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I was searching the term "cancer" using All Fields and came up with a very large list of items, none of which were the 616.99 we use at our library.  How can I refine my search results? 

It is a good idea to try Browse when a Search for a term is likely to generate too many results.  In your case, you can navigate to 616.99 by Browsing the Relative Index for "cancer" and selecting 616.994, which will be in your first list of results.  At that point, you will find the broader 616.99 hotlinked. 

Following are guidelines for when you may prefer Search over Browse:

Browse when:

  • you are looking for the interdisciplinary number or main number for a topic
  • you are looking for built numbers and know the base number
  • a search for the term is likely to generate too many results
  • you are unsure of the spelling of a term

Search when:

  • you have a distinctive keyword that is likely to yield a small results set
  • you are looking for a specific Dewey number
  • you want to search multiple indexes simultaneously

Last revised: 31 January 2004