Office of Minority Health

The Knowledge Center Online Library Catalog allows users to search with simple or complex terms. It accepts general keyword searching, as well as exact subject terms. Additional help is available on the catalog website.

Basic Searches

Typing a word or phrase into the Basic Search box will instruct the database to search for all words anywhere in the document records.

When using the Basic Search box, the entry automatically searches across the entire document record. This means the database will look for the keyword in titles, journal names, publishers, abstracts, subject headings, and more.

Advanced Searches

Boolean Searching

Boolean searching uses a set of terms, called Boolean operators, to construct a complex search query. The most common Boolean operators are AND, OR, and NOT.

The asterisk ( * ) acts as the “wildcard” operator. It is most helpful when searching for a word with many variations. For example: nutri* will produce results that have keywords like nutrition, nutrient, nutrients, and nutritious.

Double quotation marks ( “ “ ) will group two or more words together in a phrase, and the catalog will only produce results containing that exact phrase.

Advanced Search Tab

There are several options for narrowing and expanding a search in the Advanced Search tab.

• Search by Publication Date: Limit search by year or a range of years.
• Search by Subject for Race/Ethnicity:

  To limit a search to a specific minority group, enter one or more of these phrases into the Subject box. To get results on more than one group, combine these terms using the AND/OR Boolean operators. Additional subgroup names can be entered into the Basic Search box.

  • African Americans
  • American Indians
  • Asians
  • Hispanics
  • Native Hawaiians
  • Pacific Islanders
• Search by Format:

  To limit a search by type of publication, select one of the following terms from drop-down menu in the Format box.

  • Articles — to find journal articles
  • Audiovisual — to find videotapes, CD-ROMs, DVDs, etc.
  • Document — to find reports, books, audiovisuals, factsheets, gray literature, etc.
  • Fact Sheet — to find brief statistical or factual summaries on a topic
  • Organization — to find national or community organizations
• Search by Audience:

  To limit a search based on the intended audience and level of subject complexity, select one of the following terms from the drop-down menu in the Audience box:

  • Consumers
  • General Public
  • Health Professionals
  • Other Professionals
  • Students
• Search by Language:

  The OMHRC Knowledge Center Online Library Catalog includes consumer health documents in over 40 languages. To limit a search by language, select one language from the drop-down menu in the Language box.

• Select Format: Organization Search, to search organizations by city, state, zip code, and more.

Special Search Tips

Easy-to-Read Consumer Health Booklets and Handouts
Enter the exact keywords in Subject:
LOW LITERACY MATERIALS or CONSUMER INFORMATION

Scholarships or funding resources
Enter keywords in Subject:
SCHOLARSHIPS or FELLOWSHIPS or FUNDING or GRANTS

Statistical information, enter keywords in Subject:
STATISTIC* and (the topic)

Displaying Records After a Search

Scroll down the page to view the search results.

Additional actions:

• Sort report by date, to put the most recent publications at the top of the list.
• Display full catalog record. Click “View record” to display more detail. Click on “Links-Read Fulltext Online” to read available full text documents.
• Display additional results. If available, click the next and previous arrows on the results page.
• Print or export results. Select items and “Save to My Library”. Once selected, go to the My Library tab to “print” the report as a PDF, bibliographic list, or list in CSV format.
• Certain pronouns or action words can be interpreted as “stop words” and may yield zero results. Try to enter just primary keywords to obtain complete results. (Stop word examples: he/use/not/when)
• Share favorites on social media. View a single title, then click on the social media icon to share on Twitter or by email.
• “Request Document Information”. Send an email to the OMHRC Librarian to request assistance.

Accessing Resources

The OMH Knowledge Center Online Library Catalog contains some items that may be out of print or not available through the Internet. Please “Ask the OMHRC Librarian ” for guidance on how to access these documents.

To report a broken URL, please send an email by clicking on “Ask the OMHRC Librarian ”. The link is located on each catalog webpage.

Books and journals cannot be borrowed, as the Knowledge Center collection is non-circulating. Staff are glad to provide guidance on how to access materials identified in the online catalog.

External Links Disclaimer

• External links provide additional information that is consistent with the intended purpose of minorityhealth.hhs.gov.
• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cannot attest to the accuracy of information provided by this link.

Linking to a non-federal site does not constitute an endorsement by HHS or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the site.