BISON (Buffalo Information System ONline) is the Catalog of items in the University at Buffalo Libraries. Use BISON to identify and locate books, journals (titles only, not individual articles), government documents, music scores, maps, manuscripts, audiovisual materials, microforms and electronic resources in the UB Libraries and on the Internet. BISON is available 24 hours a day at http://bison.buffalo.edu/.

BISON works best with the current version of Internet Explorer on a PC platform. Using other browsers and operating systems may result in some loss of functions.

See Tips / Hints

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The Advanced search page offers a link to Browse an Alphabetical List (of several indexes) and a keyword search option with multiple search fields and sidebar options for narrowing the search. Here you can combine terms in different fields by using Boolean operators such as AND, OR and NOT.

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The Library Annex is located off campus and houses low volume materials. If the item you need is listed as in the Libraries Annex, go to the appropriate form to request it. Often the item is delivered to campus or your email box withing one business day.

City Directories stored in the UB Libraries’ Annex are too fragile to handle and will no longer be retrieved for use. Please use the microfilm or microfiche editions located in the Capen Multimedia Center.

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If the item you need is listed as At Bindery, go to the appropriate form to request it.

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If you have the barcode and need to locate item information, use Expert search. Use the format: bar =39072029733452.

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Basic Search offers a variety of search and browse choices from the pull-down menus. All keyword searches can use Boolean operators.

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If you want to save your search records for later use, you can store them in your library Basket. In order to save these records, you must be logged in to My Library Card. Items added to the Basket when you are not logged in to My Library Card, will disappear when your session ends.

To view records in the Basket, click Basket from the top menu bar.

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If there is a block on your account, you will not be able to renew or check out books. Your account may be blocked for a number of reasons, including non-return of books, failure to return recalled items, non-payment of fines, address correction needed or not currently enrolled. You can see if you have a block when you log in to My Library Card. For more information, contact a circulation desk.

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The Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT can be used to combine words or phrases in keyword searches. Use AND to require that both words are present. Use OR to require that at least one of the words is present. Use NOT to require that the first and not the second word is present. Note:

• The system assumes that all words are combined with AND if no operator is present and if you do not enclose any part of the search in parentheses.
• Use parentheses to group terms logically:
  • (rodgers or hammerstein) and musical
  • (spine or spinal) and (stenosis or arthritis)

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The Browse function enables you to search the catalog in alphabetical or numerical order, like a dictionary. You can browse backwards and forwards in your results list. This type of search is most useful for a “known item,” such as a title or author name.

You can do a Browse search from the Advanced Search page. You can also do a browse search from the Basic Search page by selecting one of the following:

Title begins with…
Author (last name first)
Call number begins with…
Subject begins with
Medical Subject begins with…

NOTE:

• The Subject browse should be chosen only if the exact Library of Congress or the Medical Subject Heading is known.
• In a Call Number browse search it is important to click on the title to find the Library Location of the item

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BISON works best with the current version of Internet Explorer on a PC platform. Using other browsers and operating systems may result in some loss of functions.

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Call number searches work best in Browse an Alphabetical List. Select the type of call number from the drop-down menu and enter either the whole call number, or the first letters and numbers. You must leave spaces between combinations of letters and numbers. A period is treated as a space. Examples: QA76 .B4, hf5383 b466

Searching for a SuDoc or other government document by call number can only be done when selecting Call Nos.(Govt. Doc.) from the drop-down menu.

Note: Call Number searches can be imprecise.

You can also use Expert search to locate items by call numbers.

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On this page you can:

• view a summary of volumes owned by the Libraries (for example: number of volumes of a journal or serial)
• see if an item is available for check out
• place a Recall

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Closed Stacks items are stored in restricted areas of the Arts & Sciences Libraries due to their special research value. These materials do not circulate and must be used in the Special Collections Research Room in 420 Capen Hall. Circulation staff and reference librarians do not have access to the Closed Stacks.

Use this form if you have searched the BISON Catalog and the item you need is noted as “LOCKWOOD Closed Stacks” or “SEL/ENGR Closed Stacks”.

To combine the results of previous searches, click on Recent Searches. Choose which previous searches you want to combine and click on Combine. Select the way in which you want the searches combined, and then click GO.

• And requires both search terms to be included.
• Or requires at least one search term to be included.
• First set not second will include items found in set number 1 and exclude all items found in set number 2.
• Second set not first will include all items found in set number 2 and exclude all items in set number 1.

See Also Modify

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We appreciate any feedback you may have in regards to the Searching Tips for the BISON catalog. To submit comments and/or suggestions, please use this form.

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To limit your search to conference publications in the UB Libraries, select Conference in the Format drop-down menu on the Advanced Keyword Search screen. Conference titles are rarely standard, so it is best to combine terms regarding the organization and the name of the conference together in a keyword search; for example, IEEE and automation.

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Access to this subscription-based resource is restricted to current UB students, staff, and faculty. Both on- and off-campus access requires a UBITName and password.

To Email records:

• Select each record that you wish to save or email
• Click on the Save/Mail option
• Complete the form that displays, filling in the email address line
• Click Go

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To import records using the EndNote format:

• Select the records you wish to save
• Click on Save/Mail
• On the Select Predefined Format pull-down menu, choose MARC Tags Format(EndNote).
• Click on Go

Details about EndNote are at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/endnote.html.

BISON EndNote connection and filter files can be downloaded athttp://libweb.lib.buffalo.edu/endnote/endNote_filters.asp

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If you have searched the BISON Catalog and you have noticed what you think is: a spelling error, an incorrect call number, a library location error, or other type of inaccuracy, please use the BISON Catalog Problem form to report the error.

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The Expert search in BISON uses CCL (Common Command Language) phrases to allow maximum control over searching. To use CCL, type a three-letter code with an equal sign and then your search term (wga=georgia) in the search box. Consult the abbreviations and full list of codes used in CCL here.
To use Expert Search for call numbers, see Call Number Search.

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The catalog records in BISON are encoded in the Unicode character set. Unicode allows for the display of a large range of alphabets and diacritics (also known as accent marks) and special characters.

Displaying non-Roman Characters If strange characters appear in some of the BISON records, change your browser display as follows: From the Internet Explorer Web browser menu bar, select VIEW > ENCODING > MORE, then select the correct language. Other Web browsers may use different menu paths or terminology. Use your browser help for more information.

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BISON allows you to to limit your search to a specific format (book, video, serial, map etc.). Choose one of the following:

• Select Advanced, use Advanced Keyword boxes to type in your terms and use the pull-down menu at the right to select a format.

• When viewing search results, select Modify Search and limit your search to specific formats.

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When you click on a title of an item after doing a search, you will be looking at the full bibliographic record. From here you can

• Click on Check Availability to see if the book is available
• Follow links to available online information
• Add the record to a Basket
• Save/Mail the record
• Click on ILLIAD Request to request the item from the Annex or from another library location

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This button is available on the top of the screen when you are looking at a catalog record. Clicking it will take you to a page with options for requesting the item. If the item is listed as On Shelf, you can retrieve it yourself. If the book is located in a UB library on the campus opposite to your department or it is in the Annex, use the ILLiad form. The item will be delivered to your selected library.

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If the item you need is listed as In Preservation, go to the form to request it.

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If the item you need is listed as In Process, go to the form to request it.

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If the item you need is listed as In Storage and you want the Libraries staff to make the items available for you, go to the form to request it.

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If the item you need is listed as Incomplete Issues, go to the form to request it.

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ISSN and ISBN number searching are available in Advanced Search or from the Browse an Alphabetical List. You must select the appropriate term (ISSN or ISBN) from the drop-down menu.

ISSN example: 0022-4537; or 0954-349X For an ISSN search, enter all eight digits including the hyphen. When doing your search be sure to include all leading zeroes.

ISBN example: 0871138018 For an ISBN search, you should enter all ten digits with no hyphens. When doing your search be sure to include all leading zeroes.

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The Journals tab allows you to limit your search to journal or serial titles, including newspapers. You can also do a journal search in Basic or Advanced. After choosing Title begins with from the drop-down menu, type the title of the journal. Example: Buffalo Law Review.

To determine what we own in a journal title, use the information in Summary Holdings after clicking on Check Availability, PLUS look at the list of individual items to see which current (unbound) items have been received.

To determine what we own in a print newspaper collection, check the shelf if individual issues are not recorded in the catalog entry.

To determine what we own in a microfilm collection, use the information in Summary Holdings after clicking on Check Availability.

If you need to find articles from journals, click on Resources by Subject from the Libraries’ home page and select a journal database in the appropriate discipline.

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The George Kelley Paperback and Pulp Fiction Collection has approximately 25,000 pulp fiction books and magazines. The Collection is housed in the Special Collections Research Room in 420 Capen Hall (inside the library). The Collection is open for research but must be used in house. For retrieval of material, please use the request form.

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A Keyword search looks for words in any field or in a field you specify, as in a Title Keyword search. Use a Keyword search when:

• you are looking for books on a certain topic, but do not know the subject heading for the topic.
• you know a word, or some words, from the title, author, etc.
• you are looking for words listed in the contents notes

You can do a Keyword search from the Basic Search page, or from the Advanced Search page. The Advanced Search page offers multiple windows.

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To limit to a particular language, click Advanced and use the pull-down menu to choose a language. Not all available languages are listed. To find items in languages not listed, try the following:

• Select Expert on the search page and create a command language search using WLN= xxx where xxx is the language code (usually the first three letters of the language name. Consult the list of language codes.

e.g., wln=est and drama will find plays written in Estonian.

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You can limit your search in a number of ways. While creating your search you can:

• use Advanced Search and limit by language, year published, format or library location.
• select Journals to limit to journals, newspapers and other serials

After you have run a search, you can limit your results by selecting Modify Search. You can combine previous searches using Recent Searches.

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Log In is not required to search the BISON Catalog, but will allow you to see your personal information, including books checked out to you. Log In to BISON using your UBIT name and password. For password problems and assistance, please contact the CIT Help Desk. Log In for Guests of the UB Libraries is available only on computers in the Libraries. See Services for Libraries’ Visitors and Guests for more information.

Please be sure to Log Out when done to prevent your personal information from being accessible to others.

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Modify is a way to further limit your search. Click Modify Search on the results list page. You can narrow or broaden your search using the Boolean operator buttons and entering a word or phrase. Additional limits in the panel include language, date, format and location.

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Use My Library Card by logging in to BISON with your UBIT name and password.* My Library Card is a feature in BISON which enables you to:

• View items on loan.
  • To see which books you have checked out, click on the number next to Items on Loan.
• Renew items on loan
  • Click the number next to Items on Loan, select items to renew and click on Renew Selected.
  • To renew all items, simply click on Renew All.
  • Interlibrary Loan materials cannot by renewed on My Library Card. Please use ILLiad to renew Interlibrary Loan materials.
• View Fines/Fees
  • Click on the number next to Fines for details of any existing fines.
• View status of Recalls
  • Click the number next to Recall Requests to view information about any items you have recalled from another borrower.
  • To cancel the recall, click the number in front of the title of the book and select Delete.
• View any blocks on your account.
  • Your account may be blocked for a number of reasons, including non-return of books, non-payment of fines, address correction needed, or not currently enrolled.
• Visitors and Guests may log in by entering their Library User Name printed on the front of their blue or yellow card in lieu of the UBIT name. See instructions at My Library Card - Log In Instructions.

Please be sure to Log Out when done to prevent your personal information from being accessible to others.

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The New Additions page lists newly-received library materials, sorted by library.

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Items listed in the catalog as Non Circulating-Rare are too fragile to handle and will no longer be retrieved for use.

If you have an OCLC (WorldCat Accession) number or RLIN (Record ID Number) , search in the Advanced Search mode. Use the pull-down menus and select OCLC/RLIN Number. If the OCLC / RLIN number search fails, rerun it using title or author information.

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If the item you need is listed as On Order go to the form to request it.

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Search results in BISON typically include an embedded cookie as part of the search string. The cookie is necessary to enable search and session history, but can make it difficult when you want to save or share your search results later for access on a different computer. BISON includes several tools to make this process easier, such as: add to my basket, email/save, and Bookmark & Share. You can also generate permalinks: stable, persistent URLs that will always link directly to the resource you’re seeking. How to generate a permalink depends on whether you wish to link to a single record or to a whole group of records.

To create a permalink to a single record in BISON:

• View the record you seek.
• Click Permalink from the menu options beneath the catalog tabs.
• Note that the URL displayed in your browser’s navigation toolbar changes from a long URL with an embedded cookie to a shorter URL without the cookie. This shorter URL is the permalink.
• To share or save the permalink, simply copy it from your browser’s navigation toolbar and then paste it into an email, web page, document, etc.

To create a permalink to a group of records in BISON (i.e.: to replicate your BISON search):

• Perform a search in BISON.
• On any results page (but not in view of individual record), copy the URL from your browser’s navigation toolbar and paste it into your desired program. Now you will need to delete the cookie from the URL to make it a permalink.
• The cookie is the portion of the URL that falls between http://bison.buffalo.edu:8991/F/ and ?func Delete all of the characters between /F/ and ?func and the resulting URL is a permalink to your search. (Note: do not delete the characters which come after ?func - they contain your search specifics, not the cookie.)

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To search for words as a phrase, enclose the words in double quotation marks. (e.g., “plastics recycling”). In Advanced search, check the radial button marked Phrases.

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To print a single item record: use the Print function of your browser.

To print a list of records including the call numbers:

• Select all the records you wish to save for printing
• Click on the Save/Mail option
• Leave the email address line blank
• Click Go
• Click Save on the next page
  • Select to either Save or Open the file and print from the resulting document.

Note: Trying to print from the Results List will often not print the call numbers

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In keyword searches, the % and ! symbols may be used to specify proximity.

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Most punctuation marks may be entered or ignored. If you get unexpected results, try the search again, adding or deleting the punctuation mark.

Cutting and pasting text into a search box will be problematic if the text you paste includes any punctuation or diacritical marks (accent marks.) BISON may not perform the search correctly. If punctuation or diacritical marks are needed, you will get better results by typing the text directly into the search box using your keyboard

Hint: a hyphen is required when doing an ISSN keyword search.

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The RECALL function is used to request items that are currently checked out to another borrower. After selecting Check Availability, click on the word RECALL and follow the prompts to log in. The current borrower will be given a new due date and you will be notified when it is available for you to pick up.

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Recent Searches allows you to view the results of previous searches, incorporate them into new searches or combine them into one result set.

Note: Search statements remain in the Recent Searches only during your session. They will disappear automatically after fifteen minutes if no activity occurs in the catalog. To avoid losing records, log into My Library Card and use the Basket to retain items.

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Use My Library Card to renew your items online. Also see Renewing Library Material.

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Search for materials which have been put on Course Reserve. You can search by course number (with no spaces) or by instructor name.

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When you enter a successful search query, or click on an underlined entry from the browse list, a Results List is displayed. There are a number of things you can do within this list. Some options are:

Combine Results

• Use Recent Searches to view the results of previous searches, incorporate them into new searches or combine them into one result set.

Modify

• Click Modify Search to further modify your search. You can narrow or broaden your search using the Boolean operator buttons and entering a word or phrase. The sidebar allows you to limit by language, format, year or location.

Select items

• Click in the box to the left of an item to select it. These items can then be viewed as a group, added to your Basket, saved or emailed, or printed by using the Save/Mail link.

Sort

• You can sort the list by using the Author, Title or Call Number headings at the top of the lists. In a keyword search, items in the results list will be sorted with the most recent items first.

View

• To see full information about any item, click on its title.
• Then, click Check Availability to find the status of the item. If and item is listed as On Shelf, you may go and retrieve it. If an item has a due date, you may Recall it.

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To Save records:

• Select each record you wish to save or email
• Click on the Save/Mail option
• Complete the form that displays, leaving email address line blank
• Click Go
• Click Save on the next page
• Click Save again on the File Download page that pops up
• Make decisions about where you will save the document.

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Break your topic down into a few keywords. BISON will not recognize ful sentences or long phrases. When entering the keywords into the search field, you do not need to include AND. BISON will place an automatic AND between any two terms when searching. If you need the terms to appear next to each other, enclose them in quotation marks (”peace bridge”).

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If the word Shelving appears in the Due Date column of the record for an item, it means that the item has recently been returned to the library and is on its way to the shelves. This indicator remains for 3 days. Check the shelf for the book or ask for assistance at the desk.

To locate items in Special Collections (University Archives, Rare Books, The Poetry Collection), select the Advanced Search option and use the drop down menu under Location/Collection to select Special Collections. See Requesting Materials from Special Collections.

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In Keyword searches, the words AND, OR, NOT are stop words. The system will not search on a stop word in a keyword search unless it is entered in quotes. Example: to do a keyword search for and a voice to sing with, enter your search as “and” a voice to sing with.

Note: in a Browse (…begins with) search, these words may be used. Example: a Title begins with search on Or He be Dead gives the correct results.

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Buffalo and the other SUNY University Centers are jointly acquiring certain publications. These will have SUNY Shared Collection in the call number. To request a title owned by another University Center, use ILLiad. The ILLIAD Request button on the top of the page will lead you there.

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UB Dissertations and Theses can be searched in the catalog by author or by title. To search by call number or department, see Dissertations and Theses: Guide to Research.

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• BISON is not case sensitive.
• When you use a limit feature, the limit will remain in effect until you deselect it.
• If you unexpectedly get no results, check to see that you are searching under the correct tab and that limiting features are not still selected from a previous search.
• To force terms to appear next to each other, type them inside quotation marks (“”) or click the phrase option in Advanced search.
• If the URLs in BISON are not clickable, it may be because you are off campus and have not logged in. You must have a UBIT Name to log in.
• If the words Effective due date appear in the Due Date column under Check Availability, it means that the item has been recalled for another patron and this is the new due date.
• Cutting and pasting text into a search box will be problematic if the text you paste includes any punctuation or diacritical marks (accent marks.) BISON may not perform the search correctly. If punctuation or diacritical marks are needed, you will get better results by typing the text directly into the search box using your keyboard.

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For an exact title, use the Title Begins With…search option. If you are not certain of the exact title, then use Title Keywords.

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Truncation is a symbol put at the beginning or end of a word stem in order to catch all variations of that word when searching. Two symbols can be used for truncation: ? (question mark) and * (asterisk).

Wildcards are used when searching for words with different spelling variations, or if you are unsure of the correct spelling. The # (pound sign) is used to symbolize either one or zero missing letters. The ! (exclamation point) is used to symbolize exactly one missing letter.

Truncation and Wildcards can only be used in Keyword and Advanced searching. They will not work with Browse List searching.

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