Explore: Finding books, journals and more

At the top of the search results page Explore displays the number of items that matched your search.

By default search results are sorted by Relevance but you can sort them by Date-newest, Title, Author or Date-oldest.

On this page you will find:

• Refining results
• Results display
• Multiple versions
• Viewing the details of an item

To narrow down and refine your search results, use filters in the left column of the results page.

The filters column lists only the types of material retrieved for that search. For example: if your search results only include books or conference papers, any other types of material will not be listed.  

You can use filters to either include or exclude materials:

• Hover your cursor over the filter by which you want to refine.
• Check the box on the left of the filter to Include, then click on the Apply the filter button to  confirm your choice.
• Check on the box of the right to Exclude, in this case your choice applies automatically.

At the top of the filters panel, you will see the list of filters you have chosen. For example if you have refined your search results to exclude Newspaper Articles, you will see this type of material in red font and crossed out.

You can also lock filters you have used during your search:

• Click on the Padlock to lock the filters.
• Locking filters is useful, for example, if you want run searches with the same parameters, like type of material, date publication or language.
• The filters remain active for the duration of your search session.

Results are displayed with brief information about an item:

• Type (book, article, theses etc etc).
• Title.
• Author.
• Publisher and date of publication.
• Format: available for print materials or view online for digital materials.

Sometimes you will find some extra information for example:

• Peer review: for articles published in peer reviewed journals.
• Open access: for articles published in Open Access journals.
• Whether the item has been cited or which citations it contains. This generally applies to journal articles only.

Multiple versions of an item, for example the print and the electronic edition of a book or several editions of a title like Shakespeare's Hamlet, are grouped together. To view all the versions available, click on the item and a new page will show the list of versions.

Click on an item to view the full details: On the left-hand side of the new window box you have a list of navigation links, which will remain at the top of the window as you scroll down and will help you to navigate to the various sections of the item record.

Send to

In the 'Send to' section you will find a number of ways in which you can save or manage an item record. See Working with your results for more information.

• Use Cite to create citation record in a various citation styles.
• Save items in Reference management packages such as Endnote, Mendeley, or export the bibliographical record of an item.
• Print.
• Permalink to create a permanent link to the item.
• Scan the QR code with your phone.

View it

The View it link and section are displayed when the item you are viewing is available online. You will see links to:

• the platform on which the item is available, for example JSTOR, Oxford University Press Journals etc.
• UCL Term and conditions.
• Contact details of the E-resource team.

Get it

When the item you are viewing is a physical item, instead of the 'View it' you will see the 'Get it' section, which shows:

• Location, availability and loan period of an item. (You must be logged in to see this information).

• Full details of holdings and locations of journals in print.

Details

In the Details section you fill find specific information about the item you are viewing: title, author, publishing date, subject headings. From Details you can also start browsing for similar topics.

Links

The Links section lists links to other library catalogues, which you can use to search for resources outside UCL libraries. There is also a link to Amazon's 'Look Inside' that allows you to view the Table of Contents of a item.

Virtual browse

You can virtually browse the library bookshelves for books on the same subject.

By default search results display 10 items per page but, at the bottom of the page, you can change the default to show 25 or 50 items per page.

The list of filters on Explore includes:

• Show only: to select Physical item or Online resources only.
• Type: to refine by type of resources, like books, journal articles, theses, etc.
• Library: to select individual libraries in which to find materials.
• Archive location: to select the location of archived materials, for example Special Collections.
• New records: to view records added to Explore from the last three months to last seven days.
• Date: to view records published in a specific year or between two specific years.
• Author: to select specific authors.
• Language: to view materials written in specific languages.
• Topic: to select one or more topics.
• Collection: to view materials kept in specific collections within a library, for example IOE Library - History of education or IOE Library - IoE publications.
• Journal title: to select one or more journal.