Discovery Service - Search Tips

Search terms
Enter one or more keywords into the search box. Recommended keywords will be shown while typing. To search for an exact word order, wrap your keywords in quotation marks. Example: "Chemie für Mediziner".

Search query and search result
The entered keywords will be searched over all fields of the title descritpion (person, title, bywords, etc.).
Further changes can be made under »Settings«, such as »Search also community libraries« and »Phonetic search« (see below).

Wildcard *
You can use the symbol * at any place within or also at the beginning or end of your search term. It replaces an arbitrary number of characters.
Example: Schif*ahrt finds Schiffahrt and Schifffahrt

Wildcard ?
You can use the symbol ? at any place within or also at the beginning or end of your search term. It replaces exactly one character.
Example: Tos?ana finds Toskana and Toscana

Person search
To find a specific person, preferably enter the name wrapped in quotation marks.
Example: "Theodor Storm"

Signature search
A signature can be found by putting it between quotation marks.
Example: "Bp 9342", "D 3.03/2020,1", "43.0 Rie 1"

Foreign characters
If the title or the authors are stored in the specific letters of the original language, you can also find it by using the original characters.
Example: Константин Александрович Федин

More settings
In the »Settings« you can select one or more search criteria (»Search also community libraries« and »Find similar media (phonetic search)«). Confirm this selection by clicking on "Ok" and enter your terms in the search field.
! IMPORTANT ! These settings are taken into account for further search queries. If you like to stop this, you have to reset the settings.

Cross-community libraries search
To do this, select »Search also community libraries« via »Settings«. Example of a title in the original language that can be found nationwide:
Example: История текста и биография А. П. Платонова

If you have found a hit in another library, you can use »interlibrary loan« to access the Common Union Catalogue (GVK), from where you can place your interlibrary loan. Further information on interlibrary loan can be found here.

Phonetic search
Similar search terms can be found by using the »Phonetic search«. This can be helpful if the correct spelling of a name or term is unknown.
Example: Tolstoy finds Tolstoi, Tolstoj etc.

Narrow down search result
By using the filters left hand to the search results, the result can be narrowed down to a selected period of time or, by activating the check boxes, to specific criteria (eg. electronic or printed).

Access to licensed electronic resouces (e-books, e-journals, e-articles)
The university library offers acces to the full text of licensed electronic resouces. For access from outside the campus a connection to the university network via VPN is necessary. Further information can be found here.