SirsiDynix Symphony

Boolean operators (AND, NOT, OR, and XOR) locate records containing matching terms in the library catalog. You can use Boolean operators to connect words or phrases between more than one text input field, or use Boolean operators to connect words or phrases within a text input field. The following list explains each operator.

• AND – Symphony locates records containing all of the specified terms. For example, a subject search on “cats AND dogs” locates records that contain information on both cats and dogs. Records about only cats or records about only dogs are excluded.
• NOT – Symphony locates records containing the first search term but not the second. For example, a subject search on “cats NOT dogs” locates records only about cats, and excludes any records about cats that also contain information about dogs.
• OR – Symphony locates records matching any or all of the specified terms. For example, a subject search on “cats OR dogs” locates records that contain information only about cats, records only about dogs, and records that contain information on both cats and dogs.
• XOR – Symphony locates records matching any one of the specified terms but not all of the specified terms. For example, a subject search on “cats XOR dogs” locates records only about cats and only about dogs. Records that contain information on both cats and dogs are excluded.

Positional operators (SAME, WITH, NEAR, ADJ) locate records in which the search terms are in close proximity. Positional operators can be used to connect words or phrases within a single field entry.

• SAME – Symphony locates records in which a bibliographic record field contains all of the specified terms.
• WITH – Symphony locates records in which a field contains a sentence with all of the specified terms.
• NEAR – Symphony locates records in which a field contains all of the search terms adjacent to each other; however, the order of the terms does not have to match the order they were entered.
• ADJ – Symphony locates records in which a field contains all of the search terms adjacent to each other and in the order they were entered.

Symphony allows the symbols ? and $ to be used to represent substitution and truncation. These two symbols can be used together or separately. These symbols may only be used at the middle or end of a term, not as the first character of the term.

Substitution

Use the ? symbol as a substitute for a missing character in a search term usually when you are unsure of a spelling or when you want to find two forms of one word. For example, if you enter WOM?N, Symphony locates records containing either "woman" or "women."

Truncation

Use the $ symbol to truncate a search term and can represent a single characters, many characters, or no characters. If you follow the $ symbol with a number, Symphony limits the number of characters matched. When more than one term in a search expression is truncated, each term is searched for all variations. For example, if you enter JAME$, Symphony locates the specified records containing the terms "Jame," "James," "Jameson," and "Jamerton."

To search for an operator, enclose it in double quotation marks.

For example, death be not proud returns a very large hit list comprised of all titles in the catalog that do not contain the phrase, "Proud."

To prevent this, type death be “not” proud, or enclose the entire phrase in double quotes. (Double quotes treat operators as terms.)