Tripod’s Advanced Search for Books & More lets you easily search multiple fields simultaneously and combine terms in complex ways.
Search Fields
- Instead of a single search box, in Tripod’s Advanced Search you’re presented with several fields to enter your search terms.
- Each field has a drop down that lets you specify the type of data (title, author, etc.) you are searching for, and you can mix and match search types.
- If you need them, the “Add Another Row” button will add additional search fields.
- The “Match” setting lets you specify how multiple search fields should be handled.
- ALL Terms: Return only records that match every search field.
- ANY Terms: Return any records that match at least one search field.
- NO Terms: Return all records except those that match the search fields.
Search Groups
- For certain complex searches, a single set of search fields may not be enough. For example, suppose you want to find materials about the history of China or India.
- If you did an ALL Terms search for China, India, and history, you would only get materials about China and India.
- If you did an ANY Terms search, you would get materials about history that had nothing to do with China or India.
 Search Groups provide a way to build searches from multiple groups of search fields. Every time you click the “Add Search Group” button, a new group of fields is added.- Once you have multiple search groups, you can specify whether you want to match on ANY or ALL search groups.
- In the history of China or India example described above, you could solve the problem by using search groups like this:
- In the first search group, enter India and China and make sure that the “Match” setting is “ANY Terms.”
- Add a second search group and enter history.
- Make sure the match setting next to the Search Groups header is set to “ALL Groups.”
Advanced advanced searching
- Boolean operators can be used in each search field.
- For multiple word search terms using the keyword drop down, you mustperform a phrased search or use AND. Within each advanced search field, the default is OR. For example:
- Citizen Kane, in one search field, as a keyword, returns 13,344 results.
- Citizen AND Kane, in one search field, as a keyword, returns 95 results.
- “Citizen Kane”, in one search field, as a keyword, returns 77 results.
Other Types of Searches
Fuzzy Searches
Use a tilde at the end of a single word term to search for terms similar in spelling.
- roam~ will find terms like road, room, and foam.
- To specify the required similarity, add a value between 0 (less similar) and 1 (more similar). The default that is used if the parameter is not given is 0.5. For example, roam~0.8 will only find terms like roams and roaming.
Proximity Searches
Use a tilde at the end of a multiple word term to search for terms which are certain distance apart.
- “economics Keynes”~10 will return results for economics and Keynes that are within 10 words apart
- Double quotes do not trigger a phrased search in proximity searches.
Range Searches
Use special characters to perform a range search.
- {A TO C} will return results with terms that begin with A, B, or C.
- [2011 TO 2012] will return results which include 2011 and 2012.
Boosting a Term
To apply more value to a term, you can use the ^ character.
Basic Boolean searching
- Use AND, OR, NOT, and – to combine terms with Boolean logic.
- These Boolean operators must be in uppercase.
AND
- The AND operator finds materials where both terms appear.
- The default search is AND.
- Beatles AND biography finds materials with both terms, Beatles and biography.
OR
- The OR operator finds materials where either term appears.
- Beatles OR biography finds materials that include the term Beatles and materials that include the term biography.
NOT
- The NOT operator excludes materials that contain the term after NOT.
- Beatles NOT biography finds materials that include the term Beatles, but do not have the term biography.
- To exclude multiple terms, use the – (minus) operator. For example, Beatles -biography -media finds materials that include the term Beatles but not the terms biography or media.
- The NOT operator cannot be used with just one term.
Phrased searching
“search terms are surrounded by special markers (generally, quotation marks) to show that they form a phrase. The software returns only those items in which these words appear next to each other, and in exactly the same order as the supplied phrase” (Webster’s New World Computer Dictionary, 2003)
- Use double quotes to search for an exact phrase.
- For example:
Stemming
The stemming algorithm reduces words to their base or root form.
Query expansion
The opposite of stemming, this process expands words to their common forms.
- Quaker to Quakers and Quakerism.
- conserve to conservation, conservative, etc.
Searches can be simultaneously stemmed and expanded.
- robotic returns results for robot, robots, and robotics
- cooking returns results for cooking as well as cook, cooked, cooks, and Cooke.
Phrased searches are still stemmed and expanded.
Stop words
“a word which is ignored in querying a database because it is so common and would produce so many results that it would obscure the search or take too much time” (The Macquarie Dictionary, 2005)
| Tripod’s default stop words |
| an |
and |
are |
as |
at |
be |
but |
| by |
for |
if |
in |
into |
is |
it |
| no |
not |
of |
on |
or |
s |
such |
| t |
that |
the |
their |
then |
there |
these |
| they |
this |
to |
was |
will |
with |
Remember
- If you’re combining words with Boolean logic, remember to capitalize your operators; “and”, “or” and “not” are stop words when lowercase.
- Stop words are ommitted in phrased searches right now too, but we plan to fix that.
Wildcards
“a character (such as an asterisk or question mark) that stands for any other character, or series of any other characters, that may appear in the same place” (Webster’s New World Computer Dictionary, 2003)
If you want to search for multiple variations of a word, you can substitute a special symbol for one or more letters.
- To perform a single character wildcard search use the ? symbol.
- organi?e returns results for organise or organize
- h??ophilia returns results for hemophilia and homophilia
- To perform a multiple character wildcard search use the * symbol.
- econom* returns results for economy, economies, or economics
- h*ophilia returns results for hemophilia, Hispanophilia, haemophilia, hypereosinophilia, heterophilia, hibernophilia, and homophilia
- Note: You cannot use a * or ? symbol as the first character of a search.
Bryn Mawr College has one of the largest and richest collections of art, cultural artifacts, rare books and manuscripts to be found among liberal arts colleges in the country. The collections were built through donations from the extraordinary graduates of this all-women’s college that opened in 1885. Rather than focusing on one time period or topic, the collections reflect the range of interests of the donors, and thus support teaching, advanced research, and exhibitions across numerous fields.
The collections comprise rare books, manuscripts, ephemera, graphics, photographs and the College’s archives. They also include the art and artifact collections which number more than 50,000 objects and encompass five areas: fine art, which includes paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and photographs; archaeology; anthropology; decorative arts; and geology.
An expanded list of Bryn Mawr Special Collections finding aids and additional archival collections, is available at http://www.brynmawr.edu/library/speccoll/.
Established in 1871, Friends Historical Library collects materials pertaining to Quaker history, from the mid-17th century beginnings of the Religious Society of Friends in England to the present. FHL is one of the outstanding research facilities for the study of Quaker history and houses the archives of Swarthmore College.
Special Collections maintains the college’s unique and rare materials. The principle collections include the world-renowned Quaker Collection, college archives, rare books and manuscripts, and fine art. The Quaker Collection centers on the history of Quakerism from 17th-century Britain to the present day in many parts of the world. The college archives documents the history and operations of Haverford College from its founding in 1833 to present. Rare books and manuscripts cover all fields of knowledge with particular strengths in literature, natural history, science, and American and British history. The collection of art includes photography ranging the history of the genre, prints by European, American and Asian artists, oil paintings, sculpture, and Ancient Greek, Middle Eastern, Indian and African artifacts.
The Peace Collection holds the papers of many individuals and the records of numerous organizations, reflecting the spread of non-governmental peace movements in the United States and around the world. The Peace Collection also holds material in a wide variety of formats on subjects such as nonviolence, disarmament, women and peace, conscientious objection, and other reform movements.
Philadelphia area | Mid-Atlantic | Other academic libraries | Libraries worldwide
Consult your local reference librarian for help accessing a particular library.
Philadelphia Area Libraries
Academic Libraries
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Public Libraries
Special Libraries & Collections
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Mid-Atlantic Libraries
Other Academic Libraries
Libraries Worldwide
- Libweb: “…currently lists over 6500 pages from libraries in over 115 countries.” Includes academic, public, national, and other types of libraries.
- Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog: A union catalog of over 75 million items worldwide, including Europe, Russia, Australia, and North America. Especially useful for finding books from libraries and booksellers in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.
- WorldCat: The OCLC Online Union Catalog. Over 49 million records of books, journals, newspapers, compact discs, films, prints, and other types of material cataloged by libraries around the world. Updated daily.
I forgot my password.
Please use the appropriate password reset utility:
I received a login error.
Please verify your username and password and try to login again. If you’ve forgotten your college password, please use the appropriate password reset utility (above).
I logged-in to EZProxy successfully, but I still don’t have off-campus access to the database, electronic journal, e-book, etc. that I’m trying to use.
Please try these troubleshooting techniques in the order presented:
Confirm that you are using a supported browser (see below) and that cookies are enabled in your browser.
EZProxy supported browsers:
- Netscape, 4.x or 7.x
- Internet Explorer, 5.x and higher
- Firefox or Mozilla, 1.x or higher
- Safari, 1.x or higher
- (AOL is not supported)
Confirm that you are not logged in to VPN. The VPN session can disrupt the EZProxy service.
End your current EZProxy session by closing your browser. Open your browser and begin a new session by navigating to the appropriate EZProxy Login page from: http://trilibpages.blogs.brynmawr.edu/off-campus-access/
Log-in to the EZProxy service. From the “Login Successful” screen, navigate directly to the library catalog or database lists in the Subject Portal by selecting the appropriate links.
Avoid opening multiple browser windows or tabs, and excessive use of the browser’s forward and backward navigation buttons, as this can disrupt your EZProxy session.
If these troubleshooting steps do not resolve your EZProxy access problem, end your current EZProxy session by closing your browser. Open your browser and clear the cache. Begin a new session by navigating to the appropriate EZProxy Login page from: http://trilibpages.blogs.brynmawr.edu/off-campus-access/ and follow steps 4-5 above.
For further assistance, please email the appropriate contact:
- Bryn Mawr patrons: findit@brynmawr.edu
- Haverford patrons: library@haveford.edu
- Swarthmore patrons: serials@swarthmore.edu
In your email, please include the following information:
- The title of the electronic resource that you are trying to access from off-campus through EZProxy
- The name and version of your web browser
- The troubleshooting steps you attempted and their results
- Screenshots or copied text of any error messages that you encountered
Alternately, you can also submit the “Report problems” form linked from the FindIt menu and banner.
I’m on-campus and trying to connect to an e-book from Ebook Library (EBL). Why am I being asked to login to EZProxy?
Ebook Library (a.k.a. EBL) requires an additional level of login authentication to access e-books. The EZProxy system is currently being used to provide this additional level of authentication. Both on- and off-campus users will be prompted to login to EZProxy before gaining access to EBL e-book content.
Can’t find a book in Tripod? Try using the new E-ZBorrow!
- Click the E-ZBorrow/ILL link at the top of any Tripod page, or access E-ZBorrow directly here:
- Enter your 14 digit barcode and click Login.
- Enter the title of the book, and be sure to select the “this phrase” radio button to help limit your search.
- E-ZBorrow will start to bring back results – you can wait for the page to completely populate to pick the title you want, or if you see it right away you can click on it immediately.
- Scroll down to select a pickup location and click request.
- You’ll receive an email when the book arrives!
Tips
- If you do not enter a barcode or mistype it here, an error message will appear at the point of requesting a title
- Make sure the item you’re requesting is a book! E-ZBorrow shows other types of materials besides books; you will see DVDs, ebooks, and other materials that are not requestable through E-ZBorrow. If you look at the list of holding libraries and see one of the TriColleges listed, please check Tripod for the item’s availability. Otherwise, you can fill out an interlibrary loan form and we will find a copy of the item for you.
Questions? Please contact a librarian for assistance.
If you encounter problems with E-ZBorrow, please submit your request through our ILL form.
Choose a pick up location:
Should you have any questions about the new E-ZBorrow, please contact a librarian for assistance, or consult this tip sheet.
| Unless otherwise noted, all phone numbers are (610). |
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Haverford |
Swarthmore |
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The TriCollege Libraries provide access to hundreds of databases, electronic journals, and e-books. The publishers of many of these materials require that we limit access to current members of Bryn Mawr, Haverford, or Swarthmore’s students, faculty, and staff. Each library has a mechanism for verifying membership in its academic community.
If you are away from campus, you can access library resources by using your institution’s off-campus access mechanism.
| Bryn Mawr |
Haverford |
Swarthmore |
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Should you have any questions about off campus access, please contact a librarian for assistance, or consult this tip sheet.
<< Back
Bi-College News Online
- ArchiveIt | Internet Archive
- The website of the Bi-College News, Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges’ weekly newspaper, is a resource for students, faculty, and alumni. Archive-it crawl dates June 2006-present. Internet Archive crawl dates March 2002-January 2008.
Bryn Mawr College
- ArchiveIt | Internet Archive
- The Bryn Mawr College website. Archive-it crawl dates April 2006-present. Internet Archive crawl dates Decemer 1997-present.
Bryn Mawr College Computer Science
- ArchiveIt | Internet Archive
- The Bryn Mawr College Computer Science Department website, including major and minor information, Faculty and alumnae profiles, department news, and links to faculty and student research. Archive-it crawl dates May 2006-present. Internet Archive crawl dates November 2008-present.
Bryn Mawr Computer Science Wiki
- ArchiveIt | Internet Archive
- The Bryn Mawr College Computer Science Wiki, a place for documentation and discussion of various topics and applications pertaining to computer science at Bryn Mawr. Archive-it crawl dates May 2006-present. Internet Archive crawl dates Octoboer 2002-present.
Serendip
- ArchiveIt | Internet Archive
- Founded by, and with continuing support from Bryn Mawr College, Serendip is an expanding forum and continually developing set of resources to explore and support intellectual and social change in science and education. Archive-it crawl dates April 2006-present. Internet Archive crawl dates January 1997-present.
Tripod Subject Portal
- ArchiveIt | Internet Archive
- The Tripod Subject Portal, a part of Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore Colleges web-based library catalog, contains resources, news, and reference material organized by subject. Archive-it crawl dates March 2008-present. Internet Archive crawl dates September 2006-present.
Web of Influence
- ArchiveIt | Internet Archive
- A group blog for the Bryn Mawr College seminar “Web of Influence,” which explores the effect of digital text (and specifically blogs) on modern society. This URL is archived for 2006 only. Archive-it crawl dates May 2006-October 2006. Internet Archive crawl dates September 2005-October 2006.
WHRC: Radio With a Hammer
- ArchiveIt | Internet Archive
- WHRC, Radio With a Hammer is Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges’ radio station, available for listening online only. Archive-it crawl dates June 2006-present. Internet Archive crawl dates February 2001-January 2008.
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