Do Tell About CCL –The alternative way to search Polaris

Daniel Messer

Circulation Supervisor

Queen Creek Branch

danmesser@mcldaz.org

Searching Polaris-Kind of like speaking a foreign language…

and then going through a series of translators

SQL – Both Polaris and I speak French

Say I speak English (which I do) and Polaris speaks French (which it doesn’t)

Normal – I speak English

1st translator speaks English and German

2nd translator speaks German and French

Polaris speaks French

Power (CCL) – I speak English

1st translator speaks English and French

Polaris speaks French

Fortunately (yes, fortunately) SQL is Disabled

Bad things happen

when SQL queries

go wrong.

Image courtesy of the National Nuclear Security Administration

Image XX-34

So why bother with CCL?

• Get exactly what you ask for.• No more clickity-clicking with the mouse.• With one line of code, you can drill down

directly to a select group of items.

The Downsides…

• Gotta learn a whole new thing.• If you’re not a fast typist, well…• Syntax, do you use it?!

So, LET’S SET SOME STUFF UP!

CLICK THIS!(old and broken)

Get THIS!(new hotness)

And now, let’s begin to type some words

or

These are my operators.

There are many like them but these eight are mine.

TI KWAB CS

COLMAT ISBN AU

BUT

What is that, I don’t even…

All that stuff means something!

And they’re easy to remember!

TI = Title

MAT = Material Type

CS = Circulation Status

KW = Keyword

COL = Collection

AB = Assigned Branch

ISBN = um… yeah

AU = Author

So what do we do with all of that?

String ‘em together for

The bestest search query ever!

Some General Rules

• Quotes are your friends.

• Author searches always last name first.

• Learn your codes.

• Play around, you’re not going to break anything.

Now let’s look up some stuff!

Dan MesserBarefoot Cyberpunk Librarian

Online at-danmesser@mcldaz.orgTwitter: @bibrarianGoogle+: bit.ly/danongoogleplusBlog (Not all Bits): qcfriends.org/notallbitsPodcast (Cyberpunk Librarian): bit.ly/cyberpunklibrarianpodcast