Searching the Public Catalog (OPAC)
To search the public catalog, or OPAC, open a web browser—preferably Firefox, Safari, or Chrome—and go to When you are live on the system, you will have a personalized URL that will be yourlibrary.missourievergreen.org.
For testing/training, use .
Basic Search
The public OPAC opens to a basic search, with the default library set to yours.
The Basic Search allows patrons to search for a specific format or by keyword, title, journal title, author, subject, series, or call number. They can also limit to a specific Missouri Evergreen Library System or Branch, or can expand the search to the whole consortium. The Group Formats and Editions checkbox is a search modifier which performs the search in metarecords—a list of bibliographic records that include all formats of a work. It is checked by default in the OPAC.
After entering the search terms in the text box and clicking on the Search button (or Enter on the keyboard), the results will show in the Search Results Browse screen. This screen lists basic information about all the bibliographic records that match the search terms, as well as the libraries that hold copies and the status and shelving information about those copies. Along the right are options to place a hold or (if Group Formats and Editions is unchecked) add the record to a list. More about these functions will be discussed in the My Account documentation.
The gray bar under the search options allows you to choose to conduct Another Search, go to the Advanced Search page, sort the resultsby relevance (default), alphabetical by title/author, or by publication date. You can condense the information about each record, by clicking on the Show Fewer Details button (which then changes to Show More Details).
The “Group Formats and Editions” checkbox is a search modifier which performs the search against metarecords—a list of bibliographic records that include all formats of a work (more on this option below). The “Show Results from All Libraries” checkbox will expand visible search results from the chosen scope to all libraries without having to redo the search. The “Exclude Electronic Resources” checkbox will remove electronic resources from the search results and include only physical materials.
Grouping Formats and Editions (Metarecords)
If you have chosen the “Group Formats and Editions” option, the metarecords show in the results list, with the number of constituent records in parentheses after the title, and all format icons for the multiple constituent records appear. When Group Formats and Editions is active, you can place holds from the Browse Results screen, but not add to lists. In order to add to lists, go into the detailed view or click on the metarecord (see below).
Clicking on the title of one of the metarecords takes you to a second list of all formats related to that title.
Clicking on the title of a single work will take you to the detailed bibliographic record. The detailed record gives all the publication information, a link to any additional content, and details about local library information—call number (patrons can text the call number to themselves), shelving location, barcode, status, and due date. You can also place a hold on the bib, add it to a list, and/or print or email the bib. Details on placing a hold and adding to lists can be found in the My Account documentation.
If the Library is scoped to your local library, you will also see the number of copies available in the consortium, your system, and your branch. If other libraries own copies, there will be a link to “Show” the other copies. This link will not appear if you are scoped to Missouri Evergreen or if yours is the only branch that owns a copy.
Advanced Search
From the Basic Search screen, click on the link to Advanced Search.
On the Advanced Search page, the Search Input boxes allow patrons to search by keyword, title, author, subject, series, and call number, and allows patrons to combine these searches to narrow their results.
The default setting displays three search boxes. Clicking on the arrow next to the type of search allows you to change the default to title, author, series, etc. to put different information in each search box.
More search boxes can be added by clicking “Add Search Row” link. Although it is not necessary, search boxes can be deleted by clicking on the gray X next to the search row.
Keyword searches are very general and will provide many results.
Patrons can also adjust their searches by changing their selection from Contains toDoes not contain, Contains phrase, Matches exactly, or Starts with.
Matches exactly will limit the search to only records that contain the exact character string that is input. Since Evergreen uses stem searching, doing a Keyword search with Contains will provide results with words related to the search terms.
For example, a Keyword search for “evidence” with Contains gives results with words related to “evidence”, such as “evidently”. A Keyword search for “evidence” with Matches exactly will not omit search results for words such as “evidenced” because it still contains the exact search string “evidence”, but it will not return related words like “evidently”.
Title searches work the same way. A Title search for “evidence” with Contains will limit search to records with words related to “evidence” in the title. To exclude related words, the Matches exactly option should be used.
To be sure a phrase is retained as a phrase in the search, use the Contains phrase option. The Starts with option will look at the beginning of the items returned for the search term.
Keyword searches are very general and will provide many results.
Search Filters
Another way to limit search results is to use Search Filters. Searches can be limited by Item Type, Item Form, Language, Audience, Video Format, Bib Level, Literary Form, and Publication Year.
To limit the search in this way, click on the desired choices to highlight them in blue. The search results will then include only records that match the chosen filters.
Multiple items in one filter area can be chosen by using Shift (to do terms all together) or Ctrl (to choose items separated from each other).
If a particular library branch is chosen (see Search Library below), a search filter for Shelving Location is also present. The GroupFormats and Editions (metarecords) option in the search filters is checked, by default.
Sort Results
To the right of the Publication Year search filter is the Sort Results box. This option allows the searcher to change the way search results are sorted. The default Sort Result is by Relevance. Generally, items are considered more relevant the more often the search terms appear in a bibliographic record.
Search results can also be sorted alphabetically by author or title, or chronologically by publication date, by choosing them in the drop-down box. Results can be sorted in Ascending/A to Z order or Descending/Z to A order. Note that when sorting on Publication Date, selecting Ascending provides the oldest works first, and Descending gives the most recent works first.
Search Library
Search Library allows changes to the search range. Options include the local branch, local system, or full consortium (“Missouri Evergreen”), or the option to choose a different library from within the consortium. This search range is retained, even when the form is cleared.
Limit to Available
Below the Search Library drop-down is a checkbox labeled “Limit to Available”. Check this box to see results that are not checked out, on hold, or otherwise unavailable.
Other Advanced Search Types
Numeric Search
The tab next to Advanced Search allows the user to search by ISBN, ISSN, Call Number, LCCN, TCN, or item barcode. The search can also be limited by library or to all of Missouri Evergreen.
Expert Search
The tab next to Numeric Search is Expert Search and allows the user to search on a specific MARC Tag and/or Subfield. More rows can be added for more complex searches, and the search can be limited by library or to all of Missouri Evergreen. When using Expert Search, only the field selected is searched. Any other options you may have chosen on the Advanced Search screen do not affect the search.
Browse the Catalog
Patrons can browse the bibliographic records using this search option.
Users can choose to browse on Author, Title, Subject, or Series. They enter the start of a term upon which to search, and can limit by library.
After entering terms and choosing the Browse button, a list of results will appear under the search box.
To see the list of the record(s) related to one of the choices in the list, click on one of the links.
Mobile Devices and the OPAC
The catalog is responsive and optimized for mobile devices. When used on a mobile device, the display will be slightly different than on a computer. The major changes users will see are:
- Elements on the basic search page are resized to fit on the screen
- Search results are displayed cleanly. Links to “Place hold” or “Add to my list” display prominently beneath holdings information
- Search boxes and filters on the Advanced Search page wrap neatly
- Search bar is removed from the login and My Account pages so more relevant information is displayed
- Dropdown menus replace navigational tabs on several My Account screens
Last Updated: February 20, 2017Page 1 of 16 OPAC 1 - Searching the Public Catalog.docx