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• Search for a Publication
• Quick Search
• Search for a Publication
• Simple Search 
• Go
• Advanced Search button
• Search Tips
• Advanced Search 
• Go
• Clear Form
• Search Tips
• Search Results List 
• Sorting of Search Results
• General Information
• Refine the Search Results list
• Commands
• Publication Information 
• Publication formats
• Commands
• Order a Publication
• Search Tips

Search for a Publication

The Government of Canada Publications Web site search engine allows you to search through our catalogue of publications. By using Quick Search, a Search for a Publication, which is a simple search, and an Advanced Search. Search Tips provide helpful hints for searching.

Search criteria is entered in the field(s) such as a key word which could represent a title, the author's name, a subject, a title, an ISBN, a department or agency, or a GoC Catalogue Number. The search engine returns a list of the publications which match the search criteria. The list presented can be sorted by title, author, a department or agency, or by the year of publication. Each publication can be selected to view its detailed information such as description, formats, binding type, number of pages, price, language, and availability.

Whether you are in the Search Results list or viewing the specifics of the publication, you can select publications to add to your shopping cart, if they are available. When you click on the icon Add to my Shopping Cart, the publication is added to your shopping list called My Shopping Cart. For publications displayed without a shopping cart that you may be interested in obtaining, please call our Customer Service at 1 800 635-7943 or (613) 941-5995.

Quick Search

Quick Search is available in the homepage to allow you to do a search quickly by entering a keyword. The keyword entered will be used to search all titles, authors, subjects, an ISBN, a department/agency, or a GoC Catalogue Number. To do a quick search, you:

• Enter the information in the Quick Search: field.
• Click Go to submit the query.
• The Search Results list is displayed with publication(s) matching your criteria.

Search for a Publication

The Search for a Publication feature may be used to do a simple search or an advanced search depending on the amount of information/criteria you want to enter in the search fields. The more criteria entered, the more precise the search results list.

Simple Search

To start a simple search, you:

• Select search criteria attributes from the drop-down menu of the Search Criteria field (the default attribute is "Title").
• Enter multiple key words in the Input Field, or it can be left blank for a broader search.
• Select Any Word, All Words, or Exact Match.
• Submit the query by clicking on Go.
• The Search Results list is displayed.

Remember, for publications displayed without a shopping cart that you may be interested in obtaining, please call our Customer Service at 1 800 635-7943 or (613) 941-5995.  

GO

When you click Go, you are telling the system to begin the search. 

Advanced Search button

To do more detailed searching, click on the Advanced Search button. Click on Advanced Search for detailed steps.  

Search Tips

To help you narrow down the display of publication(s), the use of search syntax or operator(s) can prove very useful. Clicking on the icon Search Tips opens a window which explains how to use these various types of search criteria.  

Advanced Search

To start an advanced search, you:

• Select search criteria attributes from the drop-down menu of the Search Criteria field (the default attribute is "Title").
• Enter multiple key words in the Input Field, or it can be left blank for a broader search.
• Select Any Word, All Words, or Exact Match.
• Submit the query by clicking on Go.
• The Search Results list is displayed.

Remember, for publications displayed without a shopping cart that you may be interested in obtaining, please call our Customer Service at 1 800 635-7943 or (613) 941-5995.

GO

When you click Go, you are telling the system to begin the search.  

Clear Form

When you click on Clear Form, all the fields in the Advanced Search window are cleared.

Search Tips

To help you narrow down the display of publication(s), the use of search syntax or operator(s) can prove very useful. Clicking on the icon Search Tips takes you to a window which explains how to use these various types of search criteria.

Search Results List

The Search Results list is displayed with a list of publication(s) which match your search criteria.

The following message is displayed at the top of the list and indicates the number of publication(s) found during the search:

We found (#) records matching

Remember, for publications displayed without a shopping cart that you may be interested in obtaining, please call our Customer Service at 1 800 635-7943 or (613) 941-5995.

Sorting of Search Results

To view publications in a different order, click on one of the options in the field Sort by: to sort your publications by:

• Title
• Author
• Department/Agency
• Year of Publication

General information

Your language of preference determines the order in which the French and English fields are displayed in the window. If French is chosen, the French fields are displayed before the English. This is useful when you search bilingual publications.  

Refine the Search Results list

If you would like to change your existing Search Results list, to refine it, use the 2 fields displayed under the title Refine this Search. Select criteria to help you narrow down your search even more, and click Go to start the search engine.

Refine this Search:
 

Criteria	Searches
Title (default)	Against all titles in the database.
Subject	Subject, keyword, category, abstracts (all abstracts).
Author	By author name.
Department/Agency	By Department / Agency name.
ISBN or ISSN	By ISBN or ISSN numbers.
GoC catalogue number	GoC catalogue number, cancelled GoC catalogue number.
All	All fields specified in list.

Input field:

In Input field, you may enter additional criteria or leave it blank.  

Commands

The Search Results list displays icons and buttons that you may use for the following purposes:
 

Command	Action
Add to My Shopping Cart	Adds the selected publication to My Shopping Cart. This link is part of How to Order.
Save to file	To export the Search results list, a standard window "Save As" is launched in which you can specify where you want to save the file.
Go	Submits the new search query used to refine the search. Conducts the search against those publications found in the previous search.
Previous	Moves to the previous Search results page. Only presented if more than one page of results exists.
Next	Moves to the next Search results page. Only presented if more than one page of results exists.

Publication Information

You have a Search Results list showing publications which match your search criteria. At any time during your viewing of a results list, you may click on the publication title to view its detailed information. The publication details are:

• A small image of the publication's cover is displayed (if available at the time),
• To the right of the image, the publication's title is displayed,
• Under the title, is a brief description of the publication. This will give you an idea about the contents of the publication,
• The price of the publication you are viewing is listed, and beside it an icon representing its format. For example, a symbol of a book means that this publication is available in print format, a symbol of a CD means it is available on a CD-ROM. Go to Publication Formats to see the icons representing the various formats.
• A message is displayed to inform you of the availability of the publication you are viewing. Should the publication not be available, our Customer Service can help you locate it. The following messages may be displayed:

• "Item is available" if the publication is in stock, or
• "Publication is not an inventory stock item" if the publication is not part of our usual stock, or
• "Publication is temporarily out of stock" if the publication is not presently available, or
• "Publication is not being published" if the publication is not being published anymore.
• If the publication is available in other languages (other than the one you are presently viewing), the other language is displayed. For example, if it is available in French, the word "French" is underlined. This means that it is a link and that if you click on it, its French description will be displayed.
• Icons of other available formats are displayed. For example, a CD icon represents a CD-ROM. Go to Publication Formats to see the icons representing the various formats.
• Additional information regarding the publication you are viewing is displayed such as, who issued it, the author's name, its binding. If the publication comes with an insert of some sort, for example, a CD-ROM, the information "Accompanied by CD-ROM" is displayed.

Publication Formats

The following table shows some of the icons and the format of the publication it represents.
 

Icon	Format
	Print
	CD-ROM
	Large print
	Audio Cassette
	Braille
	Diskette
	Electronic
	Microfiche
	Video Cassette
	Audio CD
	Maps
	Annual
	Periodical

Contact our Customer Service, should you have any questions regarding the above formats.  

Commands

The Publication window displays icons and buttons that you may use for the following purposes:
 

Command	Action
Add to My Shopping Cart	Adds the selected publication to My Shopping Cart. This link is part of How to Order.
Return to Search Results	Returns to the Search Results window.
Related Publications	Provides you with other publications related by subject for your interest.
Previous Editions	Displays a list of previous publications.

Order a Publication

When you decide on the publication(s) you want to order click on the Add to my Shopping Cart icon presented on your Search results lists.

Remember, for publications displayed without a shopping cart that you may be interested in obtaining, please call our Customer Service at 1 800 635-7943 or (613) 941-5995.

For detailed steps to ordering publication(s), click on this link How to Order.

Search Tips

Using the following search tips can help you narrow down the display of publications. Various search syntax or operator(s) can be used to search publication(s), some are preset as defaults on your search windows. Another search syntax to help you in your search is called the multiple-character wildcard (the asterisk *).

The wildcard represents one or more characters in a search term. The asterisk (*) when used in the search criteria field matches any number of characters within a search term. 

For example, if you enter safe* as a search criteria, the search results list will display terms that begin with safe such as: safe, safety. Or, Europ* will display Europe, European.