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Geography & Map Library
015 Student Building
710 E. Kirkwood Ave. Bloomington IN 47405

phone: 812-855-1108
fax:     812-855-4919

Help with searching

1. Search one keyword

This search is fast and can search the whole database for the results of one word or a phrase. An example of a phrase search would be "Terre Haute". "Terra" and "Haute" would be search in the database as adjacent terms.

2. Search two keywords with "AND"

The Boolean AND command is used in order to require that all search terms be present on the web pages listed in results. It can also be described as a Match All search.

Search Term Results
Graphic example
Indiana 400
Ohio 100
Indiana AND Ohio 75

3. Search two keywords with "OR"

The Boolean OR command is used in order to allow any of the specified search terms to be present on the web pages listed in results. It can also be described as a Match Any search. You use the command like this:

Search Term Results
Graphic example
Lafayette 50
Bloomington 100
Lafayette OR Bloomington 135


4. Searching only web documents using the keyword search

Over one hundred maps have an online version. You can search these by entering in "http" in the search box. This only works with the keyword and boolean searching.

Category Searching

The following is a list of the categories that can be searched in the database. Any or all of the fields can potentially contain search terms to narrow your search.

Category Description
Map Title The title given to the map
Map Producer Name of the person or group that produced the map
Note/Abstract Additional comments and discriptions about the map
Year Year searches within the imprint field.
  • The user is only allowed to type in a four digit date (ex: 1994) within this field. Any other variation will yield an error message
Call Number Specific numbers used to physically access the maps from the IUB library


Truncation

The search engine is designed to automatically truncate any of the terms you type in the search fields. The following are a list of examples:

Term Search String Results
6 letters "Indian" Indian Any records with the words Indian, Indiana or Indianapolis
1970s 197 Results with all years in the 1970s

Notes on truncation:
Truncation using the chareacters * and ? will not work correctly with this search engine.

Avoiding Truncation

It is possible to search for Indian wihthout also searching records with Indiana or Indianapolis. This must be done with the use of spaces. The follow is a list of examples:

** The underscore represents a space (don't use underscores while searching!)
Term Search String Results
Indian Indian_ Only results with Indian
Indiana Indiana_ Only results with Indiana
Indianapolis Indianapolis_ Only results with Indianapolis

Error Descriptions

It's possible to get errors when searching for maps. The following key will provide answers to when you get an error and what it means:

Error Message Description
Invalid Characters Too many characters or the wrong types of characterswere entered. Special characters are not allowed in some fields. An example would be "%" or "#"
No results Search could not find any results with your search terms. Try using Boolean "or" to broaden the search if doing a keyword search. Also see Developing a Search Strategy located on this page for more assistance


Developing a Search Strategy

In order to search the web effectively - you must 1st formulate a search strategy! Some things to think about:

  1. Formulate the research question and its scope
  2. Identify the important concepts within the question
  3. Identify search terms to describe those concepts
  4. Consider synonyms and variations of those terms
  5. Prepare your search logic - the way in which you and the search engine combine your search terms.

The 5 Step Search Strategy
  1. Analyze your topic to decide where to begin
  2. Pick the right starting place
  3. Learn as you go and VARY your approach with what you learn
  4. Don't bog down in any strategy that doesn't work
  5. Return to previous strategies better informed