Omni is our academic search tool that enables you to search for books, journals, articles, videos and more, all from one interface.
Omni enables you to search different scopes of information collections: locally at Queen's, consortially with 19 other partner libraries, and beyond, via the vendor's vast database of electronic resources. Books that are not available at Queen's but are available at one of our partner libraries can be requested directly through Omni.
The Omni search box is featured on the Queen's Library homepage.
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.
For a much more comprehensive look at Omni, please consult the library's Omni Search Tips guide.
Search Omni to find books, journals, videos, and other materials owned by the Library. You can search by keywords, author, title or subject headings.
Basic Searching
The default search in Omni is basic search. Enter one or more keywords into the Omni search box.
Basic search supports using Boolean operators: AND, OR or NOT.
Apply Boolean operators to focus results:
Once you have located a book of interest through a title, author or keyword search, if a subject heading(s) describes what you are looking for, click on it to find additional items on your topic or use the subject headings for other words to use in your keyword searches.
You can fine-tune your results by using the filters on the left side of the screen. 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, click the green "Apply Filters" button to activate the filter.
Advanced Searching
Advanced Search enables additional techniques for narrowing results. You can apply Boolean operators and:
| Use AND to tell the database that ALL search terms must be present in results. Narrows your search results | women AND income AND canada |
| Use OR between words for synonyms. Broadens your search results | teenagers OR youth OR adolescents |
| Use NOT to exclude terms | exercise NOT fitness |
| Use quotation marks around phrases | "glass ceiling" |
| ? 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. | cultur* for culture, cultural |
| brackets to group terms (nested searching) | ("social movements" OR activism) AND (twitter OR facebook OR "social media") |
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.
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Citation icon | Select one of ten different citation styles and generate a citation to the item. Be sure to check citations for accuracy |
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Envelope icon | Email a record to the item |
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Pushpin icon | Save this item to your list of favourites in Omni |
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Citation trails | Lead to sources that cite the work or to references cited in the item |
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Ellipsis icon | Shows action options including citation, email, permalink, export to citation managers and print record |
Within Omni, there is 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.
Omni provides you with three different content collections to search:
*If you discover a book at one of our partner university libraries, you can request it directly through Omni.