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Central Ohio Buildings Index Search Tips
What am I searching?
When searching the Central Ohio Buildings Index, you are searching abstracts of articles about historic buildings in Columbus from local newspapers, books in the Ohio Collection at Columbus Metropolitan Library, and the Circulating Visuals collection of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

Refining Your Search:
The keyword search option allows for advanced boolean, wildcard and phrase searching. Queries can search for words or phrases in one or all of the indexes.

Boolean Searches: Using AND, OR, and NOT will allow you to find more specific information.

AND Searches for articles abstacts that reference both words. For example: City AND Hall.
OR Searches for article abstracts that reference either word. For example: Hotel OR House.
NOT Searches for article abstracts that do not reference the second word. For example: City NOT Hall.

Searching for Phrases:
"Quotation Marks" Placing quotation marks around words will search for those words as a phrase.

Using Wildcards: If you are not sure of the exact spelling of a word, or you are looking for root words, wildcard operators are useful.
* The asterisk is a substitute for any number of characters. For example, 'light*' will find light, lights, lightning, etc.
? The question mark is a substitute for one character. For example, '?ar?et' will find both carpet and market, but not supermarket.

Address Searches:
When searching by address, follow these guidelines:
  • Use St, Ave, Rd, etc. rather than Street, Avenue or Road.
  • Direction is indicated at the end of the address. For example: 50 Broad St W
  • If searching for all addresses on a street, search by street name and then refine by direction. For example: Broad St and E
  • Enter numbered streets numerically. For example: 64 4th St N
What if I get too many results?
  1. Try combining search terms with 'and.' Using 'and' will result only in article abstracts where both search terms are found.
  2. Try using 'not'. This will help eliminate certain keywords from your search results.
  3. Did you search by all indexes? Try picking just one.
What if I get too few results?
  1. Check your spelling.
  2. Did you use 'and' to combine search terms? Try using 'or' instead.
  3. Did you use a plural search term? Try using the singular term instead.
  4. Did you search by only one of the indexes? Try searching all.
Do you still have questions?
Ask a librarian! Call the Biography, History and Travel Division at 614-645-2ASK(2275), or stop by an information desk today and a librarian will be happy to assist!
Columbus Metropolitan Library       96 S. Grant Ave.        Columbus, OH 43215        614 645-2ASK (2275)
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