Comparison of "Like" Search Options
(Hypertext Links)

We use the Partial Searching option.

Keyword Searching If a KEYWORD search/browse is specified, Unicorn only locates a list of materials whose bibliographic records contain your specified term. The match can occur anywhere within the record field. If the search does not locate any items, this field automatically changes to PARTIAL.
Partial Searching IF a PARTIAL search is specified, Unicorn first looks up all BROWSE headings that match, then uses those to search the catalog. Initial articles in titles are skipped in the matching processes. Three things can happen during a PARTIAL Search.
  1. Unicorn locates a list of materials whose record field values match the beginning of the expression typed, regardless of the ending.
  2. The following message displays during a PARTIAL search indicating that Unicorn has located too many headings in a single search. Result of Partial Search Too Long After this message displays, the search may be cancelled, partial results may be displayed, or full results may be displayed.
  3. If partial results are selected, Unicorn will perform as much of the search as possible and display the search results.
Exact Searching If an EXACT search is specified, Unicorn only locates a list of library materials containing an exact match of the entire search term, from beginning to end. Initial articles in titles are skipped in the matching process.
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Additional Information:

The hyperlink search is not intended to be a comprehensive search of titles in the database. It never has worked that way. It only searches the data in the particular field in a keyword search and only searches for those keywords in the same field that you click on. In other words, when you click on a hyperlink in an 830 field, the system puts all of the words in that field into a keyword search and searches just 830 fields for those same words in any order. So, many times you get too many results for the system to handle in webcat, so it truncates the results. In Workflows, the hypertext search is only intended as a starting point for doing your comprehensive search. Once you click on a hyperlink in WF Java, the search string is entered into the search field of IS&D and then you can change your index to the particular index you want to search (for instance, SERIES) and a Browse search to get the series title and the corresponding numbers of that series we have in the database; or a Keyword search that will give you a list of the titles we have in that series. Public Services has been aware of the limitations of the hyperlink searches in Webcat and are supposed to address the issue in their BI classes. Staff have been encouraged not to use the hyperlink search in WF as a comprehensive search of the database, since it was never intended for that purpose and will give incomplete results.

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Last updated 8/28/2008