How to...

How do I use the search box in IE7

The Search Box in IE7

One of the most welcome innovations in IE7 is the behavior of the Search Box. You can now add multiple search providers, make any one of them your default, and at the same time conveniently perform specialized searches all from the same search field.  To use it, simply type your term in the search box and press Enter (or click the little search icon next to the box):

Press Alt-Enter to see the search results on a new tab.

The drop-down next to the search icon contains the list of available search providers:

At installation, the default search provider is Windows Live Search (formerly known as MSN Search), and there are only a limited number of Search providers available. Microsoft has made it easy to add search providers to the list. Simply click “Find More Providers…” on the menu illustrated above. You will see a page of possible search providers:

Click on a provider’s link on this page and you will see the following dialog box:

Click Add provider and the provider will be added to your list. To search using that provider, enter your search term, click the search drop-down icon, and click on the provider. Search results will be returned from that provider. That provider will continue to be the default provider for that browser session unless you select another one.

It is also easy to add a “Search Palomar” option to the list of providers. To do so, click the “Add More Providers…” link, then follow the directions in the yellow area of the resulting page, labeled “Create Your Own.” In fact, any search provider can be added to your list in this manner. Here, in detail, is how:

1. Open the search provider you wish to add in a new tab.
2. Perform a search on the term “TEST” in all caps, no quotes.
3. Select and copy the URL from the resulting address bar.
4. Paste it into the URL area of the “Create Your Own” box illustrated above.
5. Give it a friendly name.
6. Click “Install.”

To perform a search using this provider, enter the search term in the search box, click the drop-down icon, and select the specialized search provider from the list.
Some, but not all, of the individual databases to which we subscribe can also be added to the search list. Those that pass the actual search term to the database, and display it in the URL address box can be added. Those that use a session id and load search results in frames cannot (including the library’s own SIRSI catalog search). The Ebsco databases cannot. JSTOR, the OED, Country Watch, Gale Literature Search (InfoTrac), and NetLibrary eBooks can be added in this fashion.

More powerfully, Palomar has a “Central Search tool,”provided by Serial Solutions, which allows searching on all the databases to which the college subscribes simultaneously (search tools like this are sometimes called “union” search tools, since they combine the results of many search databases into one results page), including the holdings of other local libraries like CSUSM and Mira Costa library. This “search provider” can also be added to the list. With one search, all Palomar information assets (and those of the other libraries in our area) can be searched. This works transparently on campus, and requires a password from the library off campus. If you add this database using the search field at the top of the library’s “OnlineDatabases” web page:

 (http://www.palomar.edu/library/OnlineDatabases/databases.htm)

the search results will NOT contain the contents of the Palomar College hard-copy library catalog, nor will it contain results from Mira Costa library. If you click the links under each set of databases on that page however (for example, the “Search All General Interest Databases” link on that page:

This will load the following page, which will let you fine tune your search more effectively, AND include assets, as you can see, from Palomar’s own library holdings:

After adding relevant Palomar custom search assets, my search provider drop-down menu looks like this:

Each time you start your browser session your default search provider will be the one used for searches unless you deliberately select another provider during that session. To change the default provider, click the Tools icon, choose “Internet Options” and click the Settings button on the general tab:

Or, alternatively, simply click the “Change Search Defaults” on the search provider drop-down menu. The “Change Search Defaults” dialog box will list all of the search providers you have added to IE7. Select one by clicking on it and then click “Set Default” to make it the default search provider.

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