Power searches in SUNLINK use Boolean logic. Power Searching uses the following words as Boolean operators:
and
or
not

and

And is used to narrow a search by limiting the search results just to those titles that contain all search terms. You can type and between all search terms, but the and operator is assumed any time you have more than one search term listed in one or more search boxes.

For example:

  • a search with the terms dogs cats in the Title search box would result in a listing of titles that contained both the words dogs and cats in the title.

  • a search with dickens in the Author search box and cities in the Title search box would result in a listing of titles by any author with Dickens in his/her name and cities in the title.

or

Or is used to broaden a search by including all titles that have one or the other of the search terms.

For example:

  • a search with the terms dogs or cats in the Title search box would result in a listing of titles that contain either the word dogs or cats in the title.

  • a search with dickens or cities in the Quick Search box would result in a listing of titles that contained either the words dickens or cities in any of the author, title, contents, or subject fields.

not

Not is used to narrow a search by excluding any titles that contain the term following the not.

For example:

  • a search with the terms dogs not cats in the Title search box would result in a listing of titles that contain the word dogs but not the word cats in the title.

  • a search with dickens not cities in the Quick Search box would result in a listing of titles that contained dickens but not cities in any of the author, title, contents, or subject fields.

Hint: Since all SUNLINK search screens are keyword based and Boolean sensitive, do not type in or or not unless you intend to modify the search by Boolean logic! For example, a title search typed death be not proud will find any titles with death but not proud. Another example, a search on trick or treat will find all titles with trick or treat.