Search 2.0 - how was it for you?

Here we are one week into the launch of NLH Search 2.0 and currently the stress meter in the KLS reads "Exceedingly Anxious" (see image). There are a few bugs to fix and a number of peculiarities to get used to.

In particular at present our electronic and paper journal holdings are generally missing. You can still see these in the Dialog system or by checking MyJournals.

For now we recommend that you stick with using the old Dialog system for at least a couple more weeks.

For those of you starting to explore Search 2.0 (something for the weekend perhaps?) here are some tips -

Stick to searching one database at a time so you can use the thesaurus.

The default search is just on the title field - use the drop down box to select Title and Abstract or All fields for a more sensitive search. Just searching the title is good if you are trying to find a known article.

Use "" to search for a phrase. Handy again if you are trying to check a reference or you want two or more words only when used directly next to each other.

Use * to represent 0 or many characters e.g. pregnan* or child*

If you put in more than one search word Search 2.0 will search for articles with all of the requested words in any order. Boolean logic fans will recognise this as a default AND.

That should be enough to get you started. I am keen to hear of any experiences you have with Search 2.0 - positive or negative.

(C) Image Creative Commons