Polaris PowerPAC Help

Viewing Title Information

For all types of searches except Browse, the heading of your search results list shows how many titles were found and your current viewing position in the list. To navigate the results list, click the page number links at the top or bottom of the page. Click the arrows next to the page numbers to see the previous and next pages. Use the per page box to select the number of titles to list on each page.

If you want to sort your search results in a different order, click the arrow by the Sort box and select a sort option.

• Relevance sorts titles in the search results so that those that seem most likely to meet your needs appear first in the list. Words that appear in both title and subject fields are considered in determining relevance. Most Popular sorts titles in the search results so that the titles most frequently checked out or requested over the past 120 days appear first in the list.

• When you select a sort option that combines two categories, the results are sorted by the first category, then by the second.

Example:
If you choose to sort by Author, then Publication Date, the results are sorted first by author, then by publication date within the group of each author’s titles.

Brief Title Information

The results list shows brief information about each title. You may see information under each title that shows where your search term occurs in the record for the title. You can also place your cursor over the cover image to see more summary information. This information can help you decide whether the title interests you.

If the title is a serial such as a magazine or a newspaper, you may see a range of the issues the library system keeps. (Gaps are not included, and certain issues may not be available locally.) Click Find It to see details about the issues at each branch.

Note:
If you sort your search results by publication date, the sorting of serial titles in the results may not be obvious since the publication date is not displayed in the brief results for these titles.

If you searched databases other than the library catalog, and a title is from another database, the brief information for the title displays a database icon and the source database.

From here, you can see more information and work with any title:

• Author link - Click the author’s name to browse for more titles by this author.

• Internet links - A globe icon and Web Site link in a title listing indicate that the title is an electronic resource (Web site), or that a related Web site is available. Click the Web Site link to open the site in a secondary browser window.

• Format icons - An icon in each title listing represents the format of the title. If the library has a title in several formats, only one icon is displayed. For example, the library may hold the title The Client as a DVD and a book, but only the DVD icon is displayed. (To see all the formats for the title, click More Info for the title.) The publication date, if known, appears below the format icon for most titles. The date is not displayed for serials, such as magazines and newspapers.

Note:
Click the format icon to see the Librarian’s View (MARC record) for the title. This information is most useful to librarians responsible for the library’s catalog records.

• More details - Click the title itself, the Find It button, or the More Info button to see more information about the title. See “Viewing More Details” below.

Viewing More Details

Click the title itself or the Full Display button to see more information about the title.

Note:
Click Find It to see where copies are available, without viewing full title information. You can also see availability information in the full display for the title.

Bibliographic Information

Click More Info to see bibliographic information for a title. You may find links in the full record for the title. For example, you may be able to click the author’s name to browse authors in the catalog, beginning with the name you selected. This is an easy way to find other titles by the same author. Other links may lead you to titles about related subjects.

Note:
The bibliographic record may include a call number. This call number does not necessarily correspond to the classification method of a particular branch. Local call numbers for specific items may be included in the availability list. Click Find It to see specific items and locations.

MARC Record (Librarian’s View)

You may see a Librarian’s View option. Click Librarian’s View to see the MARC record for the title. This information is most useful to librarians responsible for the library’s catalog records. The Librarian’s View is also available by clicking the format icon for the title.

Additional Title Information

Your library may subscribe to additional services—such as tables of contents, reviews, and summaries—for titles in your search results list. Click the title, the book jacket, or the More Info button for a title in the search results list. Detailed information about the title is displayed. Scroll the page down and click an option below the title information to expand the option. You can click Expand All to open all at once, or Collapse All to close all the options.

• Summary, Reviews, Large Cover Images, Excerpts - This type of information is displayed when you click the option. (Awards appear in a secondary browser window.)

• Tags, Other Editions, Similar Titles - Click this option to open the Tag Browser. The Tag Browser displays the tags for your title, other related tags, and a list of titles that have been tagged with the same term you selected. Click a title to search for the title in the library catalog, or click another tag to list titles that have been tagged with the new term.

Note:
You can also search for other tags. Type a term in the Tag search box and click Search. The Tag Browser lists titles tagged with the term you typed.

• Link to NoveList - Your library may offer Ebsco’s NoveList® , a readers’ advisory service for fiction titles. You can click a link to view additional information about a title in your search results, and do further searches for fiction within NoveList. When you click this link the NoveList Web site opens in a new window.

• More titles like this - Click this option to get a list of related titles available at the library. If your library offers related titles, you see a list of title links in the lower part of the title information. The availability count is displayed for each title, and the list is sorted so that titles with at least one available copy in the system are listed first, and those with no available copies are listed last. The list is sub-sorted by relevance. You can click a title link to search for the title in the library. In the More Titles Like This list, you can click Why This Title? to display the reason for the title suggestion. When the reason is displayed, you can click the minus sign by the link to suppress the reason.

• More authors like this - Click this option for a list of similar authors. Click an author link in the list to launch a browse search by that author in the catalog.

• Find similar titles - This link takes you to a Web site where you can specify the characteristics of a title that interests you and get a list of similar titles available at the library.

Google Preview

Google Preview is a book viewer for books that have previews in Google Book Search. You may see a Google Preview button for titles in your search results. When you click the button, the preview is displayed in its own window. You can use the preview controls to page through the preview. Click X in the corner of the window to close the preview and return to your search results.