The CUNY+ Catalog has provided access to finding, locating, and accessing library materials and information for close to twenty years. As with all forms of technology, the library’s Integrated Library System (ILS), will be upgrading to a new platform. Unfortunately, the CUNY+ Catalog will no longer be supported by the new update. The good news is that the new ILS will be using a familiar friend, OneSearch, to find, locate, and access library materials and information.
OneSearch was introduced to the CUNY community in 2014. OneSearch differs and exceeds the CUNY+ Catalog through its capability to search multiple platforms at the same time. By entering search terms in OneSearch, you can find many articles, books, e-books, streaming videos, digital content, and more. However, it does have its limitations, OneSearch doesn’t have access to every database John Jay subscribes to. If you are researching a specialized topic, please refer to the specialized database list, and subject research guides.
Feeling concerned, or nervous about the change? No need to worry. Here’s your brief guide to using OneSearch and links to video tutorials provided for you by the staff at the Lloyd Sealy Library.
You can begin using OneSearch from the Library Homepage by typing into the search box.
After typing in your search terms and pressing Search, or hitting Enter, you will be brought to the results page with filters and advanced search options to widen or narrow down your search.
On the right hand side of the results page, you will find a list of Filters which will assist in locating the types of information/materials you are searching for. You can filter by Resource Type (books, journal articles, newspaper articles, maps, etc.), Topics (controlled subject headings), a custom date range of publication, Language, Author, etc.
Additionally, you can use the search box located at the top of the page to try a Boolean Search.
As you can see in the picture below, Prison is now a “subject” and New York has been added for any field, and this has brought the results down from over 2 million to about 7 thousand results. Using the filters on this search will narrow down the results as well to locate a digestible amount of information/materials.
Another great function in OneSearch is the Browse option, located at the top of the page. Using this feature, you can browse by Title, Author, Subject, or Call Number. This feature is similar to the functionality of the CUNY+ Catalog, it will provide results from the physical collection.
Browsing by Call Number will provide a list of materials that are classified together.
Browsing by Author will provide a list of physical items at the John Jay Library (4), while searching the author in the main Onesearch will provide much more (348).
Feeling overwhelmed? Stop by the Reference Desk for any questions, concerns, or tips on how to use OneSearch!
- Patrick Raftery