What is Search It? / What does Search It do?
Search It is Milner Library’s federated search engine, powered by WebFeat. It allows you to search multiple library resources at the same time.

What are the benefits of Search It?

• Research an unfamilar topic by searching a variety of library resources at the same time.
• Create a customized set of library resources for researching a specific topic.
  
• Save time by searching multiple library resources at the same time.
• Use Milner's Find It button for quick links to online and print materials and Interlibrary Loan request forms.
• Print/email/save records from multiple library resources.
  

What are the drawbacks of Search It?

• Excludes some library resources.
  
• Offers fewer search capabilities than the "native interfaces" of resources.
  

Where is Search It available?
Search It is available on Milner Library’s Homepage and Databases & Article Indexes page.

Who may use Search It?
Any faculty, staff or student affiliated with Illinois State University may use Search It, whether on or off campus. Other individuals may use Search It within Milner Library.

May I use Search It off campus?
Yes, any faculty, staff or student affiliated with Illinois State University may use Search It off campus. You will just need to enter your ULID and password.

Why aren’t all of Milner Library’s resources included in Search It?
Some resources are excluded because they have a limited number of simultaneous users, they have a per-search charge, or because they do not make sense to include in Search It. You can still search these resources individually from the Databases & Article Indexes page.

What resources are excluded because they have a limited number of simultaneous users?

• Art Index Retrospective
• Biography and Genealogy Master Index
• Book Review Index
• CAB Abstracts
• Cochrane Library
• Contemporary Women's Issues
• Criminal Justice Abstracts
• Exceptional Child Education Resources
• Grove Art
  
• LegalTrac
• Mental Measurements Yearbook
• Oxford Reference Online Premium Collection
• Polling the Nations
• SciFinder Scholar
• Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory

What resources are excluded because they have a per-search charge?

• ABI/Inform
  
• Alternative Press Index
• GEOBASE
• Media Review Digest
• World Scope

What resources are excluded because they do not make sense to include?

• eHRAF Collection of Archaeology
• eHRAF Collection of Ethnography
• Electronic Collections Online (ECO)
• Emerald Fulltext
• ERIC (Dept. of Education)
• ERIC (EBSCO)
• ERIC (Ovid)
• Ingenta
• Kraus Curriculum Development Library
• Music-In-Print
• NetLibrary
• PBS VIDEOdatabase

Why doesn’t Search It offer the same search features as the “native interfaces” of resources included in Search It?
Because Search It searches across a variety of resources, each with their own special features, Search It can only search across common features, such as keyword, title, and author. For advanced searching, you should use the “native interface” of the resource.

Why do I get different results in Search It and in a resource’s “native interface”?
Search It uses different translators to search each resource’s “native interface” and then displays a list of results, but sometimes the translators cannot be configured to perform exactly the same as the “native interface.” For more precise searching, you should use the “native interface” of the resource.

Why are author and subject searches problematic with some resources?
The resources on the Ovid platform - BIOSIS Previews, CINAHL, Current Contents, and PsycINFO, use author and subject indexes. When searching these resources in Search It, you usually need to enter an author's name or a subject term that exactly matches an entry in the index. Otherwise, no results may be returned.

What categories of resources can I search?
You can search a variety of categories:

• Broad categories. Select one or more broad categories (e.g. Social Sciences) to search the resources in all of the corresponding sub-categories.
• Sub-categories. Select one or more sub-categories (e.g. History, Sociology) to search all of the resources included.
• Customized category. Pick and choose sub-categories under a broad category or pick and choose individual resources to customize your own category.
• All resources. Check the “All” option next to the Databases tab to search all resources included in Search It.

What resources are searched by the quick search boxes on Milner Library’s Homepage and Databases & Article Indexes page?
The quick search boxes currently search 12 resources:

• Academic Search Premier
• Business Source Elite
  
• Current Contents
• ERIC (First Search)
• General Science Abstracts
• GPO Access
• Health Source Consumer Edition
• Humanities Abstracts
• Milner Catalog
• Newspaper Source
• Reader’s Guide
• Social Sciences Abstracts

The reason for selecting these resources was twofold. First, the number of resources was limited to keep the response time as short as possible. Second, a variety of resources was selected to cover a variety of subjects and to reduce the duplication of results.

What wildcard characters are used for truncation in Search It?
Use ? to replace a single character within a word. For example, wom?n retrieves woman and women. Use * to replace one or more characters at the end of a word. For example, genetic* retrieves genetic, genetics, genetically, etc.

How do I select records in Search It?
Like most databases and the Milner Catalog, you can select a record by clicking in its checkbox. Selected records can then be printed, emailed, or saved. You can also "Sort by: Selected" to only display the records you selected. Please note: You can select records from multiple resources, but you can only select records one page at a time. Therefore, it is best to print/email/save any selected records before clicking Next Set.

How can I get help using Search It?
Go to Milner Library’s Ask a Librarian page to see all methods for getting help with Search It.

How can I provide feedback about Search It?
Just send us an email.