left of the results on the page, there are several ways to refine the search. Try refining the search to include only books that are in the academic discipline of General and Comparative Literature. Finally, try to filter search results by year. Which year? It is up to you!
    an image of catalog results