Your feedback on our new search tool

So far 51 people have commented on the new library search tool. More than half of the comments have been positive …

“I love the new search on the library site, cuts soo much time when researching a subject. hope its here to stay”

“This is an absolutely fantastic idea and will make research sooo much easier and potentially hours shorter. I have been searching for a way to do this since I started studying at LaTrobe. Thank you!!”

“First search a bit blunt – but then I found ‘advanced’, and got the journal straight away. Excellent – will look forward to trying it again”

“it makes finding things a whole lot more easier”

“Just wanted to say I love the new search engine on the library homepage. It’s fantastic!!”

“Have found some great articles to use and it’s a very simple program which is great!”

“I tried the new tool and found it excellent, giving a wider range of results for research enquiries than the present system”

Not everyone likes the new search tool though…

“This new library search engine is horrible. I was counting on using some online journals in addition to books I’ve borrowed from the library for my essay … the search engine finds the readings but as soon as I click on one it asks for me to put in my log on details, I do that then it does not allow me in.”

Most negative comments have been about not being able to access full text. We really appreciate being told about these problems. We have found out that these issues mostly occur off-campus when using the Internet Explorer 8 browser. We are still investigating this problem, but in the meantime if you encounter access problems please use Firefox as your web browser.

Other comments and suggestions for improvement have included:

• more prominence to DVDs in search results
• more Australian sources for Law to be included in the search result
• US and UK results to be listed after Australian material in the search result

Remember, if you are using the new search tool to find Australian material, include the word ‘Australia’ as one of your keywords; or refine your search using the subject terms in the left hand column. Alternatively, for Australian sources use one of the Informit databases listed on the ‘A-Z Databases‘ tab. Check out our ‘tips’ post for more information.

We are continually making improvements to this search so your feedback is very valuable to us!