How to search with the NLI's online catalog
The NLI catalog is the gateway to all of the treasures kept in the Library, including books, newspapers, manuscripts, archives, recordings, photos and more.
Let's get to know the catalog's search tools:
Search Bar
Here you can type in the title or name of the item you're looking for, the name of the author/creator or a general subject.
Tip: Our search engine works differently than Google's. It will search for every word typed in the search bar and will only display results that include all of these words, exactly as you've typed them (for example: If you type "The Holocaust and its influence on the establishment of the State of Israel", you will only receive results that include the words "influence", "its", "state" and "establishment". Instead, search for – "Holocaust Israel")
In addition, the search bar offers options to focus and narrow down your search:
Any Field - You can decide if you'd like to search for these keywords in any field (the default option) or to only search for these keywords among authors, among titles or among subjects.
All Items – Here as well, you can decide to search for your keywords among all items, or to only search among books, among photos, among music and so on.
Clicking on the search bar itself will open a window in which you can request to "search for the exact phrase" you have typed in (meaning the exact words you typed, in the order you typed them). Using this window, you can also request to only receive results in which the item can be viewed online. In addition, you can request to only receive results in which the item is in the Public Domain and not bound by copyright. You can select one or more of these options to narrow down your search.
Tip: You can also search for an exact phrase by placing the phrase in between quotation marks (").
Advanced Search
An advanced search allows you to further specify the kind of results you wish to receive: the type of material, language, year of publication/release and terms of use in relation to copyright. An advanced search also allows for more complex search options (for example, you can specify which words NOT to search for).
Tip: Using a combination of several filters at once can be very effective in getting the results you are looking for. Otherwise, you may end up getting a massive number of results if the words you search for are very common.
Material-Type Tabs
The initial results of any search will display all types of material. In order to see only one type of material, you can filter the results by clicking on the relevant tab (Books, Photos, Music, Archives, Posters, Manuscripts, Maps, the Piyut and Tefillah website, Newspapers and Periodicals).
Tip: If an item can be categorized as two types of material (for example a photo that is part of an archive), there's no need to guess – it will appear under both tabs.
The bar includes two special tabs:
Search in the Newspaper Collection – You can search through the full text of thousands of newspaper editions via our Historical Jewish Press website. This tab will transfer you to the website.
Articles Search – Search the RAMBI and IHP indexes and access academic databases such as JSTOR and others by using this tab. Some of these resources are only available from within the NLI building.