Search with Omni

Omni allows you to search the library's collections and beyond. On this page, you will find information on what is included in Omni and how to search effectively.

What is in Omni?

Omni has a lot to offer:

• All print and electronic titles held by libraries at the University of Windsor. This includes all of our books, journals, maps, videos, course reserves, and more.
• Many of the digital journal articles, book chapters, and shows that are found in the titles we hold in our collection, but not everything.
• All print titles held by other Omni institutions in Ontario.

You can use Omni to locate titles within library collections at UWindsor and other Omni libraries. You can also use Omni to explore research topics, but please keep in mind that Omni – like other multidisciplinary indexes like Google Scholar – are not completely comprehensive so you should consult our subject databases and research tools to ensure you have the most comprehensive search possible.

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Construct your search

Searching in Omni is like searching in any academic database. You can search by entering simple keywords, but you can improve your search results by including some of these tips and tricks. 
 

Tip	Example
AND is assumed between words	fish (AND) pollution (AND) lakes
Quotations for phases	"great lakes"; "health science"
Synonyms	OR between related words; habitat OR ecosystem
Exclude words	NOT to exclude terms; gambling NOT lottery
Alternate word endings	* for unlimited characters, especially used for word endings; cultur* for culture, cultural, and culturally
Wildcard characters	?  for single character wildcard; wom?n for woman, women
Brackets to group terms	Shakespeare (sonnet OR tragedy); "climate change" (ecosystem* OR habitat*) Ontario

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Search scopes

When typing in your keywords, you'll notice that Omni presents different options to adjust the scope of your search. These are the search scopes, and they change where you are searching. Here's what they mean:

• UWindsor Libraries + Omni Libraries: Search for print and electronic titles, and items (e.g., articles), from libraries at UWindsor and other Ontario universities. You can request items from other Omni libraries directly from the search results.
• UWindsor Libraries: Search for print and electronic titles, and items (e.g., articles), from libraries at UWindsor.

By default, your Omni search will show you books and physical items available for you to request at all participating Ontario Universities. It will also show you online resources provided by Leddy Library such as eBooks, articles and videos. 

Tip: If you only want to see physical items owned by Leddy Library, just select the "Available in UWindsor Libraries" filter after you search.

Add results beyond our collection

By default, when you search Omni you will see records for print and digital materials which are available to you – either at our library, by ordering it from other Omni libraries, or by accessing it online through our website.

When you select Add results beyond our collection, you will also see records for digital scholarly material that we don't have access to. This serves to allow you to discover potentially relevant scholarly material from outside of collection. While you may not be able to access these materials directly, you can use the interlibary loan service to order this material.