MetaLib 'Cross-search' help

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The other pages of MetaLib and Get it! help are available in the left navigation or on the main MetaLib and Get it! help page.

How do I use cross-search?

To access the 'Cross-search' option within MetaLib, click 'Cross-search' on MetaLib home or on the navigation bar. Alternatively, on MetaLib home there are Quick links to Cross-search categories so that you can pre-select the category of resources that will display when you go to Cross-search. Similar links to Cross-search categories are now available from the 'Articles & Databases' tab of 'Quick search' on the Library home page.

The term Cross-search, also known as metasearching, federated searching or cross-database searching, means to submit a query to a number of databases at once. The query is broadcast to each database, and the results displayed database by database, or you can choose to display a combined results list.

Define the databases you are interested in by using the Quick links to Cross-search categories on MetaLib home or the menu on the left hand of the Cross-search screen. You may choose to view resources categorised by subject or material type, or you can choose from a selection of highlighted resources. Alternative approaches include using the 'find databases to cross-search' function, or, once you have logged in to MetaLib you may view My databases, i.e. the databases you have previously saved.

On using one of these options, the database names will display in the right hand side of the cross-search page, where you will have the following options to link to them or, in many cases, search them from within MetaLib.

Link to database

Once you have defined the databases you are interested in, you can link to a particular database by clicking on the database name. This will take you to the database itself in another window, enabling you to use the database-specific searching options offered by the 'native' interface. In many cases linking to the database itself will give you extra search functionality with the potential for better results than those obtained by searching the database from within MetaLib.

Search

Once you have defined the databases you are interested in, you will have the option of searching one or more of these databases from within MetaLib.

Click in the tick box(es) next to the database(s) you wish to cross-search. If there are lock symbols next to any of these database titles you will need to login first using your UoB username and password. Databases that do not have an adjacent tick box cannot be cross-searched from within MetaLib.
To display more information about the database, which may include search hints, click . In some cases databases have special requirements for using them; these are indicated by icons next to the database name, and are explained in the information about the database.
Enter your search term(s) in the search box.
Click to start the search.
While MetaLib is searching, its progress is shown in a table listing the databases in which it is searching. This list shows the status of the search in each database and the number of hits found in each. You can click Cancel to stop the search and start again.
Once MetaLib has finished searching, it displays the Cross-search results. You can then browse through this results list, or click Search in the navigation bar to do another search. Note that some databases require the results to be displayed in their native interface. In this case, you need to click view results. The results are then displayed in a new window in the database itself.

Multi-field search

Multi-field search provides more options for specifying the information for which you are searching.

To access the Multi-field search, click Multi-field above the search box.
Multi-field search offers two search boxes. Enter your search term(s) in one or both search boxes and choose the field(s) you wish to search by clicking the drop down arrow, the options being All fields, Subject, Title, Author, ISSN, ISBN or Year..
If you filled in both search boxes, specify the relationship between the two elements of your search:

Select And to specify that the system should search for records containing the term in the top row and the term in the bottom row.

Select Or to specify that the system should search for records containing either the term in the top row or the term in the bottom row, or both.

Select Not to specify that the system should search for records containing the term in the top row and not containing the term in the bottom row.

Click to start the search.
While MetaLib is searching, its progress is shown in a table listing the databases in which it is searching. This list shows the status of the search in each database and the number of hits found in each. You can click the Cancel option to stop the search and start again.
Once MetaLib has finished searching, it displays the Cross-search results. You can then browse through this results list, or click Search in the navigation bar to do another search. Note that some databases require the results to be displayed in their native interface; in these cases, you need to click view results to view the results in the database itself in a new window.

Search terms:

It is not possible to give general rules for searching in MetaLib as each database can respond slightly differently, depending on its underlying structure and how the system for searching it has been configured. You may need to try a number of the alternatives shown below to get the best out of searching from within MetaLib.

Also, please note that searching a database from within MetaLib may not give you the search capabilities that you will find on the database itself.

If you wish to make a comprehensive search we suggest you compare results with a similar search on the database itself, and also investigate the other search facilities that may be available on the database.

Hints on entering search term(s):

Do not put terms in quotation marks, and avoid punctuation. Also, avoid using words such as 'a' 'an' 'the' in your search. Do not use brackets around combinations of search terms, and consider using the Multi-field search instead. The more search terms you use the more specific your search will be, with fewer results likely. To broaden your search, and probably obtain more results, use synonyms or truncate words with a question mark.

global
Should find results that mention the word 'global'
global?
A question mark (?) can be used as a wildcard, i.e. should find results that mention words beginning 'global', including global, globally, globalisation
global and warming
Should find results that mention both global AND warming
global warming
Should find results that mention both global AND warming
NOTE that in some databases this might have to be present as the phrase 'global warming'
color or colour
Should find results that mention color OR colour (or both of these words). NOTE that using truncation within a word, e.g. colo?r will fail
churchill
Should find results that mention the word 'churchill'. In some databases you may be able to specify the first name also, i.e. churchill, winston.
NOTE that in some databases this may not find results where Churchill is the author, and you will need to use the Multi-field search option, selecting the 'Author' field.

Additional hints for Multi-field search:

churchill, winston
For many databases you will need to use the Multi-field search option to search for an author, selecting the 'Author' field.
The standard format for authors' names is Last, First. However, due to variations of the standard, it may be best to try variations on the name, or to truncate it, as in churchill, w, churchill, wls, churchill, w?
NOTE that in some resources Last name, initial(s) (or initial with truncation) will not work and the full first name must be used or nothing at all.
0198526881
In the Multi-field search option and selecting the 'ISBN' field this can find results where a book has this ISBN. In some resources you will need to incorporate the hyphens, i.e. 0-19-852688-1
0143-5671
In the Multi-field search option and selecting the 'ISSN' field this can find results where a journal has this ISSN
Author: orwell AND Year: 1962
A more complex multi-field search for a combination of author and publication year

Cross-search results

Cross-search results enables you to view the results from the databases searched. The first page you will see gives you the number of search hits from each resource and the combined number. Click on the View button next to one of these to see the results. At the top of the Cross-search results page you can see the search terms for which you searched and the total number of results in this database. The results are displayed in year order, with the most recent results first. To view the results from another of the databases cross-searched click on results in other databases and select the database's name in the displayed list of databases and associated hits.

You can also view the combined results from the databases cross-searched, by clicking combined results. These combined results are displayed in batches. To add another batch of results to the list of retrieved results click Combine more at the bottom of the last page of results. The results are displayed in year order, with the most recent results first. For some databases, the results can be re-sorted by author or title, by selecting an option in the Sort by field. To go back to the database by database results, click results by database.

You can narrow or broaden the results of the query using Modify search in the menu.

You can also view a list of the Previous searches that you performed during this session in order to review them or to save them in My searches for re-use in Cross-search in future sessions.

Cross-search results can be displayed in three views: Brief View (the default view), Table View and Full View. You can toggle between the different views. Note: If you have logged in, you can set your preferred view as part of your preferences.

To browse through the results click Next or Previous to display another page, or you can Jump to a particular #record. You can set the number of results displayed per page as part of your preferences.

Brief view

Brief View provides citation information, such as the journal title, volume and page numbers for a journal article reference, in addition to the information provided in the Table View. Brief View provides the following options:

Click a Title to see the Full View of the record.
Click the database name to go to the database itself. When possible, the same record is displayed in the database's native interface.
Click to save a record to your basket. Once you have added the record to the basket, the icon changes to . Your basket is temporary storage for records that you find interesting. Later, You can move records from the basket to another My records folder, where you can save records to disk (in various formats).
Click on a Get it! button next to a record you want, to view in a new window a menu of options to get the item, such as the full text of articles or holdings information in our library catalogue.

Table view

Table View displays the records in a table, one row for each record. Table View provides the following options:

Click a Title or Record no. to see the Full View of the record.
Click the database name to go to the database itself. When possible, the same record is displayed in the database's native interface.
Click to save a record to your basket. Once you have added the record to the basket, the icon changes to . Your basket is temporary storage for records that you find interesting. Later, You can move records from the basket to another My records folder, where you can save records to disk (in various formats).
Click on a Get it! button next to a record you want, to view in a new window a menu of options to get the item, such as the full text of articles or holdings information in our library catalogue.

Full view

Full View provides the full information for the record, on an individual page for each record, and with the words you searched for highlighted.

Click on a Get it! button next to a record you want, to view in a new window a menu of options to get the item, such as the full text of articles or holdings information in our library catalogue.
Click to save a record to your basket. Once you have added the record to the basket, the icon changes to . Your basket is temporary storage for records that you find interesting. Later, You can move records from the basket to another My records folder, where you can save records to disk or email them.
Click , to save the record to a file on your PC. A record format window is displayed from which you can select the format of the file to be saved. The options are as follows:
- Standard: Saves the record as a standard text file in a format similar to that displayed on the screen.
- MARC21 format: Saves the record with MARC21 cataloguing tags.
- Reference manager: Saves the record in the format of the reference managing software that is installed on your computer: EndNote, ProCite or ReferenceManager.

Modify search

To access, click Cross-search in the navigation bar and then Modify search.

You can modify your search results by combining them with another search term. To narrow your search, select And or Not; to broaden your search select Or. Then select the field type to search in and enter the newsearch term(s). Click Go to initiate the modified search.

Previous searches

To access, click Cross-search in the navigation bar and then Previous searches.

It displays a list of the previous searches that you performed during this session. This list is erased when you logout or the session ends. To store queries for future use, add them to your My searches.

You can do any of the following in Previous searches:

Click a Query to redisplay the results of this query.
Click Databases to see the list of databases that were searched.
Click to store this query in My searches so that you can run it again in the future, manually, or define it as an Alert which is run automatically with results emailed to an enail address you specify. Previous Searches are not saved when a session ends.
Click to delete all the previous searches in this session.

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