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ARTH 275: Design Research Guide

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What is Omni?

Omni is our academic search tool that enables you to search for books, journals, articles, videos and much more, all from one interface. 

Omni enables you to search different scopes of information collections: locally at Queen's, consortially with 13 other partner libraries, and beyond, via the vendor's vast database of electronic resources. Books that are not available at Queen's can be requested through interlibrary loan.

The Omni search box is featured on the Queen's Library homepage

When Should I Search Omni?

  • You are starting your research and want to assess the resources available on your topic
  • You want to find resources in a variety of formats (i.e. books and articles)
  • You are searching for articles on an interdisciplinary topic, where information could be found in various databases
  • You are looking for an exact known item
  • A comprehensive article search is not required

When Should I Search Specific Databases?

Omni includes content from the various research databases to which Queen's University Library subscribes but not everything is included. If you are looking for information on a very specific topic, or a topic that is subject specific, it is recommended that you search databases that specialize in that subject area for more thorough results.

A link to database search is available from the library homepage or consult the relevant library research guide to determine the recommended databases in your discipline.

Omni Search Tips Guide

For a much more comprehensive look at Omni, please consult the library's Omni Search Tips guide.

Omni: Basic and Advanced Searching

Quickly conduct either natural language or complex Boolean searches across the entire content collection you have selected. 

Basic Searching

The default search in Omni is basic search. Enter one or more keywords into the Omni search box, choose the scope you wish to search (please note, if you are starting your search from the library homepage, the scope is automatically set to Queen's - this can be adjusted once you've executed a search), then click the search button. 

Basic search supports the use of Boolean operators: AND, OR or NOT, and they must be entered in uppercase (e.g. cassatt OR morisot).

To search for a specific phrase, type quotation marks around the phrase, otherwise AND is assumed between each word.  (example: "art deco").

Once you have your initial search results, you can fine-tune them by using the filters on the left side of the screen.

Advanced Searching

Use the advanced search option for more precise searching. Using the drop-down options within the Advanced Search screen you can limit your search to specific fields and/or a combination of fields (Author, Title, Subject, Call number). You can also specify that your search words must be contained in the search field ("contains", "starts with" or "is (exact)."  

Specific dates and languages can be selected. Resource type will limit your search to a specific format or material type, such as book or ebooks.

Boolean Operators

Use AND to tell the database that ALL search terms must be present in results. Narrows your search results  bauhaus AND design
Use OR between words for synonyms. Broadens your search results "great exhibition" OR "crystal palace"
Use NOT to exclude terms sculpture AND degas NOT rodin
Use quotation marks around phrases "art nouveau"
? for single character wildcard (useful for variable spellings) wom?n for woman, women
* for truncation (multiple character wildcard). Useful for variant endings of a root word. moma AND exhibit* [for exhibit, exhibits, exhibition, exhibitions]
brackets to group terms (nested searching) "material culture" AND (inuit OR "first nations" OR metis OR indigenous)

Journal Search

If you are already in the Omni search interface, choose the "Journal Search" option near the top of the page and enter the title of the journal (or magazine or newspaper) in the search box (to enlarge this image, please right-select the image below and open it in a New Tab):

In the relevant record in your search results, click on the title of the journal. From there you can access the full text (if the journal is online) and also search inside for articles within the journal, directly from the record:

search for articles within this journal

Other Tools

Omni offers a number of useful tools that you can use to organize, save, and cite your research.  Log into Omni to get the maximum use out of tools.

cite icon Citation icon Select one of ten different citation styles and generate a citation to the item. Be sure to check citations for accuracy
envelope icon Envelope icon Email a record to the item
pushpin icon Pushpin icon Save this item to your list of favourites in Omni
citation trails Citation trails Lead to sources that cite the work or to references cited in the item
ellipsis icon Ellipsis icon Shows action options including citation, email, permalink, export to citation managers and print record

Sign In

In the right hand corner of Omni,  you will see the option to sign in.

Signing into Omni will help optimize your search, and you will have access to special features, such as saving your favourite results. From your Favourites, you can label and collate personal collections and export citations to a citation manager. You can also check loans and requests, renew materials, access full text, view search history and create alerts. 

Search Scopes

Omni provides you with three different content collections to search:

  1. Queen's: physical and online resources at Queen's
  2. Queen's + Omni Libraries: adds the physical holdings* of our 13 partner university libraries
  3. Add results beyond Queen's collection: Accessed when you select this option under Modify your results. "Beyond" refers to a vast collection of electronic resources contained in the Omni vendor database

*At this time, only print books may be borrowed via Interlibrary loan from our Omni partners

Results Filtering

Apply filters to fine-tune your search results.  Filters are located on the left hand side of the Omni search page, after you have performed a search.  

To select a filter, move your mouse to the left of the filter you wish to select and a check box will appear. You can then select it (or deselect it by moving your mouse to the right hand side of the filter). After selecting a filter, be sure to click the green "Apply Filters" button to activate the filter.

New Features

Related Reading

Starting from an article of interest, related reading provides other relevant articles for the same topic. 

(To enlarge this image, please right-select the image and open it in a New Tab)

related reading

Virtual Browse

Discover other books at Queen's on the same topic by browsing a virtual book shelf. Available in Omni records for print monographs, scroll to the bottom of the book's record to discover other print monographs that would be shelved with the item.

(To enlarge this image, please right-select the image and open it in a New Tab)

virtual browse