What is a "title search" or "author search"?

Many times patrons will need help finding a specific title ("title search") or books by a specific author ("author search")

Question: Do you have the book Accounting: Introduction to Financial Accounting by Henry Dauderis and David Annand?

Question: Do you have books by Dean Koontz?

A simple title and/or author search of the library's collections is all that is needed (see examples below).

Helpful hints:

  • Verify information:  If you don't find the title, make sure the person has the correct title and/or author and that you've spelled everything correctly. Google the title and/or author to verify that they exist and to make sure that you spelled them correctly.
  • Is it a textbook?:  If it is, check to see if it is on reserve for the person's course.  Do so by looking in the Course Reserves system under the professor's name and course.

See the Course Reserves training page to learn more about how to search the course reserves system.

If you can't find the book, refer the person to a librarian.

Title Search

Search for a title using Penfield Library's "Search Our Collections" search box located on the library's homepage at https://ww1.oswego.edu/library. Use the "Search Our Collections" box to locate books, articles, video, and audio materials purchased by the library.

Question: Do you have the book Accounting: Introduction to Financial Accounting by Henry Dauderis and David Annand?

  1. Begin by selecting the item format. In this case we select "All Books". 

Dropdown menu associated with the main searchbox on the library homepage, set to the "All Books" option

  1. Now enter the title of the book.

Searching the main search box on the library homepage for the text: Accounting: Introduction to Financial Accounting

  1. There were 998 results when we searched just the title (see Simple Search below). Adding the author's name produces more precise results. The results are now narrowed to 1 result (see Advanced Search below). 

Simple Search:
Results screen with 928 results

Advanced Search
Click on the Advanced Search link/button next to your search box, and add the author's last name to the second row of your advanced search (connected to the first row by a dropdown that says AND).  

Shows the Advanced Search options expanded.  The second row of the search says AND Author/Creator contains dauderis

Because the single result we got from this search is labeled as being a Review rather than a Book, we know with certainty that Penfield Library does not own a copy of this book.  (We can still get access to it, though!  You'll learn about that in the Interlibrary Loan section of this training.)

Author Search

Sometimes a patron is interested in finding books written by a specific author. Again, we'll use the "Find Research Materials" search located on the library's home page at https://ww1.oswego.edu/library/ 

Question: Do you have books by Dean Koontz?

  1. Begin by selecting the item format. In this case we select "All Books". 

Main library search box, selecting "All Books" from the associated dropdown menu

  1. Now enter the author's name.  Order doesn't matter--searching for Dean Koontz is just as good as searching for Koontz, Dean (and vice versa)

Main library search box, containing the text: dean koontz

  1. There are currently 48 books in Penfield's collection when we search for Dean Koontz (see Simple Search). These results include both books about the author and books written by the author. To locate books written by the author, use the following fields to narrow your search results (see Advanced Search).
    • Author/Creator
    • contains exact phrase
    • Material Type = Books

Simple Search:

Simple Search for Dean Koontz, with 48 results

Advanced Search:

Advanced Search for Author/Creator contains exact phrase dean koontz, with Material Type set to Books.  Gave 35 results.

Demonstration

Students apply these skills to:

1) Locate an article by Megan Oakleaf and

2) Locate an article called, "Was it Worth It? Peer Reference Consultants Reflect on Their Work".