Encore FAQ

• What is Encore?
• Are my search results in any specific order?
• How do I find books by a famous author, not about him or her?
• What are those different sized words in the lower right hand corner?
• Can I request items that are "in cataloging" or "on order"? How?
• Can I still use the old catalog; the one with which I am comfortable?
• Does Encore search a different catalog (book list) from the classic catalog?

What is Encore?

Encore is a new way for patrons to find materials in Rhode Island libraries. Encore is best for broad keyword searches to see what resources the Library has on a particular topic. Encore is also capable of searches by title or author.

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Yes. The default sort is relevance, but you can change the sort by clicking on Title or Date (publication date, most recent first) under the orange bar.
The relevance sort works like this: Titles are grouped into relevance categories based on things like which fields your search terms were found in, if they were found together or separated, etc. Within those categories they are sorted by publication year, most recent first.

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How do I find books by a famous author, not about him or her?

If you search for a famous author like Mark Twain, but all you see on the top of the list is books about Mark Twain, just click on "Author" on the left, under "Refine by: Search Found In."

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What are those different sized words in the lower right hand corner?

That's a "tag cloud," something you see on other web sites. In this case, the "tags" are the subject headings of items that match your search. The bigger the words, the more items in your results have that subject heading. You can click on a tag to narrow your search. These tags can help you get at precisely the items you want, and may lead you to things you didn't know existed.

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Can I request items that are "in cataloging" or "on order"? How?

For most items you'll see "request this title" on the search results screen, but not for items that are on order or in processing. To request one of these, click on the title in your search results, then choose "request this title" on the left side of the next screen. (This should be improved later this year.)

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Can I still use the old catalog; the one with which I am comfortable?

Yes. The old interface to the library catalog is still available. It can be found under "classic catalog" or "No, thanks, I want to search the old way."

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Does Encore search a different catalog (book list) from the classic catalog?

No, they both search the same database of library materials, but Encore displays the information differently. It gives you more background information which may be useful in your search. The Encore catalog searches all public libraries in Rhode Island so you may have to scroll down a library list to find our listing. The classic catalog gives you the option to "view all holdings" in Rhode Island or to limit by a specific library.

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Please submit further questions regarding Encore to our reference department. Questions we receive repeatedly will be added to this list.

Many thanks to the Cuyahoga Falls Library in Cuyahoga, OH from whence much of this FAQ was taken.