1. Tips and Tricks for Navigating
ExpressLINK, Owens Community
College’s Online Catalog

2.  Go to the Owens homepage, www.owens.edu
 Select QUICK LINKS
 Select Library
 Or, go directly to www.owens.edu/library
 You should see this in the middle of the
page:

3.  Start with a KEYWORD search.
 You can also search by Title, Author, and Subject.
 Leave out unnecessary words.
 [Does facebook invade my privacy] is not a good search. ExpressLINK is looking for
every word you enter! Try [facebook and invade and privacy] or just [facebook and
privacy].
 Before you start any kind of search, make a list of keywords and phrases
related to your topic that you can use.
If your topic is Internet privacy, the list might
include:
For Internet: Web, www, web 2.0, “social media,”
facebook, twitter, online, “social web”
For privacy: private, confidential, reputation
You can use Boolean logic and the terms on your list
to come up with new combinations to try in your
CC image by seeveeaar
searches in the catalog, databases, and search
engines.

4. Boolean searching uses the words AND and OR to
expand or narrow a search.
 AND makes a search more specific (fewer results)
 [Cats and dogs] searches for records that include BOTH
the term cats and the term dogs.
Results
Cats Dogs
 OR makes a search more inclusive (more results)
 [cats or dogs] searches for records that include both
terms, or only cats, or only dogs.
Cats Dogs
 For more help with Boolean, check out this tutorial

5.  Open a new window or tab, and go to the library
home page.
 Enter [internet and privacy] (without the
brackets) in the search box and click search.
 [“internet privacy”]
 Using quotation marks indicates a phrase, which means that the system will
look for both of those words next to each other in that order. It is a very
helpful trick for the catalog, databases and search engines!
 [online and privacy]
 [online and priva*]
 Asterisks are often used to truncate a word so that the system looks for
variations. In this case, the system will look for private and privacy.
 [internet and reputation]
 [internet OR online]

6.  When you find a title that looks promising,
click on it. It will look similar to this:

8.  First,take a look at the summary and
contents to see if the book is really one you
want. The subject headings will give you an
idea as to whether your topic is a significant
part of the book.
 Second, make a note of the call number,
location, title, and author.
 If the book is on your campus, find it using the
call number. Library staff will be happy to help.
 If the book is not on your campus, give that
information to a librarian and we will request it
for you.
 Use to go back to your search results.

9.  When you find a book that really meets your
needs, take a look at the subject headings.
You can click on any subject heading and
browse a list of all the books with the same
subject heading owned by Owens.
 When you go to find a book on the shelf, look
at other books in the same area to see if any
of them look helpful.
 Don’t be afraid to ask for help!
 Many of these strategies carry over to
OhioLINK, databases, and search engines!