Search Tips

The Blue Skyways search engine uses Google's indexing of all the files located on the server that are linked to from some other file, whether they are HTML pages (those documents ending in .html or .htm), Adobe Acrobat files (ending in the .pdf extension), or just about any other type of document (Microsoft Word, Wordperfect, etc.). It excludes image files such as the GIF or JPG.

For more help searching Skyways, contact jmotsinger3@kumc.edu

General Search Tips

Be specific. Try to pick specific words that apply uniquely to your topic.
Use at least two or three search terms. Use more terms to narrow your search. If you just type in 'library', you'll match almost every document on Skyways, which is practically worthless.
Use quotes for phrases. You can search for phrases by adding quotes around them. Example: "Kansas State Library"

Adding Boolean Operators

You can add Boolean terms for more advanced searching.

AND links two or more terms together to narrow a search. Only pages containing all the terms strung together with ANDs will produce a search result.
Example: library and state and Kansas

OR links two terms and collects all documents that contain either term.
Example: digital or electronic

NOT will search for documents that contain the first term but not the term that follows it.
Example: library not books

Parentheses surrounding a Boolean phrase works like algebra formulas by stringing together multiple searches. Those Boolean phrases inside of the parenthesis will be performed first, followed by those outside the parenthesis.
Example:
(library not books) and (loan or borrow)

Last updated 08/10/04
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