Example: Keyword Search in OSU Libraries Catalog

The words you enter into the keyword search are searched against the title and subject sections (among others) of each record in the library's catalog. If entered together as a phrase, the words will be searched together, as a phrase. Words can be joined with an "and" to broaden the search to include both search words, but not necessarily together.

For example, if the words endangered species were entered as a keyword search, the computer searches through titles, subjects, and tables of contents (where available) for all the catalogued books and other items that include the words endangered species somewhere in the record.

Above the list of results is a grey bar highlighting the words "KEYWORDS (1-50 of 1199)." This is followed by a list of the first 50 titles of the 1199 items.

Do we really want to scan through lists that long? Luckily, we have several options for limiting the results.

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