The quickest way to access the records is to use the Quick Search, available on the navigation bar of each page. This search method seeks words or phrases in the Title, Alternate Title, Description, Creator, Publisher, Contributor, and URL fields. To construct more complex searches, or to narrow your search to particular fields, use the Advanced Search page. Browsing by Classification is also available from the main page. Each of these access methods is described in more detail below.

Quick Keyword Search searches for word(s) or phrases in the followings fields: Title, Alternate Title, Description, Creator, Contributor, Publisher, Classification, and URL.

Use double quotes to search for phrases, "Library of Congress", for example.

To search for an exact number, place the number into quotes (e.g., "114,457"). This forces the search engine to find an exact match for that number.

For a string of words, University of Wisconsin, for example, Quick Keyword Search assumes these words are joined by AND. Thus it will match records with all the words occurring in the searched fields either together or individually.

Words or phrases can be prepended with a dash or a plus sign. A dash (e.g. -magnesium or -"potato chips") indicates that you don't want any results that contain that term. Conversely, words or phrases can be prepended with a plus sign (e.g. +magnesium or +"potato chips") to indicate that you require results to contain that term or phrase.

The results will be displayed in a descending order of relevance (most relevant items appear at the top of the results). Relevance is determined through a combination of word occurrence frequency and a weighted value of the metadata fields being searched. Word occurrence in the Title is the weighted the most heavily. Alternate Title, Creator, Publisher, Classification, and Contributor are in the next lower tier of weight values. Occurrence in the URL and Description are given the lowest weight values.

Advanced Search provides additional options to refine your search strategy. Using this type of search allows you to narrow your search to one or more of the following fields: Title, Creator, Publisher, Contributor, Classification, Subject, URL, Description, Language, Source, Coverage, and site administrator's Email address.

Use double quotes to search for phrases, "Library of Congress", for example.

To search for an exact number, place the number into quotes (e.g., "114,457"). This forces the search engine to find an exact match for that number.

For a string of words, University of Wisconsin, for example, Quick Keyword Search assumes these words are joined by AND. Thus it will match records with all the words occurring in the searched fields either together or individually.

The results will be displayed in a descending order of relevance (most relevant items appear at the top of the results). Relevance is determined through a combination of word occurrence frequency and a weighted value of the metadata fields being searched. Word occurrence in the Title is the weighted the most heavily. Alternate Title, Creator, Publisher, Classification, and Contributor are in the next lower tier of weight values. Occurrence in the URL and Description are given the lowest weight values.

Advanced Search allows one to refine a particular search using additional criteria available in the form of a dropdown list. The portal software by default offers the following metadata fields as Limit options: URL Domain, Date Issued, Resource Type, Language, Audience, Format.

Limits can be used exclusively or in combination with search terms. Also, users may select more than one option from each Limit by highlighting the desired options from the list. The default for these limit criteria is set at No Limit.

To select a value(s), click on the down arrow to the right of the No Limit phrase to reveal available options. Highlight the desired value(s).

You can choose a how you would like search results displayed. The default choice is to display the Title/URL/Description. To select a value, click on the down arrow to the right of the Title/URL/Description phrase to reveal available options. Highlight the desired value.