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Conducting Boolean Searches Using the Search Feature In the previous sections you learned how to search for individual words (Shakespeare) or phrases (William Shakespeare) in the catalog. ITS.MARC also lets you search for words and phrases in certain combinations. This feature is known as Boolean searching, and the symbols used to connect words and phrases are called Boolean operators. The following table illustrates the operators available, sample searches, and the desired results.
Before you try your hand at Boolean Searching from the Search the Catalog page, remember that:
Structuring the Search When you enter a search query in the "word(s)" box and press Find, ITS.MARC reads your entry from left to right, using the Boolean operators and other symbols. If no Boolean operators are used, an implied AND is inserted between every word. For example: If one or more Boolean operators are used, words not separated by operators are interpreted as phrases. For example, the query is interpreted as "William Shakespeare" AND "Julius Caesar" Search terms can be "nested" (enclosed in parentheses) to tell the system how to combine terms for searching. When nesting is used, Boolean operators are evaluated inside parentheses. For example means that the system would first search for the phrase "William shakespeare" or the word "bard" and then eliminate all results that do not include the phrase "Julius Caesar." Can you figure out what the following query would retrieve? *Find the phrase William Shakespeare or the phrase Julius Caesar where it does not appear with the phrase George Lyman Kittredge.
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