  NISC's Web Search Service
www.nisc.com (Access thru IP filtering and/or password)
BiblioLine is a straightforward yet sophisticated approach to online searching via the
internet. Based on ROMWright™, the powerful search engine used throughout NISC's
products, BiblioLine excels with an attractive and easy to use interface designed for the
world wide web. BiblioLine was engineered to support patrons with various levels of search
experience and always provide relevant, fast results with the most recent information
presented first. Using advanced technology, NISC is ready to lead the way to improved
information access on the Web with these important features:
Search Modes to accomodate users of all levels:
- QUICK mode provides a Basic Search index for easy retrieval based on
the most significant descriptive and textual elements (fields) along with popular
"limit" fields such as author, publication year or language.
- ADVANCED offers distinctive fill-in-the-blank field searching. Search
each database field separately or in any combination; use Boolean logic to combine search
fields.
- EXPERT is an innovative full-powered update of the traditional online
set-searching format. The EXPERT mode features concise design and full editing capability
of the entire search strategy across search sets. A "search details" box off to
the side provides rich insight into how each component of your search strategy impacts
your overall search objectives.
Highlights:
- You can save search strategies (simple or complicated, in any search
mode) and easily retrieve them for later use.
- Online indexes and thesauri (if applicable to the database) present
many of the variations on your search terms.
- Numerous search operators are availble to construct and refine search
strategies.
- Multiple record display format options including title summaries,
bibliographic citations, full records with abstracts etc.
- Sophisticated record sorting options available when you need them
during record display. Sort records by publication year, author, database, title etc.
- You can mark records for download or display.
- Quickly send search results right to your email address.
- Language interface choices (currently Spanish and English).
- An elaborate online help system.
- Well designed and easy-to-use screens with the options you most
frequently select on each and every screen.
- An Options Menu that allows you to customize many aspects of the
user-interface.
- Many more flexible options are available with BiblioLine offering
increased functionality over our competitors' web-based services.
Simply, all the great features you have come to expect from
NISC at a reasonable cost! A powerful search & retrieval system that
works hand in hand with good, quality databases to provide the relevant results you need!
Requirements:
- Web Browser, such as Microsoft Explorer® or Netscape Navigator®.
Compare BiblioLine to other web-based search services and see
the difference yourself! We welcome the challenge!
SEARCH OPERATORS and TIPS
Search Operators
| Operators |
When to Use |
| Boolean |
and, or, not |
| Combine search terms with Boolean operators to
make your search broader (or) or narrower (and). Examples |
|
| Wildcard |
*, ? |
| The multi-character (*)
and single character (?)
wildcards can be used within and at the end of words to search for word variants thereby
broadening your search. Examples |
|
| Proximity |
adjX, nearX |
| Proximity searching is helpful when you are
interested in subjects that are topically related but are not necessarily represented as a
natural language phrase. The operator chosen depends upon whether you need search terms to
be found in the same order as listed in your search statement (adjX) or in the same or reverse order of what you
originally specified (nearX). Examples |
|
| Range |
<, >, <=, >=, to, thru |
| Use range operators to specify a numerical or
alphanumeric range, in order to restrict a search. Examples |
|
| Parentheses |
( ) |
| Parentheses group words to establish or
reinforce the intended order of processing. Search terms and operators within parentheses
are processed separately as a unit and then combined with the remaining search strategy. Examples |
|
| All/None |
all, none |
| Use these two operators to restrict your
searches through the inclusion (all)
or exclusion (none) of records which either
do or do not contain data in a particular field. Examples |
|
| Update |
update |
| Restrict search results to just updated records
by using the update search operator. Examples |
|
Boolean Operators
| |
Sample
Search |
Results
(records must contain) |
| and |
habitat and management |
both habitat(s) and management |
| or |
man or woman |
man (men), woman
(women) or both |
| not |
mouse not computer |
mouse (mice) but not also
computer(s) |
Back
to Search Operator Table
Wildcard Operators
| |
Sample Search |
Results (records must contain) |
*
(truncation) |
employ* |
employ, employee, employer, employed, employable, employment |
| ? |
wind? |
wind, winds,
windy |
Back
to Search Operator Table
Proximity Operators
| |
Sample Search |
Results (records must
contain) |
adjX
(X=numeric value) |
bilingual adj3 education |
search terms within three words
of each other, same order, bilingual first |
nearX
(X=numeric value) |
environment near3 pollution |
search terms within three words
of each other, in any order |
Back to Search Operator Table
Range Operators
| |
Sample Search |
Results (records must contain) |
| > |
>1985 |
e.g., Pub. year field - greater
than 1985 |
| <
|
<1985 |
e.g., Pub. year field - less than
1985 |
| >= |
>=1985 |
e.g., Pub. year field - greater
than or equal to 1985 |
| <= |
<=1985 |
e.g., Pub. year field - less than
or equal to 1985 |
| to |
1985 to 1996 |
e.g., Pub. year field - 1985-1996,
inclusive |
Back to Search Operator Table
Parentheses
| |
Sample Search |
Results (records must contain) |
| (
) |
(child near(rearing or raising))
or parenting |
child near 5 words
rearing child near 5 words raising, or
parenting |
Back
to Search Operator Table
All/None
| |
Sample Search |
Results (records must contain) |
| all/none |
all none |
finds all records which use (all)/exclude (none) field |
Back to Search Operator Table
Update
| |
Sample Search |
Results (records must contain) |
| update |
update
and behavior |
searches only new records for behavior |
Back to Search Operator Table
Search Tips:
- Multiple words are treated as a phrase. The only
consideration is whether the order of the phrase words should be varied or exact in the
results. Example: fire engine.
Searches fire engine if word order is
exact. If word order is varied fire engine also searches engine fire.
(use Proximity Operators)
- Searches are not case sensitive. You can type searches
in all uppercase, all lowercase and/or combination of uppercase and lowercase.
- The following common words are considered to be
"noise words" and therefore have no significant retrieval value. These words
referred to as stopwords can be used in your search strategies as placeholders only.
Examples: and, an, as, at, but, if, in, is, it, my, no, of, on, per, shall, the etc.
- The following punctuation marks have no retrieval
value and are ignored during searching: period (.), comma (,), semicolon (;), colon (:),
forward slash (/), backward slash (\), etc.
- Quotation marks can be used to disable automatic
plural and international spellings and compound searching. For instance, searching "centre"
will not automatically include centres, center, and centers.
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