Simple search  |  Advanced search  |  Advanced search - title  |  Index term and thematic search  | Tips for effective searching  |  Linking search terms / boolean operator  

Ask your librarian  |  Acquisition request

The catalogue searches all fields simultaneously for the terms entered, for example author, title/keyword, place of publication/publisher, subject (keyword), comments, available tables of contents, etc.

* replaces any number of characters.?
replaces exactly one character.

Multiple terms entered side by side are automatically linked with the logical operator AND, i.e., only results in which all of the search terms entered appear in one or more different fields are displayed.

Examples:

bamberg* middle ages
Result: Not only titles about Bamberg in the Middle Ages, but also, for example, titles about the Middle Ages (in general) that were published in Bamberg.

bamberg* touris*
Result: Not only titles related to the terms bamberg and tourism, but also to bamberger, bambergs, bambergensis, etc., as well as to tourists, tourist etc.

Use meaningful and significant words from the title or subtitle (no articles, prepositions, conjunctions). Please pay attention to the grammatical form of the keywords. However, you do not need to consider upper and lower case letters.

A combination with the author field is useful when searching for a specific title.

Terms in quotation marks are searched for as a phrase in the order entered (phrase search).

* replaces any number of characters
(With fairy tale*, you will find fairy tales as well as fairy tale books, fairy tale characters, etc. With *fairy tale, you will also find, for example, literary fairy tales).

Examples:

Title/keyword = introduction archaeology
Title/keyword = Bamberg Franconian Forest
Title/keyword = ‘social movement’
Title/keyword = language acquisition child*

In the Online Catalogue and in databases, you can look for names and titles. In addition, it is also possible to use index terms or to do a thematic search.

Your keyword or thematic search will only yield results if the sought-out keyword (e.g. "Organisation") is listed in the bibliography. For this reason, you should also search for English terms or the plural (e.g. organisation or organisations).

Index terms point towards the content of a paper in academic terms (e.g. "cardiologist", not “heart doctor”, or English geographic names e.g., "Milan", instead of "Milano"). These terms are assigned by librarians and thus enable search queries independent of the language and the title of the document. In the Online Catalogue, index terms are listed below the bibliographic details.

If you do an Advanced Search in the Online Catalogue, you can also directly look for index terms or have them displayed in the index term list.

In some cases, your search will not yield satisfactory results. The number of results is too large, too small or too unspecific. There can be various reasons for this. The following tips will help you identify sources of error and achieve satisfactory search results.

If the list of results does not contain any results, you have the following options:

• Change your search query
• Use the form "Ask your librarian"

Further search tips

The spelling of one or more search terms is incorrect.
Tip: Check your entry for correct spelling.
Please also note the distinction between upper and lower case letters, umlauts and special characters, as the internal conversion of these characters (e.g. from ö to oe) may not work in the database you have selected.
 

There are alternative spellings for the search term.
This phenomenon occurs, for example, with proper names in non-Latin languages. Example: ‘Djihad/Dschihad’ or ‘Beijing/Peking’, but also with search terms that are spelled differently in old and new German spelling, or whose singular and plural stems differ from each other.
Tip: Enter the term truncated (abbreviated) or by linking it with OR.

The selected search term is too general.
Consequence: The number of results is too large.
Tip: Refine your search.
Example: If entering the surname ‘Weber’ produces too many results, add the first name ‘Max’ and, if necessary, the keyword “sociology”, each with an AND link; if, on the other hand, you are looking for the composer, enter ‘Carl Maria’ as the first name and ‘music’ as the keyword.

Select logical sub-terms as search terms and repeat your search query for each term if necessary. Manage the relevant results in the watch list.

Search for the term in the ‘Keyword’ field instead of the ‘Title’ field

The search term you have chosen is too specific or not common enough.
Result: The number of results is too small or too unspecific.
Tip: Select other search terms with the same or similar meaning, i.e. synonyms or logical umbrella terms.
Example: Search for ‘real estate’ instead of ‘apartments’.

Repeat your search query for each term (or link the terms with OR) and manage the results using the watch list.

You can use this form to

• send a general question or message to the University Library that you were unable to resolve using the online help, for example.
  Example: "Why can't I click on the xyz database?"
• ask a specific question about your previous search. 
  Example: “I searched for the search term xyz in all databases, but never got any results. What could be the reason?”

You can use this form to suggest a title for the Bamberg University Library to purchase.

Please fill out the form as accurately and completely as possible. This will help you obtain the desired title more quickly, make the library staff's work easier and avoid unnecessary queries.