Q1. What is OneSearch?
A1. OneSearch is the name that CUNY librarians elected to call the PRIMO discovery system. The University selected PRIMO from Ex Libris over all other discovery systems because it integrates with ALEPH and can therefore provide our catalog holdings—in real time—among its results.
Q2 Will OneSearch replace the classic library catalog?
A2. There are no plans to drop the library catalog at the time.
Q3 Will OneSearch replace the central subscription to EBSCO Integrated Search?
A3. It will not “replace” the EBSCO Integrated Search as OneSearch discovery is far more powerful than an integrated or federated search tool. However, OLS has decided to drop the subscription to EBSCO Integrated Search (with input from ERAC) as it was decided it was no longer necessary.
Q4. What resources will be indexed in OneSearch?
A4. OneSearch will essentially search three separate components and display them in a seamless, integrated environment (link to Venn Diagram). These components are:
§ Primo Central Index (PCI): a huge index which includes millions of records for e-books, journal articles, news articles, and more. Look here for a list of providers and resources made available in the PCI: http://support.cunylibraries.org/systems/primo/collections
§ The Aleph catalog: over 6 million MARC records of the libraries’ holdings including e-resources, print books, print journals, thesis/dissertations, scores, maps, video and audio recordings, and microfilm.
§ Proprietary data from individual libraries such as institutional repository material, LibGuides, digital collections, and more.
Q5. Is everything in the PCI available to us in CUNY?
A5. No. This is a huge index and your library and the university at large does not own or subscribe to everything in it.
Q6. What resources are not included in the PCI?
A6. Most but not all of the CUNY libraries’ resources are in the Primo Central Index so they’ll be included in OneSearch. Ex Libris estimates that 10 to 30% of most libraries’ licensed resources are not available in the PCI and therefore are not discoverable in OneSearch (link to Venn Diagram).
Q7. How will users find what is available to them?
A7. On all of the campus versions (with the exception of the Graduate Center), OLS has made adjustments in the back office to ensure that in a default search, only those physical items that are owned by a campus library or e-resources that are available full text in that library will display in the results. To see more results (citations from library databases that are not fulltext), once a search has been performed, a user needs to check the “expand my search” box to the left of the search results.
Q8. How often is OneSearch updated?
A8. The components are updated at various times:
§ PCI-- there may be a time lag from when something is included in a database and when the data is actually sent to or uploaded by Ex Libris. This is due to various publishing or acceptance schedules and like all technical services, the delivery of metadata is only as efficient as the humans who develop it. At OLS, however, as soon as metadata has been included in the Primo Central Index—it will be updated that day (we’ve got great humans J). A library’s e-resource holdings in the PCI will be updated as soon as OLS is notified that the library has a new SFX target.
§ The Aleph catalog-: New Aleph records and changes to existing records (including deletions) will be added to OneSearch daily.
§ Proprietary data from individual libraries on schedules to be determined by the library with OLS.
Q9. How is Peer review determined in OneSearch?
A9. This information comes from the SFX Knowledgebase, which has descriptive metadata that contains peer review indicators.
Q10. Can anyone use CUNY OneSearch?
A10. Anyone can use the full functionality of OneSearch if they are on a CUNY campus. In addition, anybody can search OneSearch from off campus but if they wish to access a licensed resource, they will be asked to authenticate through their library’s proxy server if they are in a campus version or authenticate with their library barcode if they are in the CUNY version.
Q11. What is searched in the default search?
A11. On any campus, the default search is a keyword search--which searches both fulltext and record metadata—of the campus library’s catalog and e-resource holdings.
Q12. What is the default results display?
A12. Results are displayed by relevancy. The other options are:
§ Date (descending)
§ Popularity
§ Author
§ Title
Q13. How does relevance ranking work?
A13. Ex Libris uses a proprietary algorithm called ScholarRank, which takes into account elements of the search and an item’s scholarly value. However, it is also possible to “boost” certain items. By default, SFX records get preference. However, OLS has made adjustments to insure that Aleph records are weighted slightly heavier than they are by default.
Q14. How does OneSearch calculate a record’s “popularity” for its popularity rank?
A14. Users can change the default relevancy sort to sort results by popularity. The calculation for each record’s popularity rank is based on the number of times, CUNY-wide, the following types of clicks occur in OneSearch: e-Shelf, View Online, and Findit!
Q15. What is e-Shelf?
A15. Users can save temporary or permanent lists of results on their e-Shelf. To save a permanent list, a user must first sign into his/her account using his/her library barcode (sometimes called a library number).
Q16. How does OneSearch handle duplicate records?
A16. OneSearch combines duplicate records into a single integrated record, making search results “cleaner” and easier to understand.
Q17. How will I teach students OneSearch?
A17. That, of course, is up to you but we suggest that librarians instruct students to use OneSearch as part of their overall research strategy. Certainly, it’s a great place to begin but advanced, subject-specific research will most likely still require that students use individual databases.
Q18. How will OneSearch affect my usage statistics?
A18. Unlike a federated search, OneSearch does not search your library’s databases. Instead, it searches the PCI. So, your search statistics will not be inflated (as they may have been when using a federated search). Instead, a user is brought to an e-resource through SFX and only when a user clicks on a view online link and retrieves the full text will an action be counted (as a fulltext retrieval). What you may see over time is that search statistics in the individual databases go down as more and more users go to OneSearch.
Q19. At the top of the search results, one of the links is “Available in the Library.” This number is typically low even though the search results are very high. What does this mean?
A19.
Q20. Does truncation work?
A20. Yes, just like in the classic catalog. Use the familiar * (asterisk) wild character.
Q21. Does Boolean logic work?
A21. Yes.
Q1. What is OneSearch?
A1. OneSearch is the CUNY libraries’ new search tool that allows you to find and access an enormous range of resources including items from your library catalog like books, music, and multimedia, as well as electronic resources like journal, magazine, and newspaper articles, as well as research datasets and conference proceedings. Soon, it will also include primary source and other materials from your library’s special collections. OneSearch is user-friendly and has many features that enhance your research experience.
Q2. What exactly am I searching?
A2. You are searching your library’s collection of both physical and electronic resources as well as a wealth of freely available electronic resources like ebooks in Project Guttenberg.
Q3. How do I perform a basic search?
A3. You can perform a basic search by typing in one or more words and clicking the search button. You can do more advanced searches by using some of the following tips.
Q4. Can I use Boolean?
A4. Yes. To use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) within search phrases, you must enter them in uppercase letters. Otherwise, OneSearch removes them and performs a simple search that includes all search phrases.
Q5. Can I use Wildcards (or truncation)?
A5. Yes, this allows you to enter symbols in place of one or more letters so that you can retrieve various forms of a word in your search:
· ? — Enter a question mark to perform a single character wildcard search. For example, type wom?n to search for records that contain the strings woman, women, womyn, and so forth.
· * — Enter an asterisk to perform a multiple character wildcard search. For example, type cultur* to search for records that contain strings, such as culture, cultural, and culturally.
OneSearch does NOT recognize a wildcard at the beginning of a word. For example, the system treats the search terms ?aying and *aying as if you had searched for aying.
Q6. Is there a way to search for a specific phrase?
A6. Yes, you can search for a phrase by using quotation marks, for example: “global warming.” In this way, you can search for a particular article or book you are looking for, such as “Lincoln: the constitution and the civil war.”
Q7. What does “Expand My Results” mean?
A7. After performing a search, you can expand your results to include items that are not available full-text.
Q8. How would I access an article if it’s not available full-text?
A8. OneSearch will try to find a full-text version of a result. If it does not find one and your library offers interlibrary loan, you can click on the “Find Item” button in the citation and click on the “Request the item via Interlibrary Loan” link on the service menu.
Q9. What is the best way to narrow my results?
A9. OneSearch is a powerful search engine that may retrieve a large (sometimes too large!) number of results. Once you’ve done a search, you can narrow down your results by using the facets on the left-hand side of the page. You can choose to narrow by date, publisher, location, source type, etc.
Q10. Why would I want to sign in?
A10. Signing in allows you to save your e-shelf items for future sessions, as well as renew items checked out of your library and check on the status of your intra-CUNY requests.
Q11. What do I need to sign in?
A11. To sign into OneSearch, you will need to know your library barcode (sometimes called a “library number”) and its associated password. If you have trouble logging in, contact your library’s circulation department.
Q12. What is e-shelf?
A12. You can save items from your search results and create a personal virtual “shelf” or list of items. If you’ve created an account and signed in, you can save your e-shelf for later sessions. You can then refer back to your shelf and link to the full-text of your item right from your shelf. You can edit your e-shelf, create folders, make notes, save and print documents.
Q13. Will my session time-out?
A13. Your session will time out after 30 minutes of inactivity.
Q14. Is there a demo available?
A14. Yes, there is! Have a look at http://support.cunylibraries.org/systems/primo/video-tutorials
Q15. Where can I find more information about using OneSearch?
A15. OneSearch has a great “Help” menu located on the upper right-hand portion of the search screen. If you’d like even more information, use the “Ask a Librarian” link at the top of every screen to find out how to contact a local librarian.