Limiting Searches
Search limits help make most searches more specific. Search limits may
be applied prior to executing a search, or to a search results set (post
search limits).
One or more of the following search limits
can be used (please read the "restrictions and cautions" below) :
- Date of publication or creation of the material
- Language of the material
- Type of material (e.g., journal article, book,
electronic resources)
- Place of Publication (e.g., country, state,
province)
The
button,
used prior to executing a search, can be selected for any search method,
but it has NO EFFECT on Subject and Author searches.
The
button
is only available when viewing a Titles List or
a Titles List (Keyword). Selecting this
button takes you to the Limits screen, where you can apply multiple limits
to the existing search results set.
Once search limits are set (either before or after a search), they remain
in effect for subsequent searches, until the
button
is selected. The limits also affect searches that are launched by selecting
hypertext links in single catalog record displays.
Note: Search limits in the Handbook
of Latin American Studies Online Catalog (HLAS OPAC) can be very useful
for refining large sets of search results, but should be
used with caution. Not all catalog records contain the data
that is used to set limits. When multiple values (e.g., several languages)
are recorded in a catalog record, limits can only retrieve on one of them.
If relevant material is not retrieved after setting limits, clear the limits
and modify the search.
- From the Basic or Guided Search screens, select the
button.
- To set Date: limits:
- Type a year in the initial box (shown as 1984 in the example
below)

- Select the "radio" button in front of
the type of limit desired:
- Select the equal sign ( = ) for materials published/created

- Select the greater-than sign (
> ) for materials
published/created after (not including) 1984:

- Select the less-than sign (
< ) for materials
published/created before (not including) 1984
:

- Select Range, for materials published/created
between 1984 and 2000:

- To set Language, Type, Location, or Place
of Publication limits:
- Select a limits category by highlighting an option
within the scroll window by clicking on it with the mouse
or using the keyboard:

- Jump quickly to the alphabet range
of the category you desire by typing
its first letter. This technique can
only be used to make a single selection
in a limits category. Alternatively,
scroll through the list using the mouse
controls.
- Choose more
than one option
within a category
by holding down
the <Ctrl> key
(or <Apple> key
on the Macintosh)
while making
additional selections.
- Once all limits selections have been highlighted,
select the
button
at the top or bottom of the Search Limits box
to make them take effect. The following message
appears on all search screens, once limits
have been activated:
Search Limits Are
In Effect (they will not work with Author or Subject
Heading searches)
- When using Search
History to repeat previous
searches, note that the
search limits will use
only the ones currently
set. To restore previous
search limits, use the
button
to clear the current limits,
reset the previous limits,
then select the
button.
Return to the Search
History screen and
repeat the search.
Jump to: Date - Language - Type - Place
of Publication
Confines search results to materials published or created in a single
year or span of years.
The "after the year" ( sign > ), "before the year" (
sign < ), and "range" options can be particularly useful
when searching for materials whose date of publication/creation
is uncertain or consists of a span of years.
- Example #1: A book whose publication
date was recorded as "[19--]" (i.e., uncertain
decade) in the catalog record will not be retrieved
when limiting by a single date, but it will be
retrieved with any one of the following date
limits: range of 1900 to 1960; range of 1890 to 1970;
or > 1899.
- Example #2: A serial whose
publication dates span the years 1926-1969 will
not be retrieved when limiting by a single year
within that span, e.g., 1930. It will be retrieved
when selecting a range of years or a "before" or "after" date
that encompasses the whole span of years cited
for the material, such as one of the following:
range of 1920 to 1970; > 1920;
or < 1970.
- Reprint publications will only be retrieved
by setting the search limit to the date of
the reprint, not the original date of publication.
- Some materials will not be retrieved at all when date limits are set because no data was recorded in the encoded fields used for date limiting. For instance, catalog records for many archival manuscript or mixed material collections do not include this encoded kind of date information.
The "Language" limit
reflects only the primary or predominant language of the material because
only one language can be recorded
in the data field used for limiting. For example, a work
in Chinese with some English translation will not be found when limiting
on
works
in English.
Confines search results to a particular type of material. For
example, select this option to limit search results to books and serials,
excluding records for the many other formats the catalog includes (e.g.,
maps, music, photographs).
- A list of types of material, with cross-references
from unused terms, is available.
- Although materials represented by catalog records can be of more than one type,
this search feature generally retrieves only the predominant type.
- For instance, a sound recording may consist primarily of spoken material, but with some musical accompaniment. In such cases, the type of material is recorded as "Nonmusic Sound Recording"; a limit by "Music Sound Recording" would not find this item.
- An exception is material that is serially produced. For instance, a computer file that is issued serially can generally be retrieved either using the Serial or the Computer File selection.
When two or more places of publication are cited in a catalog
record, only the first named place will be retrieved. For
Example, a work published both in London and New
York will not be found when limiting on works published in New York
(State).
Use the browser's
[Back] button to resume searching.
>>
Top of Page