How to search the library catalogue
For the best results, use keyword search. The more words you use, the more precise your results will be.
Learn more about search results.
If you don't find what you are looking for, check your spelling or try a different search.
Search by keyword
We recommend typing several words in the search box, because the E-library will try to find items matching as many of your words as possible – a combination of author plus title works best. You can also search for a topic or phrase.
Be as exact as possible in the keywords you choose. For example, use the word ‘rose' rather than ‘gardening'. If you are looking for a map, try including the word ‘map' as well as the place name.
Search by title
Type as many words as you know from the beginning of a title. Remove the first word if the title begins with ‘The' or ‘A'. More words will find the title quicker, for example type ‘da vinci code' rather than just ‘da vinci'.
Your results will be an alphabetical list of titles from the first word you type. For example, the top result when you search for ‘harry potter' will be ‘Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets'.
Search by author
Type in a surname followed by a first name or initials. For example, if you are looking for a book by Mark Haddon, type ‘haddon mark' or ‘haddon m'.
Music CDs can be found by typing in a singer or the name of a group, for example ‘U2'.
Advanced search
You can choose different types of search, or limit your search by:
- children's titles only
- formats such as paperback books, music or DVDs
- languages
- titles kept at your local library.
To choose several options in a list, hold down the Control key and click all the items you want.
Search by ISBN
Most books have an ISBN – the International Standard Book Number barcode – printed on the back or inside the cover.
Older books have a 10-digit number and new books have a 13-digit number. Some titles have more than one ISBN because they've been published in different formats, such as hardback and paperback.
Type the ISBN in the search term box with no spaces or hyphens, for example ‘0552149519'.
Search by series
Use series search or keyword search to look for books that feature the same characters or locations, for example ‘chronicles of narnia'.
Search by class
Class numbers – also known as the Dewey Decimal Classification reference number – are used to organise books by subject.
Type an exact class (or Dewey) number into the search term box to look for everything starting with that number. For example, ‘920' for biographies.
Formats
We've listed the most popular formats at the top of the advanced search box. You will need to scroll down the list to find other formats such as printed music and vocal scores.
If you are looking for books published before 1998, we recommend you select ‘books' as well as ‘hardback' and ‘paperback'.
Recent searches
If you have searched for several titles, your last five searches will be listed in a grey box at the bottom of the screen. Titles you looked at in more detail are also shown. Just click the relevant links to go back to your previous results.
To go back to an older search, first click the ‘Show all searches' or ‘Show all viewed titles' buttons.
Your search history will be kept for 20 minutes.
