Guide for Searching on the Website

You can search for information easily on HKPL’s website. Just type one or more words you are looking for at the top-right search box and click the Search icon or press <Enter>.

Note: The Site Search function will search for results with existence of all the words you type in together, unless operators (OR or NOT) are specified between the words and phrases.

Basic Operators and Syntax for Searching

Examples and Search Tips

Using AND
Using OR
Using NOT
Performing a Phrase Search

Using AND

Use AND between keywords to search for results with existence of all keywords.
Example
Literature AND History
節慶大書 AND 系列

Tips:  Only use AND in UPPERCASES. Add spaces at the both sides of AND to separate it from the keywords. If there is no operator specified between two keywords, the default operator AND will be assumed and used for search.

Using OR

Use OR between keywords to search for results with any one of the keywords.
Example
Literature OR History
節慶大書 OR 系列

Tips:  Only use OR in UPPERCASES. Add spaces at the both sides of OR to separate it from the keywords.

Using NOT

Use NOT to exclude results with the specified keywords in your search.
Example
Teens NOT Kids
節慶大書 NOT 系列

Tips:  Only use NOT in UPPERCASES. Add spaces at both sides of NOT to separate it from the keywords.

Performing a Phrase Search

Put quotation marks at the beginning and end of a phrase to perform a search with exact match of the phrase.
Example
"Hong Kong Public Libraries"
“閱讀繽紛月” = 閱讀繽紛月

Tips: Only use this syntax if you are looking for a  precise  phrase in English. There is no need to use quotation marks if searching for a phrase  of Chinese words (i.e. no space between Chinese characters in a string).   If you do not use quotation marks for searching English words, the system will search for results with existence of all words but not necessarily in the same order specified.