IUCAT

This page describes the search features supported by IUCAT.  The Basic Search box describes foundational search tools in IUCAT, while Advanced Search discusses more sophisticated capabilities.

The main search bar is centrally located in the new IUCAT.  This search box permits Boolean and phrase searches; however, wildcards are NOT supported (the system automatically searches for relevant plurality, prefixes and suffixes).   

The drop box to the right of the search bar defaults to All Fields, but you can also click the down arrow which will open a dropbox enabling searches specifically within the title, author, or subject fields.  To clear a search completely, just click the Start Over hyperlink beneath the search bar.

Filters are a primary feature of the new IUCAT.  All of the available filters are listed on the left side of the screen.  To expand, click the + tab.  If you don't see the particular descriptor you are looking for after the initial expansion, check to see if there is a "more>>" link at the bottom right of the list.

Pro Tip: To see resources that are only available electronically, check the "Online Only" box at the top of the filter list.

In IUCAT, you can also perform more specific and advanced searches.  To toggle into more additional search options, click the "Advance Search" link on the right, below the main search box:

Searchable fields in the Advanced Search option include:

• All Fields
• Title
• Author
• Subject
• ISBN/ISSN
• Title Series
• Kinsey Subjects
• Call Number
• Publisher
• Publication Year

The search techniques you can use on the main search page will still work and some additional tricks are available when performing an advanced search:

• Select "match all" to require all fields.
• Select "match any" to find at least one field.
• Combine keywords and attributes to find specific items.

The main search page of IUCAT lists a number of search tips:

• Use quotation marks to search as a phrase
• Ex: "criminal law"
• Use + before a term to make it required
• Without this, your results could include items matching only some of your search terms
• Ex: +assault +battery
• Use - before a word or phrase to exclude it
• Ex: assault -battery
• Use OR, AND and NOT to create complex boolean logic
• OR brings back results with any of your search terms (ex: assault OR battery)
• AND brings back only results with both/all of your search terms (ex: assault AND battery)
• NOT brings back only results that do not contain designated terms (ex: assault NOT battery)
• These connectors are case-sensitive - make sure to use them in full caps.
• You cannot use truncation or wildcards in IUCAT
• Word-stemming is done automatically (ex: liable would bring back results with liable and liability)

You can find much more written about IUCAT in the UITS Knowledge Base.

Catalog records are distinguished by format in IUCAT, so that you can tell whether the item you're looking at is a book, an online resource, a serial, etc.  There are many format types in IUCAT:

Periodical Title Search: To find periodicals in the new IUCAT, (1) select "Serial" under the Format filter option, (2) select "Title" from the drop down field box and (3) type the title of the periodical, and run your search.

Pro tip: Want to retrieve periodicals available electronically?  No problem!  Just check the "Online Only" box and run your serial search.