What is a boolean operator?

Answer

A boolean operator is a way of searching in library databases and is often found in the Advanced searching screen of a database. The most common ones are AND, OR, and NOT and they allow you to specify how you want the database to combine your keywords, e.g., do you want to find results that include both cats and kittens or one or the other? For the first search you would use the operator AND (cats AND kittens), for the second OR (cats OR kittens). If you wanted to find results relating to cats but not kittens you could use NOT (cats NOT kittens).

Not all databases require you to write the operators in capitals but some do so it's best to always write them in capitals, just in case. Many databases will guide you in using boolean operators on their advanced searching screen:

Advanced search screen in Library Search showing drop down fields with operators

This is the advanced search in Library Search and on the left hand side there are drop-down boxes where you can select AND, OR or NOT to combine the terms on each line of your search. 

You may find it useful to watch the video linked to below, which shows you how to make best use of boolean operators.

  • Last Updated 10 Jun, 2020
  • Views 354
  • Answered By Anna Richards

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