MetaSearch user guide
What is MetaSearch? 
MetaSearch allows you to search or browse up to 10 electronic journal packages, library catalogues and other electronic resources in a single search, then link to full text or other services. Databases are grouped together by broad subject categories. You can create your own list of preferred resources and construct alerts to run searches for you.
MetaSearch is good for straightforward searches across multiple databases. If you need to use a more complex search strategy than MetaSearch supports, you can click on a database title to use the full search functionality of the individual database in its own interface.
Getting started
- Go to the University Library page
- Select Multiple databases together [MetaSearch] from the Databases drop-down menu
- Click on the blue octopus icon
- Enter your UNE username and password if prompted
Locating a know item
If you have a reference to a journal article and you wish to find a copy of it:
- Click on Find e-Journal.
- Either
Type keywords from the journal title, click on Contains and then Go
Or
Click on the letter in the alphabet for the first letter of the journal title. - Click on the
button to the right of the title you want - Type in what you know of the journal year, volume, issue and start page and press <Enter>.
- Enter your UNE username and password if prompted.
Selecting resources to search
- On the MetaSearch Search screen look for the Category area to the left of the screen and click on the drop down arrow. Select a discipline grouping. Some groups offer Subcategories as well.
- Ensure the resources you wish to search have a tick in the box to their left.
- Click on the
for information about a resource, including any unique search features.
Note that resources that do not have a box can only be searched directly using their individual interfaces. You can click on the title of any resource to search it directly.
You can also use Find Database or Find e-Journal from the top menu to locate specific resources. To create your favourite list of resources, click on the 
sign to the right of titles to add them to My Space.
Search strategies
Simple Search
- Type one word or phrase, or combine more than one word or phrase with And or Or.
- Click on GO. Some examples are:
- multiculturalism
- narrative therapy
- salinity and australia
- greenhouse or ozone layer
You may use truncation, but this can eliminate hits in some databases.
Advanced Search
- Type search words or phrases in one or both boxes.
- Use the Search in fields: drop down arrow to choose whether to search in All Fields, Subject, Title, Author, ISBN, ISSN or Year.
- Use the drop down box to the right to combine terms with And, Or or Without.
- Click on GO.
Search tips
- Capital letters and quotation marks for phrases are unnecessary.
- Use * or ? for truncation. diseas* will find disease, diseases and diseased.
- Use the Or operator to search variant spellings and alternate words or phrases, e.g. sulphur Or sulfur, honey bee Or honeybee
- Use the And operator to ensure search terms are present. gorbachev And yeltsin finds references which mention both of these names.
- To narrow or broaden a set of results, click on Refine at the top of the screen and add a word or phrase to combine with your last search.
- If you enter more than one word, MetaSearch searches a phrase if the resource supports this.
- Author searching is best limited to family name only if this results in small enough results lists. Otherwise note that MetaSearch generally advises to add detail to author searches using the form Family Name, Given name or Family Name, Initial(s). Variations in individual databases means it is best to try every possible form. For example to find Otis Hackett as an author try: hackett, o OR hackett, otis OR otis hackett.
Viewing results
- The number of articles (hits) in each database is displayed and, where technically possible, combined results are given for some or all databases searched.
- To look at results of a combined set, click on View. Click on Next when you want to go to the next screen. After a few screens you will need to click on combine more to see other records.
- You can also click on View to see the results for an individual database.
- A sort option appears when the number of hits is small.
- Click on Next to see additional records from the first database.
- Click on results in other databases to see what was found in other databases you selected.
- Click on to see full text and additional options such as a check of the UNE Library Catalogue.
Marking records
You can make a list of citations for later printing, emailing, saving or exporting to EndNote.
- Mark records on the MetaSearch Results page by clicking on Add Item to the right of citations of interest.
- Your marked records are found in My Space.
Alerting service
MetaSearch allows you to save a search and run it as an alert. The alert email lets you know if new hits were found and allows you to re-run the search giving both new and previous hits. Where individual databases provide alerting services setting these up directly will usually provide an email showing only new hits.
To set up an alert:
- Run a search
- Click on Previous Searches
- Click on the + sign under Actions for the search you want
- Click on My Space then History
- Click on
for the relevant search and fill in your details and requirements for the alert, and press <Enter>. - Delete unwanted alerts from My Space History by clicking on the
to the right of the ones you wish to delete.
Printing, saving, exporting and emailing
When you are viewing a full article, you will be able to print, email or save by using the icons within the individual database.
You can also make a list of citations for later printing, emailing, saving or exporting to EndNote. Mark records on the MetaSearch Results page by clicking on Add Item to the right of citations of interest. Your marked records are found in My Space eShelf.
- To print your list, click on My Space and use your browser print button.
- To save the citations to your PC:
- If using Internet Explorer click on My Space and then on Selected. Click on Save at the bottom of the pop up box. Keep Standard format and click on Save. Internet Explorer may put up a message saying it has blocked the download for security reasons. If this happens you can click on Click here for options ... and choose Download File to proceed. Select where you want the file to save to, give your file a name and change file type to All Files then save to your PC.
- If using Mozilla Firefox, click on My Space and then on Selected. Click on Save at the bottom of the pop up box. Keep Standard format and click on Save. Next click on Save to Disk. Firefox will save it to your desktop. You will need to change the file extension to .txt before opening it.
- To export records, which you have added to a basket, directly into EndNote ®, click on My Space. Mark checkboxes for references you want or mark the top checkbox to select all references. Click Selected. Click on Save at the bottom of the pop up box. Change the Record format to Citation Manager and click Save. EndNote will open. Choose an EndNote library into which the records will be imported.
- To e-mail your list, click on Selected, then click on Send at the bottom of the pop up box. Type in a subject line and an address, such as username@une.edu.au and press the <Enter> key.
- To clear items from My Space you can click on under Actions to delete individual citations, e-journals or databases. In My Space eShelf you can delete multiple citations by adding ticks to the boxes on the left and then clicking on the trash can
.
Click on MetaSearch if you wish to continue searching.
Help
- The Help in MetaSearch gives in-context help.
- For further help and advice using MetaSearch, please contact your Faculty Librarian, or Warren Gilson.
- For help with the general principles of using journal indexes, try eSKILLS UNE
- University Library staff can help you during University Library opening hours, phone 02 6773 2458
- You may request advice using the Ask a Librarian form
Logging out
When you have finished using MetaSearch click Logout.