- Fee Payment
- Renewals
- Saving your searches as Preferred Searches
- Using the Book Bag to Save Records
- Searching
- Searching (Advanced)
Fee Payment
You can now pay any fine over $1 online using your credit or debit card.
Here is how to get started:
- Login to your library account.
- Select your list of Fines/Fees.
- Click on "Pay Online".
- Select the fines that you wish to pay, complete all of the relevant information and click submit.
- A confirmation page will appear next. You can print a copy of your receipt at this time and/or click OK. If you have a valid email address, receipt of payment will be sent to the address you entered.
- Refresh your browser to see the changes reflected in your account.
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Renewals
Library cardholders may renew their own materials online. All material may be renewed except for materials with reserves and materials on which you owe fines.
How to:
- Login to your library account.
- If not the default view click the "Items currently checked out" link to view the materials you have checked out.
- Select the materials you want to renew by checking the boxes in the RENEW column and then click the Renew Selected button. If you want to renew everything, click the Renew ALL button.
- If you cannot renew items, a message will appear on the screen. If you are successful, a new due date will appear in the "STATUS" column. Always check the STATUS column for information on the success or failure of your renewal.
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Saving your searches as Preferred Searches
If you have a favorite author or subject for which you often search when using the catalog, you can save the search with the click of a button. This will prevent you from having to key in the search each time and let you place reserves on new materials quicker.
How to:
- Login to your library account.
- Click on the "New Search" button.
- Search for your favorite author, subject, title, etc. or create an advanced keyword search including limits to material type, language, publication year, etc..
- When your results are displayed, click the button marked "Save as preferred search".
- The next time that you login under "My Account", you can click the "Preferred Searches" button to see a list of your saved searches.
- Click on the search link associated with any of the preferred search terms in the list to quickly execute your search.
- You can be alerted of new materials added to the library collection which match your searches. Just check the "Mark for Email" box and be sure that your patron record information includes your current email address.
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Using the Book Bag to Save Records
Use the Book Bag feature to save items that you have found in the library catalog. You will be able to view them as a list, email the list to yourself, and/or download the list to your computer.
When you search the library catalog you will get a list of items to browse. To add an item to your book bag, click the check box on the left of the item. Then click on the "Add Marked to Bag" option at the top of the list. Once an item has been added to your book bag, options to "View Bag" or "Empty Bag" appear above the search bar.
You can also add items to your book bag from the item record screen. (When you select an item from the browse screen, you get the item record screen.) Add an item to your book bag from the item record by clicking on the "Add to Bag" option above the search field.
Select "View Bag" to view, save, and export your saved items.
The "Export Saved" option will allow you to do the following:
- * E-mail: e-mail the items to yourself by entering your email address and clicking "submit".
- * Screen: select this option to have your list of items displayed on the screen where you can review it before you save it or e-mail it. You could also take a screen shot.
- * Local disk: download the items to your computer.
- gemstones
- plum evanovich
- Author: Search only author fields
- Title: Search only title fields
- Subject: Search only subject fields
- Note: Search only note fields
- Subject: Search only subject fields
The "Request Saved" option will allow you to view a list of items in your book bag and request the items you select. Select the items you want to request by clicking the check box next to the item. A request is often called 'place a hold'. Either term means that the item will be pulled from the library collection and put on a hold shelf for you to pick up and check out the next time you are at the library.
You will need to login to your library account to request items from your book bag.
To start a new list of items, select the "Empty Bag" option and begin again.
Other things to be aware of: Even if you do another search, your saved records will remain in your book bag until you leave the catalog.
Your book bag will be emptied when you leave the catalog or log out of the catalog.
The "View Bag" and "Empty Bag" options are not available on the initial catalog screen. You have to run a search and have a list of results to browse in order to see the book bag options.
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Searching
Type the keyword you want to find. For example:
| Wildcards | Words may be right-hand truncated using an asterisk ('*') in place of other characters. The '*' wildcard may also be embedded in a search string. You may use '?' to replace a single character anywhere within a word. Examples : environment* polic*, wom?n |
|---|---|
| Boolean Operators | Use "and" or "or" to specify multiple words in any field, any order. Use "and not" to exclude words. Example : stocks and bonds Example : (alaska or canada) and (adventure and not vacation) |
| Field limits | A field limit causes the system to search only the specified field for the specified word(s). |
| Grouping | Keyword search results are usually grouped by relevance to bring the most likely titles to the top of the list. Each group represents a similar level of relevance and results are sorted within the group by date or title. To get an ungrouped result set, use boolean operators to form a complex query. |
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Advanced Keyword Search Tips
Multiple Words
When searching multiple words the system will automatically supply the Boolean "and" operator between each word; multiple words entered for the search will all occur somewhere in the retrieved records though not necessarily in the order entered. Both examples on the right will retrieve the same results.
Examples
Using multiple words:
games children learning
games and children and learning
Phrase Searches
Search for complete phrases by enclosing them in quotation marks. Words enclosed in double quotes will appear together in all results exactly as typed.
Examples
A phrase Search:
"english as a second language"
Wildcards
*Matches any number of non-space characters, starting at the specified position in the word. For example, "comput*" will match all words that begin with "comput" (e.g., "computer", "computation", etc.).
The '*' wildcard may also be embedded in a search string.
?You may use a question mark ('?') to replace a single character anywhere within a word.
Examples
* Wildcard:
environment* polic*
comp*
? Wildcard:
wom?n
Boolean Operators
Use AND or OR to specify multiple words in any field, any order. Use AND NOT to exclude words. Select the operator you wish to use from the selection list on the Advanced Search form.
Examples
Using Boolean operators:
stocks and bonds
stocks or bonds
stocks and not bonds
Field Limits
Field limits may be specified by selecting a field limit from the selection list. These limits appear before the word or phrase to be searched. A field limit causes the system to search only the specified field for the specified word(s).
Field Limits and their meanings:
Grouping
Keyword search results are usually grouped by relevance to bring the most likely titles to the top of the list. Each group represents a similar level of relevance and results are sorted within the group by date or title. To get an ungrouped result set, use boolean operators to form a complex query.
Most relevant titles
Highly relevant titles
Very relevant titles
Relevant titles
Other relevant titles
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