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Discovery is a new, easier way to search the CSU Library Catalog, CSU Digital Repository and CSU Libraries Website.
Search Fields: Search by title, author, subject or other fields.
Description of Fields: Definitions and examples of fields to search, browse, limit and sort by.
Boolean Operators: Use AND, OR, NOT and + to refine your search.
Other Search Syntax: Use phrase, wildcard, fuzzy and proximity searches.
Advanced Search: Use multiple search fields and limits.
Browsing: Browse by topic, author or another field instead of typing a search term.
Limiting Search Results: Narrow your search results to a topic, author, format, or location.
Relevance and Sorting: Learn how search results are ordered, and sort your search results.
My Account: Log in, view checked out items, renew and request items, and view and edit favorite items.
Saving Information: View a citation, bookmark or email a page, or get RSS feeds of search results.
Availability: Locate an item and find how to borrow, request or recall it.
Other Sources: Use another library catalog or source to repeat your search or get an item.
Search Tools: Use Discovery from several search pages and browser plugins.
How Do I ... ?: Get answers to frequently asked questions about using Discovery.

Search Fields

Search All Fields to find words anywhere in items.

To narrow your search, you can search by one of these fields:
Title, Journal Title, Author, Subject, Call Number or ISBN/ISSN.

Simply select the search field from the drop-down menu next to the search box.

In Advanced Search, you can also search by these fields:
Author begins, Author exact, Publisher, Publication Year, Series, Format, Library Location, Language, Table of Contents, Full Text, OCLC Number, URL and ID.

Use Advanced Search for searching multiple fields at once.
Example: Title=Hamlet&Author=Shakespeare

See Description of Fields for details of the search and limit fields.

Source: Source of data for original item; CSU Library Catalog (Sage): A database of books, journals and other materials at Colorado State University Libraries and online; CSU Digital Repository: Research, scholarship, and creative works of CSU faculty, students, and academic staff; CSU Libraries Website: Web pages on the Colorado State University Libraries website
Topic or Subject: Library of Congress subject headings (LCSH); Examples: agriculture, education
Author: Individual authors and organizations; Example: Shakespeare, William 1564-1616; Browsing does not include corporate authors or meeting names.; When searching by author, it may help to put last name first, especially when using "Author begins" or "Author exact" in advanced search, or to find an author's first name if you only have a first initial.
Format: Material type; Examples: books, e-books, journals/serials, maps, scores, posters, videos
Library Location: Building and place where the item is physically located at Colorado State University Libraries; Examples: At the Libraries, Morgan Library, the Internet, storage, reference, branch libraries
Call Number: Library of Congress call numbers and their subjects; Examples: G - Geography, Anthropology, Recreation; TK - Electrical and Nuclear Engineering
Language: Language of original work or its translation; Examples: English, French, German, Spanish
Genre: A type of work; Examples: legislative report, historical fiction
Geographic Area: A region, country, state or location which is a subject of the item; Examples: Africa, United States, Colorado
Publisher: The company or government office that published the item; Examples: McGraw-Hill, U.S. Government Printing Office
Publication Year: The year of initial or later publication of the item; Examples: 1925, 2000
Title: The title or subtitle of an item; Example: Hamlet; Exact title matches and phrase matches will usually appear first in search results.
Journal Title: The title of a journal or periodical, but not a serial, annual or series; Examples: Science, Nature
Series: The title of a series of items
Table of Contents: A list of the book's contents, found on the Table of Contents tab of a catalog item
Full Text: The full text of the document, which is searchable in Web pages and many Digital Repository items.
Digital Repository Collection: A group of items in the CSU Digital Repository; Examples: CSU Theses and Dissertations, University Historic Photograph Collection
Subsite: A group of pages in the CSU Libraries Website; Examples: Archives and Special Collections, Research Guides
ISBN (International Standard Book Number): A number used to uniquely identify a book; Example: 847888615X
ISSN (International Standard Serial Number): An 8-digit number used to uniquely identify a print or electronic periodical publication (journal or serial); Example: 0028-0836
OCLC number: A number used to uniquely identify a number in WorldCat, a union catalog of over 10,000 libraries; Example: 44261035
URL: A Web address associated with an item; This may be the full text of the item, a table of contents, or related information; Example: http://lib.colostate.edu/
ID: Letters and numbers to uniquely identify an item; Catalog IDs start with .b, Digital Repository items start with DigiTool or CONTENTdm, and Web pages start with http.; Example: .b27543705

Boolean Operators

Boolean operators allow terms to be combined with logic operators.

The following operators are allowed: AND, OR, and NOT.

Note: Boolean operators must be ALL CAPS.

AND

The AND operator is the default conjunction operator. This means that if there is no Boolean operator between two terms, the AND operator is used. The AND operator matches records where both terms exist anywhere in the field of a record.

To search for records that contain "economics" and "Keynes", use the query:

economics AND Keynes

or simply

economics Keynes

OR

The OR operator links two terms and finds a matching record if either of the terms exist in a record.

To search for documents that contain either economics or Keynes, use the query:

economics OR Keynes

When using OR with multiple words, you may need to put quotes around each set of words.

"Myxobolus cerebralis" OR "whirling disease"

NOT

The NOT operator excludes records that contain the term after NOT.

To use the NOT operator, go to Advanced Search and change AND to NOT in a menu.

To search for documents that contain "economics" but not "Keynes", use All Fields economics NOT All Fields Keynes:

More Information

Boolean Searching Tips

Boolean Tutorial

Other Search Syntax

Case

Search is not case sensitive. You do not need to capitalize your search terms, except for Boolean Operators.

For example, the following two searches are identical:

united states

United States

Phrase Searches

Use quotes to search for exact phrases. Example:

"united states"

Word Stemming

Word stems are used by default.

For example, this search will find items containing work, works, worker or working:

working

By default, the exact, non-stemmed versions of words are weighted higher than stemmed versions, so they will appear higher in search results. This works well for most searches.

To control how stemming works, click Advanced Search and select one of the Stemming options.

To prevent stemming, click No. This will often give fewer, more exact results.

Stemming can be completely prevented when searching Title, Author, Subject and Series fields.
Stemming can be reduced when searching All Fields but cannot be completely prevented.

To give stemmed and non-stemmed versions equal weight, click Yes.

Wildcard Searches

To perform a single character wildcard search use the ? symbol.

For example, to search for "text" or "test" you can use the search:

te?t

To perform a wildcard search that matches multiple characters (0 or more), use the * symbol.

For example, to search for test, tests or tester, you can use the search:

test*

This may be useful to save typing a long word, or if you do not know the exact spelling of a word.

You can also use the wildcard searches in the middle of a term.

te*t

Note: You cannot use a * or ? symbol as the first character of a search.

Fuzzy Searches

Use the tilde ~ symbol at the end of a Single word Term. For example to search for a term similar in spelling to "roam" use the fuzzy search:

roam~

This search will find terms like foam and roams.

An additional parameter can specify the required similarity. The value is between 0 and 1, with a value closer to 1 only terms with a higher similarity will be matched. For example:

roam~0.8

The default that is used if the parameter is not given is 0.5.

Proximity Searches

Use the tilde ~ symbol at the end of a Multiple word Term. For example, to search for economics and keynes that are within 10 words apart:

"economics Keynes"~10

Boosting a Term

To apply more value to a term, you can use the ^ character. For example, you can try the following search:

economics Keynes^5

Which will give more value to the term "Keynes"

Advanced Search

To use advanced search, click the Advanced link next to the Search button.

See Description of Fields for details of the search and limit fields.

Search For

See Search Fields for a list of fields you can search.

You can search multiple fields at once. Example: Title=Hamlet&Author=Shakespeare

See Boolean Operators for combining search terms with AND, OR and NOT.

Limit To

You can limit to one or more sources (Library Catalog, Digital Repository, and/or Colorado State University Libraries Website).

Use a range of publication dates by entering a year in the From and To boxes.

You can leave either or both boxes blank, e.g. From 2005 to (blank) will find all items published in the year 2005 or later.
You can also click the "since 2005" link to save typing.

To search only items that are illustrated or full text, select Yes below Illustrated Items or Full Text Items.

To prevent word stemming, click No below Stemming.

Click a call number, format, location and/or language to limit your search.

To choose multiple values for any of these limits, hold down the Ctrl or Shift key while clicking.
Locations and languages are sorted by the number of items in the catalog. Click the sort button to sort alphabetically.

Browsing

To browse, go to the Discovery home page by clicking Start Over.

Browse Fields

You can browse by any of the search limit fields:
Topic, Author, Format, Library Location, Language, and Publication Year.

Click any of the Source Limits to browse by fields in each source. You can:

Browse Library Catalog items by Call Number, Genre, Geographic Area or Publisher.
Browse Digital Repository items by Collection.
Browse pages on the Colorado State University Libraries Website by Subsite.

See Description of Fields for details of these fields.

You can also use a blank search box to Browse All Items.

Browse Values

Click a field such as topic to see the top 100 values for that field (based on number of items in the catalog).

The number of items in Discovery for that value is displayed in parentheses next to the value.
For example, there are over 6,000 items with topic African Americans.

Click a value such as African Americans to browse items for that value.

Click the

button in the upper right corner to close the menu.

Browsing Related Items

Each item has 10 Similar Items listed in the left column. Click any item to view it.

Click on an author's name in search results or an item to list books by that author.

Click on a subject of an item to search for items with that subject.

Click a link in the Refine your search section in the left column to limit search results to a field value.; You can limit by more than one field.; Example: Format=Books&Library Location=Morgan&Language=English
Viewing Limits: Click to view the top field 30 values for your search.; Click Sort to sort the values alphabetically.; Click Sort to sort by number of items.; Click to hide the values.
Removing Limits: You can see the currently applied limits in the Results are limited to: section.; Each limit has a red next to it. Click a limit to remove it, or click Remove all limits.
Search Limit Fields: You can limit your search by Publication Year, Topic, Author, Format, Library Location and Language.; You can limit Library Catalog items by Call Number, Genre and Geographic Area.; You can limit Digital Repository items by Collection.; You can limit CSU Libraries Website pages by Subsite.
Limiting by Publication Year: Use a range of publication years by entering a year in the From and To boxes.; Example: From 2000 To 2009.; You can leave either or both boxes blank.; Example: From 2000 to (blank) will find all items published in the year 2000 or later.; You can also click the "since 2000" link to save typing.

Relevance and Sorting

Discovery uses a combination of factors to order search results.

Sorting

In search results, you can sort the results by selecting a field from the Sort by: menu.

You can sort by Relevance+Date, Relevance, Date, Call Number, Author, Title or ID.

See Description of Fields for explanations of Date, Call Number, Author and Title.

Relevance+Date

Relevance+Date is the default sort order if you have entered words in the search box.

Items are sorted by relevance (see below) but items with recent publication dates are boosted higher in search results.

Relevance

Relevance is determined by the search field and by stemming.

All Fields searches will search these fields and weight them in the following order:

Title fields
Author and subject fields
Series, publication and contents fields
Collection, identifier numbers, URLs, format, language, location and all other fields

Title searches weight these title fields in the following order:

Exact full title
Exact brief title
Brief title starts with
Exact phrase in brief title
Exact phrase in full title
Words anywhere in full title
Phrase or words in alternate title, series, or table of contents titles
For example, a search for
```
war and peace
```
will rank items with exactly the full title war and peace highest and show them first in search results.

Author searches will search primary authors, additional authors, and authors listed in the table of contents.

Subject searches will search topic, geographic, genre and era fields.

Date

Publication Date is the default sort order when there is no search term in the search box, e.g. when browsing from Discovery home.

ID

ID is the identifier of a record. Higher IDs are shown first and generally indicate more recently catalogued items.

The source and format of the ID depends on the source of the data.

For Library Catalog records, the ID is the bibliographic number.
For Digital Repository records, the ID is a locally assigned, persistent number called the PID.
For Colorado State University Libraries Web pages, the ID is the URL of the page.

If you need to sort by ID, it will probably help to limit your results to a single source.

Use My Account to view checked out items, renew and request items, and view and edit favorite items.
Log In: To log in to My Account, click the button in the upper left corner below the Discovery logo, type your last name, CSU ID and Sage PIN, and click Login.; Your last name is not case-sensitive.; Your CSU ID is a 9-digit number that appears on your CSU ID card (or CSU + 6 digits on community borrower cards).; Your Sage PIN is 5 to 30 letters and/or digits.; If you have never logged in to Discovery or Sage before, click My Record Login, leave the PIN blank, and you will be asked to create a PIN.
My Profile: When you first log in, the My Profile screen shows your name, address, phone number and e-mail address.; You can use the links on the right to change your PIN, address, phone number or e-mail address.; You can also see the number of items you have checked out, requested and recalled, your overdue items and fines if any, and the number of favorites you have saved.
My Checked Out Items: My Checked Out Items lists books and other materials you have checked out.; To order the items by the due date, click "Sort by Due Date".; To renew one or more items, check one or more boxes next to items and click "Renew Selected".; To renew all your items, click "Renew All".
My Requests/Holds: My Requests/Holds lists items that you have requested or recalled.; To order the items by the date you requested them, click "Sort by Hold Requested Date".; To cancel one or more requests or holds, check one or more boxes next to items and click "Update Selected".; To cancel all your requests or holds, click "Cancel All".
My Favorites: To save an item to your account, click the button in search results or item view.; Note: You will be asked to log in if necessary.; To organize your favorites, you can add tags and notes to an item.; Tags are often single words, but tags can contain one or more words.; For a multiple-word tag such as "web design", include the tag in quotes.; If you don't want to add tags or notes right away, just click Save.; In the left column of the My Favorites screen are a list of all your tags.; Click one or more tags to view only items with those tags.; Click a red X to remove one of these limits, or "Remove all limits" to view all your favorites again.; Click Edit below an item to change your tags and notes.; Click Delete to delete the favorite. Your favorites will remain in your account until you delete them.
Log Out: Click the button to log out of your account in both Discovery and Sage.; Logging out also clears your search history for privacy.; For the security of your account, you will be automatically logged out after 10 minutes of inactivity.

Save Information

Bookmark & Share

Bookmark link appears in the footer of every page, and at the bottom of search results and items.

Click the link to see many options for saving the page, including:

Add the page to My Favorites or bookmark the page using your browser.
Bookmark the page using an online service such as Delicious, Google or Facebook.
Email the page to others or yourself.
Print the page.

RSS Feed

Click the

RSS Feed button on the bottom of a search results page to save the search in your feed reader and watch for new items.

First sort your search results by record number or date so that the most recent items appear at the top of the search.

See About RSS Feeds for an explanation of RSS feeds and how to use them.

My Favorites

See My Favorites for saving items to your account.

Citation

Click the Citation tab on any item to view citations in APA and MLA formats.

See Style Guides for Bibliographies for information on other citation formats.

Export

Also on the Citation tab, you can export to EndNote or other reference management software.

Simply click EndNote, EndNote Web or the name of your reference manager.

You may need to download the information to a file and then import the file using your reference manager.

Click the

Help icon next to each software package for more information on EndNote, EndNote Web, Zotero, RefWorks, and BibTeX.

To manage references online, sign up for a free EndNote Web account, or use Zotero.

The Zotero plugin for Mozilla Firefox allows you to select and manipulate multiple records.

Start the Mozilla Firefox Web browser.
Install the Zotero plugin from zotero.org.
Perform a search in Discovery.
Click the yellow folder icon in the address bar.
Select one or more records to save and click OK.
Click the zotero icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
Select one or more items, right click them, and click one of these options:
- Export (to one of several file formats, including MODS, RIS, RDF and BiBTeX) and import to EndNote or other reference management software.
- Create Bibliography (in one of 16 different citation styles including APA, MLA or Chicago; save as RTF or HTML, copy to clipboard or print).
- Generate Report (HTML)

Search History

Click the Search History link at the bottom of any page to view your most recent searches.

Click a search phrase to view the search results again.

Click an

RSS button in the RSS column to save the search in your feed reader.

For privacy, the search history is cleared when you log out, close your browser, or click

Purge my search history.

Availability

Click the Availability tab of an item to see its location, call number and status.

Locations

Click the

map icon for a map showing the library location of your item.

See the list of all locations with their call numbers and maps. Here are some of them:

In Morgan Library:: Documents (SuDocs): Federal Government Documents; Colorado Docs (CoDocs): Colorado Government Documents; Newspapers; Maps; Current Awareness Collection
Outside Morgan Library:: Storage: The Storage facility on Lake Street (request online or from the Loan & Reserve desk); Vet: The Veterinary Medical Center Library

Status

means the item is available for use.

Available or Check Shelves: The item can be checked out.
Lib Use Only: The item can be used within the library.
Internet or Online: Click the link to view the item online.

means the item is not currently available.

Checked Out or Due: Someone has borrowed the item. It is not currently available but can be recalled.

Also see other status codes.

Request and Recall

You can have the item delivered to a location such as the Loan and Reserve desk in Morgan Library.

To request an item, click the

Request or

Recall button.

Other Sources

If an item is not available, you can request it through another source such as Prospector or InterLibrary Loan.

See Other Sources for details.

Other Sources

Repeat Search

Use the Repeat search in... menu next to the search box to repeat your search in other sources.

Note: Searches of sources other than library catalogs will use all fields even if the Discovery search used a different search field.

You can repeat your search in other sources of books, articles and Web pages.

Click the

button in the upper right corner to close the menu.

Other Sources

Use the Other Sources tab of an item to get a book from another source.

You can search for items in other library catalogs or in other sources of books or journals.

Click a link in the Library Catalogs section to request or view or the item in another library:

CSU InterLibrary Loan: Request from another library

Regional Catalog (Prospector): 23 libraries in Colorado and Wyoming

Poudre River Public Library District: 3 public libraries in Fort Collins, Colorado

WorldCat: 10,000 libraries worldwide

Regional Catalog (Prospector)

Click the Regional Catalog (Prospector) link to search for or request the item in Prospector.

Prospector links can appear in search results or an item's Availability or Other Sources tab.

Prospector and Poudre links are shown as follows:

Available if at least one copy of the item is available.
No copies are currently available if all copies are checked out.
Not displayed if none of the libraries contain the item.

You can use Discovery from several search pages and browser plugins.
Web Pages: Discovery; Colorado State University Libraries; Colorado State University Libraries: Site Search
Browser Plugins: Colorado State University Libraries Toolbar; Colorado State University Libraries Search Google Gadget; Discovery OpenSearch Plugin; LibX Firefox Extension for Colorado State University Libraries; Discovery LibraryLookup Bookmarklet

How Do I ... ?

Answers to frequently asked questions about using Discovery

Getting Items

How do I get a library card?

How do I renew or view books or other items I have checked out?

Click the My Account link below the Discovery logo to the left of the search box.

Check boxes next to the items you want to renew, and click Renew Selected.

How do I locate books or other items in the library?

How do I find out if an item is available for checkout or use at CSU?

How do I request an item from another library if it is not available at CSU?

Click the Prospector or CSU InterLibrary Loan link in search results or the item's Other Sources tab.

How do I recall an item if it is checked out by someone else?

Click the Recall button in the item view.

How do I get items from storage?

Finding Items

How do I find an item if I know the title, author, subject, call number, ISBN or ISSN?

How do I find a book or other item if I know both the title and author?

In most cases, typing both the title and author in the search box will find the item.

If this does not work, you can use Advanced Search to put the title and author in separate fields.

How do I find related books or items?

Click an item's title, author, subject, collection or subsite to view a list of similar items.

How do I find CSU theses and dissertations?

Select Format: CSU Theses/Dissertations in the left column of the Discovery home page or search results.

The ProQuest Disserations and Theses Database contains the full text of most dissertations from 1997 to the present.
Click the Search ProQuest for full text version link in Discovery search results or an item's Availability tab.
See the Digital Repository Collection: CSU Theses and Dissertations for locally stored electronic versions of some newer items.