Basic Searching

Select a topic below or the Help Contents

• Starting & Stopping AMICUS
  How to access and exit AMICUS on the web. Also includes the steps to change your password.
• How To Search
  How to select an index and enter a search term; explains buttons, commands, punctuation and capitalization
• Browsing an Index
  How to check what AMICUS has in its indexes; useful for finding search terms
• The Search Results
  • Sorting the Results
    How to sort the results of your search
  • Displaying Records
    How to view records for your results

Starting & Stopping AMICUS

Starting AMICUS

1. Connect to the web with your browser
2. Type the Web address http: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/amicus and select English
3. Select AMICUS Web and click the Search button.
4. If you have registered for an AMICUS username and password, type your AMICUS username inside the box and tab to the password
5. Type your password and click the OK button.

Changing your password
(registration required)

To ensure the security of your account change your password every six months.
Follow steps 1 to 4 above and then continue with the steps below.

1. Type your password and click the Change password button
2. Type your AMICUS username inside the box and tab to the Old Password
3. Type the password you have been using and tab to the New Password
4. Type the new password using 5 to 8 characters with at least one number
5. Retype your new password and click the OK button

Stopping AMICUS

To exit AMICUS click the Exit command on any AMICUS screen.

How to Search

Using Buttons & Commands

AMICUS provides buttons and commands in addition to your browser's Back, Home, Print, etc. Commands display underlined below the AMICUS screen title.

Buttons are specific to each screen. To use a button or command click it once.

Entering a Basic Search, Capitalization & Punctuation

Most basic searches use a single index and a single search term. Select the index from the Index list. Type your term in upper or lower case in the entry box. Most terms do not need punctuation. Searching by subject requires hyphens before subdivisions.

• Find works by Alice Munro
  1. Select the Name (Exact) or the Name Keyword index from the Index list
  2. Type munro alice in the entry box
  3. Click the Submit button to search AMICUS for results.

Be precise with your term: munro alice is more precise than munro. To search for a phrase like "acid rain" use quotes around the term. Unsure of your term? Try browsing an index to find a suitable term. You can narrow your search with the limiters at the bottom of the screen. For example, you can narrow a search to English items only. For more ways to control your search see advanced searching. Registered users can use options to customize the Index list with their favorite indexes.

Browsing an Index

If you are unsure of your search term you can start by browsing an index to find a suitable term. Select a browse index from the Index list. Type your term in upper or lower case in the entry box. Most terms do not need punctuation. Browsing by subject requires hyphens before subdivisions. Do not use limiters for browsing.

• Find works by Alice Munro
  1. Select the Name Browse index from the Index list
  2. Type munro alice in the entry box
  3. Click the Submit button to open the index (shown below)
  4. The ten entries in the index closest to your entry display. To move forward in the index use the Next button, to move back use Previous.
  5. To select a single index entry, click the entry. To select several entries, click the boxes on the left and then click the Display Selections button.

The Search Results

AMICUS presents the results of a search on the Results screen. For each result you see the main author, title (underlined), edition, place of publication, publisher and date. The Locations button appears if the item is held by an AMICUS library.

If the result of a search is a single record, AMICUS bypasses the Results screen and presents the Record screen.

Sorting the Results

You can sort your search results by date, name and title.

• Date ascending: Sorts by date to show the oldest works first; unspecified dates (such as 19uu) can appear at the end
• Date descending: Sorts by date to show the most current works first; unspecified dates (such as 19uu) can appear at the beginning
• Name: Sorts alphabetically by the name of the main author of the work
• Title: Sorts alphabetically by the title of the work; initial articles (such as "The" or "An") are ignored in sorting

A blank files before a letter; a letter files before a number.

Displaying Records

For each search result you can display a detailed record. To select a single work on the Results screen, click the underlined title. To select several results, first click the boxes to the left of the desired records and then click the Display Selections button.

If you selected several records, AMICUS shows them one by one. Use the Next and Previous buttons to move from one selection to another.

Changing the Record Display (registration required)

With the click of a button you can view three different record displays.

• Brief is useful for general research and interlibrary loans
• Full (shown below) is useful for detailed research work
• MARC is useful for cataloguing with MAchine Readable Cataloguing codes

To change the defaulted display, return to the Search screen and select Options.

Help Contents