Why a new search tool?
There are many reasons why we introduced a new search engine for library resources. Most importantly, it allows you to search a much wider range of sources. With a single query, you can search the HCU Library's collection of books and journals, as well as the collections of other academic libraries in Hamburg and articles from a variety of databases.
The search experience is similar to what you may know from major search engines and large online platforms: your search may return many results, which you can browse through or narrow down using filters. Ideally, the most relevant titles for your query will appear at the top of the results list.
Another key goal is to provide a user-friendly interface for smartphones and tablets. Additionally, the new system allows us to integrate extra services, such as interlibrary loan.
The Advanced Search allows you to build precise search queries using Boolean operators.
Which fields are searched?
The search box looks across the following fields:
- Title
- Authors and other contributors, including editors.
- Subject headings
- Words from abstracts or indexed tables of contents
- Publishers
- Place of publication
- Year of publication
- ISBN/ISSN
Which data sources are included?
The new catalog is based on the K10plus-Zentral Index (KXP), a bibliographic data search engine developed and operated by the Verbundzentrale des Gemeinsamen Bibliotheksverbunds (VZG).
The index contains more than 340 million records from the union catalog of several German federal states, as well as additional databases. To improve search results, the index incorporates the Integrated Authority File (GND) and the Regensburg Union Classification (RVK), which is also used to organise books at HCU.
Access to full texts, tables of contents, reviews, and publisher information depends on license conditions.
The HCU Library catalog includes only records for materials acquired by HCU or another academic library in Hamburg or freely available as open access content. Unlike a traditional library catalog, the search includes journal articles.
Further information about K10plus-Zentral is available in the VZG wiki (in German).
How was the search system developed?
The HCU Literature Search is based on Qcovery, a collaborative development of the open-source discovery software VuFind. Local developments are contributed back to the VuFind code base.
HCU is a partner in the Qcovery network, which currently includes the following institutions and organizations:
- Hamburg State and University Library
- Braunschweig University Library
- University Library of Hamburg University of Technology
- Hildesheim University Library
- Lüneburg University Library
- University Information and Library Service (HIBS), HAW Hamburg
- Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts Library
- Effective Webwork GmbH (service provider)
We would like to thank our partners for their valuable support in implementing, operating, and continuously developing the HCU Literature Search.
Questions or feedback?
Do you have any questions or feedback? We would be happy to hear from you.
Susanne Lehnard-Bruch, Saskia Schramm
Tel.: +49 (0) 40 300880-5683, -5326
E-Mail: hcu-discovery(at)hcu-hamburg.de
