How to do Request Inquiry by book title (or author’s name)

The Virtual Catalog searches an SQL database, so in order to do a search for a book title to find a request you have lent or received (in the Request Inquiry function in staff mode rather than in the patron mode) you need to select one word in the title (usually the most unique word is best,  ie if the title is “Battles of the Conflict in Serbia use  “Serbia”)  and substitute the first and last letters of the word with a % sign.   For example , using “ Serbia ”  you would type  %erbi% in the TITLE box  in the Request Inquiry area.

Another example is title:“Perfecting ourselves to death”.  The search could be for title %erfectin% or %ourselve%

This is a problematical search so please contact the help desk if you have trouble with it or are not getting the results you need.

vchelpdesk@flo.org

617-442-3191