Depending on what you are looking for, you will choose one of the following search types. Consult the list below for help selecting the best search type.

• Author
  Use this search to look for items when you know the name of the director, performers/actors in major roles, composer or the name of the band/musical group. This search works better with more unusual names, like "Hitchcock" as opposed to common names like "Jones," which can lead to thousands of results. Type the name in last name first and enter as much of the name as you can, like "Jones, James Earl," for best results. If you only know a first name or if the name is very common, like the musician "Tom Jones," you may want to use a keyword search.



• Title
  Use this search if you know the exact title of the film or CD you want. This search works best with titles that are fairly unique. For example, a title like Matewan or Cradle Will Rock would work better than Hamlet, which has so many different book and film versions. A title search is not the same as a keyword search and it returns an alphabetical list of titles. A title search for "samurai" will return the film The Samurai, but not the film Seven Samurai.
  When you get a long list of results it can take a bit of clicking titles and going back to find the version on video or DVD. Sometimes you will see "Motion Picture" or [videorecording] after the title in the list and that is a good indication that this is the film version of the title you are looking for.



• Keyword
  Use this search when you don't know the title or author, when you want to combine title and/or author and other words or when you just have a general subject in mind.
  
  
  At the Advanced Keyword Search screen, you can quickly narrow your search to media items by selecting either "Videos, Slides, Media" or "Musical Sound Recordings" from the drop-down Publication Type menu. Here you can also limit results to only items at the Seattle campus Media Center by selecting "Odegaard Undergraduate Library" as the location or choose films in a foreign language with the Language drop-down menu. If you are looking for films on a certain subject use the "video, Slides, Media" publication type and enter some keywords for your subject in the box next to "Any Field," and it will search for those words anywhere in the title, subject or description. This can also be a helpful search when you know the title, but it is rather popular, like Hamlet. You can search for Hamlet in any field and find films about Hamlet as well as film versions of the play, or you can change the search type to "Title" in the drop-down menu and when combined with the "Videos, Slides, Media" publication type, this search will bring back films with "Hamlet" in the title. Keyword searches can also be useful for finding films where you only know a fragment of the author's name or a bit of the title. Watch your spelling! A search for "Jeid" will get no results, where a search for "Jedi" and Publication type: "Videos, Slides, Media" will return the Star Wars films.



• Genre/Form
  Use this search when you want to search for a specific theme, style, or physical format. For example, "documentary films," or "comedy films," etc. This is helpful if you are looking for a type of film, like "science fiction films" but don't have a specific title in mind. The library has over 3,000 documentary films so if you are looking for films on a particular subject you might want to use a keyword search for "documentary films" and the subject of your interest. Genre/Form searches are also the best way to find Books on CD. Type "audiobooks" into the Genre/Form search box to find books on CD. Watch for Location- most are part of Odegaard's collection and not housed at the Media Center.

If you are having difficulty finding what you're looking for or need some help with your searches, don't hesitate to contact the Media Center.