Checking you own catalog in the NHAIS ILL System

Sometimes you can use the NHAIS ILL System to see what's in your catalog even when that catalog is otherwise inaccessible. Such was the case yesterday (Tuesday, Nov. 18) when Cloudflare, an Internet security firm, experienced a global outage. This affected many web services, including Koha catalogs hosted by Bywater Solutions. The NHAIS ILL System searches those catalogs through a connection that doesn't involve Cloudflare so yesterday morning it was possible to at least check availability through the ILL system even when a catalog wasn't reachable through normal channels.

You can always narrow searches in the NHAIS ILL System to one or more catalogs by clicking on the "stack-o'-pancakes" icon to the left of the search box (the hover text says "Select Resources"). Choose Expand All (if displayed), then Clear All, then select your catalog from the list and enter your search terms. Note that all Z-targets reliably return results for author, title, subject, and ISBN searches; results for other search types, including general keyword, may vary by catalog.

When you're creating an ILL request, of course, it's best to have Check All chosen on that list to get the widest picture of what's available. However, your selection of catalogs to search has no bearing on which locations are added to your lender list--the ILL program does its own search of all connected resources to determine the lender list after you submit your request. 

Finding federal government documents

If the list of search indexes in the NHAIS ILL System looks a little shorter lately that's because we've removed the GPO SuDoc Number and GPO Item Number searches.

They haven't worked for quite some time--you'd get no results even if searching for something that's in the system. 

You can, however, search for a SuDoc or GPO item number using the General Keyword index. The SuDoc number is usually the better option as the GPO item number tends to yield numerous results.

GPO number search indexes

Now that all the NHAIS ILL System search options appear without further fuss once you log in, it should be noted that the GPO Sudoc Number and GPO Item Number searches do not work--and haven't done so for quite some time. They remain in the queue for a fix.

Why you didn't find something in the NHAIS ILL System

You've searched the NHAIS ILL System and what you're looking for didn't turn up? Sometimes that's because of things out of your control--no NHAIS libraries have what you're after or a server outage or Internet glitch kept all catalogs from being searched--but sometimes your search just fell short. Here are some reasons you might have missed out on finding something that's in the system:

-You gave up when your search term didn't show up in the autocomplete suggestion list. Those suggestions come exclusively from the indexes for the NHU-PAC, which is just one of 146 catalogs that the NHAIS ILL System is configured to search as of this writing.

-You didn't wait for the NHAIS ILL System to finish its search. Searching 146 catalogs doesn't happen in the blink of an eye and whenever it takes longer than 2 or 3 seconds to retrieve results the system will show you results from the NHU-PAC as soon as it can while it searches the other 145 catalogs.

-You didn't click the Add to Results Now button. In cases where it takes longer than 2 or 3 seconds to retrieve results, the NHAIS ILL System will continue to display the results from the NHU-PAC that it initially found and won't add other results until you click that button.

-You didn't search all catalogs. Click the "stack o' pancakes" icon to the left of the search box to check whether you're searching all available catalogs. If there's a minus sign next to Library Catalogs, you're missing out. Clicking the minus sign will change it to a check mark, which means all possible catalogs will be searched.

-You used Advanced Search. Many Z-targets are not configured for searches that combine different types of terms or include limits. Only the NHU-PAC reliably returns Advanced Search results; other catalogs are hit-or-miss.

-You did something other than a title, author, subject, or ISBN search. Different catalogs are indexed in different ways. We've found that all the catalogs in the NHAIS ILL System reliably return results for title, author, subject, and ISBN searches. When you try other searches, like general keyword or series title, some catalogs will return no results.

-You used the wrong type of search. Entering an ISBN for a title search isn't going to get you anywhere.

-You misspelled a word. The NHAIS ILL System has some leeway programmed in to account for some misspellings and to include "dogs" with your search for "dog" but it doesn't account for every variation. And remember those British spellings: Horatio Hornblower fans will get better results by looking for Flying Colours instead of Flying Colors.

Need help with searching? Contact the NHAIS Help Desk via e-mail or phone 603-271-2141.

OCLC number search fixed

OCLC numbers can once again be searched without prefixes in the NHAIS ILL System, fixing an issue noted earlier this month. You can still include the ocm, ocn, or on prefix if you want to but the digits are all that's really needed and there's no minimum number of digits required so you can once again find Mudlumps at the mouth of South Pass, Mississippi River; sedimentology, paleontology, structure, origin, and relation to deltaic processes, which is OCLC record #2, by entering 2 for an OCLC number search. The OCLC number search is one of several specialized searches in the ILL system that's only available to users who are logged in.

Where'd that record go?

Every so often the NHAIS Help Desk hears from someone puzzled about not being able to find a record that they know they saw in the NHAIS ILL System mere minutes ago on another computer and/or when logged in with a different username. Sometimes this is explained by a temporary glitch in communications with one or more of the 130+ catalogs that the NHAIS ILL System checks. More often, though, it happens because different library catalogs are selected for the searches. To see which catalogs are being searched, click the "stack o' pancakes" icon (hover text says Select Resources).

You may have different sets of catalogs associated with different usernames (each library has 3 usernames assigned, ending with ILL, ALL, and CAT). Several catalogs have been added to the list since the system was launched in the fall of 2019 and it's possible some of the additions aren't reflected on some of your logins. The default resources for each username are set under Your Account > Your Favorite Resources. Follow directions on that screen to change the selections.

For interlibrary loan purposes, generally your best bet is to have all catalogs selected. Selecting individual catalogs to search will limit the choices you're given to create a request but doesn't govern which libraries your request will be routed to--the lender list is built by a process that functions separately from your searching.

For cataloging purposes, you may want to target just the NHU-PAC. It's near the middle of the list of catalogs and 95 percent of its more than 1.3 million bibliographic records come from OCLC. If you're using a Z39.50 client to download records from NHAIS, whether that client is built into your local ILS or a standalone program, it's configured to search only the NHU-PAC.