Thorncat Help

Punctuation

• Capitalization is ignored. 
  • Maine woods will get the same results as maine Woods
• Dashes and hyphens are ignored.
  • well-being will get the same results as well being

Phrases, Words, and Word Order

• Phrase searching is recognized. Use double quotes to search for an exact phrase.
  • "democratic education"
• Word order is ignored.
  • organic grower will get the same results as grower organic
• a, as, and, the, not, of, or are not ignored, i.e., every word you enter is searched. (This is not the case in most databases.)
  • A title search on golden and compass will not find the title Golden Compass because "and" is not in the title

Author Searches

• Word order, capitalization and commas are ignored. 
  • abraham Lincoln and Lincoln, Abraham and Lincoln Abraham will all get the same results

1. Search Thorncat using the search box on the library website.
2. Enter your search terms.
3. The Keyword dropdown box gives you several options to limit your search.
   1. Keyword - searches your terms anywhere in the item record
   2. Title - finds words in the title field
   3. Author - finds words in the author field
   4. Subject - finds words in the subject field of the item record
   • Note: When you first begin searching, Keyword searching can take awhile to give you results. If this is the case, we suggest you switch to searching on Title, Author or Subject and then try Keyword searching again.
4. You can limit your search by library. We are part of the Balsam Consortium which consists of a number of Maine public, school, academic, and medical libraries. 

Advanced Search link is below the Thorncat search box on the library website. This is similar to the basic search, but you can add additional search boxes and select from a series of filters to narrow down your search. With search filters you have the option to put limits on your search.  Note that the filters are helpful, they may not always bring back complete results.