Search help

All of these words

Enter all the words that you want to search in the text box.

For example:

A search for “Atlantic tuna catch” will retrieve results containing the words “Atlantic,” “tuna,” and “catch” in any order.

Exact word or phrase

Enter a word or exact phrase in the text box in quotation marks. The results will contain all the words in the phrase together, exactly as entered.

For example:

A search for “Atlantic tuna catch” will only retrieve results containing the exact phrase “Atlantic tuna catch.”

Any of these words

Enter keywords in the text box.

For example:

A search for “Atlantic OR tuna OR catch” will give search results containing one or more of the words “Atlantic,” “tuna,” or “catch.”

By date

Input a date range in either the year of publication or year of acquisition fields to retrieve results limited to those dates.

Boolean search

The following logical operators are available for a Boolean search. Boolean operators must be capitalized:

• AND
  • results contain both search terms
  • example: federal AND provincial
    • gives search results containing the terms federal and provincial
• OR
  • results contain at least one of the search terms
  • example: federal OR provincial
    • gives search results containing the terms federal, provincial or both
• NOT
  • use either a minus sign (-) or NOT before a term you wish to exclude from your search
  • you must include a search term before the minus sign (-) or NOT
  • example:
    • tuna -Atlantic or
    • tuna NOT Atlantic
  • results will contain the search term “tuna,” but not “Atlantic”
  • note: You must include a space in front of the minus sign and no space after the minus sign for the search to work properly
• Brackets ( )
  • The search string within each set of brackets is searched first, then the search engine applies the Boolean operators connecting the brackets.
  • example: (Canada OR hockey) AND (goal OR summit)
    • The search engine looks for items containing either the term “Canada” or “hockey,” as well as “goal” or “summit.”

Wildcards

In a wildcard search, an asterisk replaces one or more characters in a search string. Search terms cannot begin with an asterisk.

For example:

• A search for bio* retrieves results containing the search terms “biomass,” “biodiversity,” “biophysical,” “biology,” “biological,” or “biologically.”
• A search for YN5*2024* retrieves all catalogue numbers that begin with “YN5” and contain “2024”.

Help with file formats

If you have trouble opening a file, explore this list of programs used to open specific file formats.

Bookmark a publication using a Persistent Uniform Resource Locator (PURL)

The URL displayed in the address bar of your web browser is not a permanent link. We do not recommend that you bookmark the record using this address. Instead, we recommend that you bookmark the Persistent Uniform Resource Locator, or PURL, located at the top of each record under the words “Permanent link to this Catalogue record.”

Example:
Permanent link to this Catalogue record:
publications.gc.ca/pub?id=9.506235&sl=0

The PURL is a distinct web address that acts as a permanent location for the catalogue record. While the record’s actual location may change over time, the persistent locator does not. Using a persistent locator link to bookmark the record greatly reduces the chance that the link will break over time.

Bookmarking monographic series

To bookmark a monographic series, you may use the PURL from either:

• the main series record or
• a record for an individual publication in the series

To access other issues within the series:

• From the main series record, click on “Browse issue records”
• From a record for an individual publication in the series, click on “View master record.” This will bring you to the main series record, where you can then click on “Browse issue records.”

For electronic periodicals, you may access individual issues of the publication directly from the catalogue record.