Getting Started With Discover

What is Discover?

When you do a Keyword Catalog search, you are using the Discover search system. Discover is a new, friendlier interface for searching the Syracuse University Library catalog, as well as the catalogs of

• SUNY College of Environmental Science F. Franklin Moon Library
• H. Douglas Barclay Law Library
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Library

Discover acts more like a Web search featuring new ways to quickly and effectively narrow your results by keywords, library location, language, and date. It is ideal for searching a broad topic or creating a general list of library resources on a given topic.

The Refine By options on the left and right panels of the Discover search results make it easy to narrow search results.

Discover contains records from the Classic Catalog (SUMMIT) and the Digital Library collection, but additional resources will be added. Please try it and tell us what you think!

Note: if you do an Author, Title, Journal Title, Subject, or Call Number search in the Catalog search box, you will be using the Classic Catalog rather than Discover. See the Catalog Search page for more information.

How Do I Refine My Search?

In Discover there are two ways of refining your search results.

• On the left hand column of your results page you can use the Refine By: section to refine your results using different categories.
  • Search Found In will show you only items where your search was found in the Author, Title, Subject or Community Tags.
  • Format allows you to find exactly the media you are looking for, such as Books, Journals, E-Journals, Internet, Atlases, Maps, Microform, and more.
  • Collection is an alphabetical listing of materials by collections, such as Internet, Reserves, Reference, Journals (both print and online), Government Information, and more.
  • Location lists the libraries that own materials matching your search. The library with the greatest number of holdings related to your search appears at the top of the Location list.
  • Language allows you to limit your results to a preferred language.
  • Publish Date allows you to select a year of publication.
  • Classification is a good way to narrow your results using broad subject categories.
  • Available is a quick way to limit items of any format to Online versions.
  • Place allows you to limit results to certain geographic regions. Caveat: not all items have place name information, so this method may miss some materials.
• The second way to refine your results is to use the Refine By Tag: option in the right column. The Tag Cloud is a collection of terms taken from predefined library subjects as well as terms generated by the library staff and our community of users. Click on a tag to further narrow your current search results. If you have an SU or SUNY ID, you can create your own tags.

How Do I View Volume Or Copy Information?

Click the Our Library Has link to display the call number and location of an item. This will not, however, tell you if it is checked out. Clicking the Check Availability link will send you to the Classic Catalog to find our if that item is checked out. If it is in circulation, you can request that it be recalled.

How Do I Locate E-Journals and E-Books?

The Format navigation in the left-hand column lets you narrow your search down by type.

• If you are looking specifically for online journals, simply limit your results by clicking the EJOURNALS facet and browse your search results.
• If you are looking for online books, your search may require little more work. Click the INTERNET format facet. However, in addition to e-books, the results may also include non-book materials, such as websites, databases, and government documents. If you get too many results, you may need to narrow your results by redoing your search with additional search words.

In addition, if you unsure of format, the Available option allows you to limit to just Online works.

Once you have located an item you are interested in, click the Electronic resource link to open the e-resource itself in a new window or tab.

How Do I Access My Discover Account?

In Discover, click the Log In link in the upper right hand corner of the page to create custom lists of materials you want to keep track of for later use.

Note: Your accounts in Discover and Classic Catalog (SUMMIT) require separate logins and serve slightly different purposes. In both cases, however, your library login is your name and 10-digit SUID number (not your NetID). Congress Classification (LCC) system. Type in as much of the number as you know, and browse the results forward and backward from that point.

How Do I Place A Hold or Recall?

When you want to place or hold or recall on materials that are in circulation, that request has to be done using the Classic Catalog.

• Click the Check Availability link for that item.
• In Classic Catalog, if the item is in circulation, click the REQUEST link in the banner, login, and then follow the steps to place a hold or recall on the item.

See also the help page on how to log into your Classic Catalog account.

How Do I Access The Classic Catalog (SUMMIT)?

There are currently two ways to get to the Classic Catalog from within the new search interface.

• Click on the "Classic Catalog (SUMMIT)" link just above the search box at the top of the page.  This will open up a new window or tab and take you to the Classic Catalog (SUMMIT) Advanced Search page.
• Click on any title in your search results, then click the Check Availability link for an item.  This will open up a new window or tab and take you to the Classic Catalog view of the same bibliographic record.  From here you can initiate a new search, or navigate to the Classic Catalog (SUMMIT) home page.

How Do I Create A Tag?

At the bottom of each item page is a heading for Community Tags. Directly below this heading is a text box where users can enter a tag. If the text box is not visible, you can click on the heading Community Tags. Enter your tag in the text box and click on the submit button. If you've made a mistake in entering your tag, click on the red "x" icon next to the tag. Your tag will appear immediately on the item page, but could take up to 10 minutes to appear in the tag cloud on a results page.