Search results
Results of your search query
- A summary of your search query and results is displayed at the top of the screen.
- The database (s) searched are listed with the number of records found in each database.
- You may be presented with a ‘did you mean’ spelling prompt for queries which may have been misspelt. Selecting the suggestion will complete a new search.
Record display
- Brief views of the records are displayed and are listed in sets under each database searched. The name of the database appears at the top of the relevant list with the total number of records found in that database
- When searching on one database only, if the search results is more than 20 records, only the first 20 records will be displayed on the screen. You can change the number of records to 10, 50, 100 or 200. The system remembers this preference using Statefulness.
- When searching on more than one database, if the search results is more than 10 records for an individual database, only the first 10 records for each database are displayed on the screen. Select the View all records button for a specific database to see the record only for that database.
- The Holdings column displayed to the right of the record details gives information about the number of libraries holding that item and if your library has a copy of the item eg. 33 including my library. It also indicates the number of your favourite libraries holding that item eg. ♥1.
Preview pane
- By hovering your mouse over the Title or Holdings information of each record displayed in the Results screen, you can display a preview of the full record or the holdings for that record on the right of the screen.
- When hovering your mouse over the Title, the Record Preview will be displayed on the right of the screen.
- When hovering your mouse over the Holdings, a preview of the Holdings will be displayed on the right of the screen. The holdings preview can also be limited by location eg. All, State or Favourite Libraries by clicking the buttons at the top of the holdings preview pane.
- The preview pane can be switched off by clicking on the button ‘Hide preview on hover’.
Sorting results
By default, search results for are ranked by Date, latest first.
Search results can also be sorted by Relevance, No. of Holdings, Title or Name (A-Z or Z-A), or by date of publication (earliest first or latest first). These options can be selected from the "Sort by" drop down list at the top of the Results screen (you need to View all Records first for this option). Note: This option is not available when searching on more than one database.
Navigation
Records
You can navigate to the next 20 records, the previous 20 records, the first record, the last record etc, by going to the top or the bottom of the display and then using the arrow buttons, or the "Jump To" options. For larger sets of results, the "go to end" arrow will not function until you have viewed all of the results.
Databases
When you search on multiple databases, the number of results for each database appears at the top of the screen under with the search query details.
To quickly move between database results, return to the Search results and click on the name of the database you wish to look at. This will move you down the page to the first 10 search results for that database.
Full view
To view more details for any item, you can use either of the following options:
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- Click on the title of the item, or
- Click on the “View Full record” in the Record Preview panel on the right.
To view all records one after the other, eg 1 then 2, 3, 4, 5, etc, use either option above, and use the arrow buttons in the top left hand corner of the screen:
Example - do not use the checkboxes on the left hand side, instead click on the title of record or “View Full record” in the record preview panel to display the record in its Full view, then click the forward arrow to bring up record no. 2, and so on.
To view only selected records, eg 1 then 4, 7, 8, etc, use the checkboxes on the left hand side to select the records and then click on the “View” button:
Example - select the items of interest by clicking the checkboxes on the left hand side - eg records 1, 4, 7 and 8 - and then click on the "View" button at the top of the results display. You can then see the Full view of the first selected record by either clicking on the title of the item or clicking “View Full record” in the Record Preview panel. You can then click on the forward arrow to bring up the Full view of records 4, 7, 8 and so on.
Editing searches
The Edit Search button takes you back to the search screen if you want to edit the search.
Compare records
The Compare records functionality enables users to view between 2 and 4 records in one screen, and report duplicates using a pre-populated form. This functionality is disabled until at least 2 records have been selected and when more than 4 records have been selected.
Options to further refine your results
We have limited search results to the first 50,000 records to ensure the best performance of the LA Search service.
To help you find the records you need, please try one or more of the following options:
- Refine your search using more specific keywords and / or limits
- Reorder your results using the Sort results options
- Order a product if you required a large set of results