The new Illinois State Library Voyager catalog system provides you with two options to search for library materials. Begin your search by selecting either the Quick Search or Guided Keyword Search.
The Quick Search allows you to specify your Search by:
- Any Word Anywhere
- Start of Title
- Start of Magazine/Journal Title
- Boolean Search
- Browse Author
- Browse Subject
- Browse Prolific Author/Composer
- Browse Call Number
You may also apply limits by selecting from those available by clicking on the Quick Limit drop-down menu.
Additional limits may be selected from the  options.
To perform a search:
- Enter the words you want to search for in the Search for: box.
- Select the type of search that you want to perform by choosing a search type from the Search by: list.
- (Optional) Choose what type of Limits you want applied to the search by either: 1) selecting a limit from the Quick Limits menu or by 2) clicking the More Limits button and choosing from the entire list of limits.
- (Optional) Specify how many records of the search results you want to have display on each page by clicking the drop-down arrow and selecting the number of records in the records per page selector.
- Click the Search button to begin your search. You can also click the Reset button to clear the search page.
Quick Search Examples
Any Word Anywhere
DO NOT use and, or, not between search terms
Use the plus (+) to indicate a word must be present: +alien
Use an exclamation mark (!) to indicate that a word should not be present: !migration
To truncate, use ?: statistic? finds statistics, statistical, statistician
To search phrases, use quotes: "civil war"
The system will search for any of the words you enter, including words like "a," "the," and "of." There are no "stop words."
Exact Start of Title
Type the first words of the title: red
badge of
Omit beginning articles: A, An, The, Der, El, L', La, etc.
Start of Magazine/Journal Title
Type the first words of the title: journal of applied psychology
Omit beginning articles: A, An, The, Der, El, L', La, etc.
Boolean
To combine search terms, you must use: and,
or, not between your search terms
To truncate, use ?: child? finds child, children,
childhood, etc.
To search phrases, use quotes: "french revolution"
To group terms, use parentheses: (child? or teen?) and "learning
disabilities"
To limit your search further, use field codes.
Browse Subject
Use Library of Congress Subject Headings:
elections united states or
Medical Subject Headings: brain anatomy
Browse Author
For individuals, enter last name first, followed
by first name, if known: updike john
Enter names of organizations or groups: world health organization
Browse Prolific Author/Composer
To search for musical works by composer, enter last name first: mozart w
To search for works by prolific authors, enter last name first: shakespeare
Browse Call Number
Enter as much of the call number as you know,
including punctuation: 811.54 GWEN
Limits
Quick Limits
Can only be used with Boolean,
title, and Any Word Anywhere searches.
These limits are retained between searches.
Quick Limits cannot be used with limits from the More Limits
page.
More Limits - Find More/Find Fewer
Can only be used with Boolean, title, and Any Word Anywhere.
Use to restrict searches to certain years, languages, types, mediums, or locations.
Use to apply one or more limits to a search.
These limits are retained between searches until removed by the user.
Limits from the More Limits page cannot be used with Quick Limits.
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