Natural Science: Books

Omni, available via the library home page, is the new search tool shared by 18 Ontario university libraries. With a single search you can find a variety of resources held at York University Libraries and the other Omni partner libraries.

To find books or e-books follow these steps:

Step 1: Apply the Relevant Search Scope

Omni can be used to search for books or e-books in three different domains, equivalent to search scopes:

1. York Libraries
2. York Libraries + Omni Libraries (default search mode)
3. Course reserves

In general we advise that you choose the first option. If you cannot find what you need this way, choosing the second option will find more books and e-books, which may be available using inter-library loan options linked from system records.

Step 2: Conduct your search

Results are automatically sorted by relevance including:

• Frequency of matching search words
• A value score (query words in author, title, subject, plus date)
• Proximity of search words to one another 

 If you sort by the newest date, you lose the relevance ranking.

Step 3: Avail of the Search Filters and limit to Books & E-Books under Resource Type

These search filters appear once results load along the left-side of the screen

Use our Omni Guide to learn more about effective search strategies in Omni. Key terms to know are Search Scope, Facet, Boolean, Truncation, Wildcards, and Limits.

The following databases focus specifically on book reviews:

General Search Tips

• Author
  If you are looking for a particular author and only using the first initial, place a wildcard * after the initial. You can search in natural name order or with surname first. ex. W* Shakespeare.
  
  
• Title
  Please note that there is no EXACT title searching. You must put an exact title in quotation marks after selecting a TITLE KEYWORD search from the dropdown menu.
  
  
• Subject Heading Field
  When you know the Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH), select the subject field search from the dropdown menu.
  
  
• Search Operators
  Search operators can be entered in lower or uppercase i.e. they are case insensitive. Use AND/and to narrow a search and OR/or to broaden a search. ex. (China OR India) AND economy
  NOTE: the default operator is AND/and. This means that if there is no Boolean operator between two terms, the AND/and operator is used automatically (like Google).
  
  
• Phrase Searching
  Use quotation marks to search for phrases of more than two words. ex. "Corporate social responsibility".
  
  
• Truncation
  You no longer need to use the dollar symbol ($) or the asterisk (*) when searching for multiple endings of a word. The system automatically finds words similar to the one you have searched, searching plurals and singulars.
  
  
• Spelling Hints
  The system is searching the closest match based on what can be found in the catalogue, not a dictionary.
  
  
• Course Reserves
  Select Course Reserves in the drop-down menu and enter either the course code or the instructor's last name.
  Example: biol1010, pols 6410, zorn