OneSearch

An Overview of OneSearch

By Haumea Velsasco and Ryan Witthans

Basic OneSearch

What is OneSearch and how do you access it? OneSearch is UH’s library database for Primary and Secondary data available to all UH students for free. 

OneSearch can be accessed by students going to the main library website at https://manoa.hawaii.edu/library and logging into their UH student account. 

From there, you can access the basic and advanced search. First, we will cover the basic searches that can be made using OneSearch.

Step 1: Search Bar

Utilize the search bar located in the middle of the homepage. The search bar functions similarly to all other search bars such as Google and allows you to input a wide array of topics.

Step 2: Filters

After searching a topic, adjust the results to find specific sources. Filters can be found on the left side of the results page and includes a number of ways to narrow the return on the search such as: collection, author, and institution. 

Step 4: Accessibility of Information

Resources can be accessed in a number of ways including online access, PDFs, Journal articles, and links to request the resource from another database. Books and articles can also be accessed in person through UH’s library. Some may require a request while others can be checked out by walk in. Copies can also be requested to other libraries within the UH system.

Advanced OneSearch 

After completing an initial basic search you will likely want to use the advanced search tool for a more focused, complex search.  The advanced search tool in OneSearch is accessible by clicking the link in the upper right-hand corner of the OneSearch basic search box we used earlier. 

Explaining Search Criteria

Here, you can select one of several search scopes such as “Everything” or “Articles+”.  As you can see, the default option is “Everything.”  

Below, you will see the search filters options where you can customize your search criteria.  On the right side there are options for “Material Type,” “Language,” “Start Date,” and “End Date.”  Material Types include books, videos, or articles, video/film, sound recordings, images, microform, maps, dissertations, and newspapers.  

Additionally, This is where you can find the search scope options.  Like referenced earlier, the fields you may select may change depending on the search scope you select.  

This table reflects the fields available for each scope.  As you can see, the only difference is that in addition to the fields common throughout, the “Course Reserves” scope also includes options for Course Instructor, Course ID, Course Name, Course Department Name. 

Next, this table includes information on the types of resources included under each search scope.

Some information is particularly notable and will be highlighted to reflect this.  

For example, in the “everything” scope, this option includes search results from databases that UH is not subscribed to, however, there may be options for a loan request to get access to the material from other libraries.  Also, the “everything” scope does NOT include EBSCO database results, which is exclusive to the Ebsco search scope. 

Under the UHM Library scope for our law student purposes, this scope is referring to the physical and electronic resources owned by the Hamilton Library, rather than the UH Law Library.

In the Articles+ scope, unlike the “everything” scope, results are limited to electronic articles that the Hamilton Library subscribes to. 

In the Ebsco search scope, this option is only available to those logged in as UH Manoa users or on the UH Manoa internet unlike all the other scopes which are available to the public to search. Finally, the “institutional repository” option does not search the full-text of resources. 

Mobile Interface:

The Mobile Interface of OneSearch is fairly straightforward and allows for similar search options compared to an online search.

Pros and Cons: 

The pros of utilizing OneSearch during the beginning of your research project outweigh the cons given the amount of accessible information to UH students and the range of filters.