Discovery - Search Tips

News

Since December 2025

  • New "Save" icon in the full display of a hit: download the bibliographic data with location and signature as a PDF
  • "Print" icon in the full display of a hit: a PDF is created for printing
  • Favourites: entire watch list can be processed further (mail, save, print and export)
  • Classification field (details in the bibliographic description): for RVK information there is a link that leads directly to the specified notation in the RVK Online

Introduction

Discovery is the University of Erfurt's search portal for comprehensive literature research.

Discovery systems are modern search engines in libraries. Under one search interface a library’s stock of literature and other media, articles and full texts from licensed databases and journal portals as well as free electronic texts can be found.

A discovery system is as easy and intuitive to use as Google and literally promotes one thing above all else: the discovery of knowledge and information.

"Discovery" is:

  • easy access to printed and electronic resources
  • through responsive web design ideal for mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones
  • with integrated user account management

The basic database for the Discovery system is the K10plus Central. This index contains holdings of all libraries of the Common Library Network (GBV) and the Southwest German Library Network (SWB). In addition, it currently contains millions of articles and million electronic resources - in total, over 335 million data records.

We look forward to your feedback! Write an e-mail or use our online form.

Search space

The so-called local search space is preset for the standard search. This contains

  • the holdings of the Erfurt University Library and the Gotha Research Library including electronic media and Open Access
  • Proof of and access to numerous articles from locally available journals, articles from electronic journals and e-books accessible in full text (see below for details).

In the extended search area you can search the complete K10Plus-Zentral (the basic database of the discovery system). In addition to the holdings of the local search room, it contains the holdings of other libraries and a large number of additional articles. For holdings from the Joint Library Network, the link to the GVK document delivery services catalogue is provided.

Data pool for standard searches in the local search area:

  • Holdings of the Erfurt University Library and the Gotha Research Library, including electronic media and Open Access
  • Articles from the Online Contents (OLC) database with ownership records of the library
  • Digital objects and bibliographic references from the national licences
  • articles and journals from the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • articles and journals from JSTOR
  • Articles from electronic journals published by De Gruyter, Elsevier, Wiley and Springer
  • Articles from OpenEdition

Data pool for searches in the extended search area: additionally

  • Records of the holdings of all libraries in the Joint Library Network (Gemeinsamer Verbundkatalog GVK)
  • Records of the Southwest German Library Network (SWB Union Catalogue)
  • Other collections, e.g. ResearchSquare, Preprints.org

Search terms and search fields

Search terms
Enter one or more terms in the search slot. The "Autocomplete" function supports you in selecting the search terms.

Narrowing down the search result
Period, type, format By means of a slider or by manually entering the desired years, the result can be narrowed down to a selected period. By activating the desired checkboxes, the search result can be narrowed down to a specific publication type (e.g. electronic) and to selected media formats (e.g. book).

Search queries and search result
Confirm search queries by clicking the search button. The entered terms are searched simultaneously in all fields of the title description (person, title keyword, keyword etc.). By default, the search result is sorted by relevance ranking, the highest possible match of the search query with the available data. It is possible to change the sorting by year of publication.

Access to Licensed Electronic Resources
For a variety of electronic resources, the library offers access to the electronic full text. Follow the links provided. Access to licensed electronic resources (e-books, e-journals, e-articles) from outside is possiblefor members of the University of Erfurt, especially for students and employees via Shibboleth or VPN.

Placeholder ? or *
? or * can be placed anywhere in the search term or at the end of the search term. ? replaces exactly one character, * for a any number of characters.

Example:
- Publi?ation finds publication and publication
- W??mar finds Weimar, Wismar etc.
- Mühl* finds Mühle, Mühlhausen, Mühlhäuser
 

Person search
Preferably, when searching for a specific person, enter the name in quotation marks. Example: "Gerd Röpke".

Original written search
If titles are available in original written form, then you can search for them in this way. Example: История текста и биография А. П. Платонова

Phonetic search
Phonetic search can also be used to find similar terms. This is helpful when the correct spelling of a name or term is unknown. Example: Tollsdeu finds Tolstoy, Tolstoj, Tolstoy etc.

Narrow search result

Use additional filters to narrow down your search results for large numbers of hits:

  • Period: Restrict the search result to specific publication years
  • Type: Restrict to printed or electronic media
  • Formats: Selection of media types (for example: book, article, journals)
  • Languages: Restricting the search result to selected languages
  • Keywords: Selection of keywords to which the search result should be limited
  • Locations: Selection of a location within the respective institution
  • Content types: Selection of the content media type (e.g. dictionary, collection of articles)

By selecting one or more checkboxes within a filter, the search result can be narrowed down and triggered by clicking on the "Activate" button.
The "Reset" button cancels the selection and the search is repeated without filtering.

Submit search and hit list

Confirm search queries by clicking on the search button. The search results are sorted by relevance by default, i.e. according to the closest possible match between the search query and the available data. It is possible to change the sorting by year of publication.

The results overview provides you with brief information on the individual titles, including the cover.

The coloured symbols indicate availability:

  • green tick: the title is available in the library and you have immediate access
  • orange question mark: the title is in the library but is not immediately available, e.g. because it is currently on loan

Make a note of your favourites (click on the star) and create a favourites list. The complete watch list can be further processed (mailing, saving, printing and exporting). 
In the settings, you can specify whether you want to save your favourites permanently on your device.

Scroll through your favourites list using the arrow keys on the keyboard or click to select an individual hit - you will be taken to the full display of the hit.

 

Hit display

The"Title" tab shows all available bibliographic information on the respective publication.

Further information such as language, summaries, tables of contents, keywords, classification, source and ID are listed under"Details".

Click on the "magnifying glass" to trigger a new search with this term. Links lead, for example, to a full text, a review or a table of contents.

The library offers access to the electronic full text for a large number of electronic resources. Follow the links provided. Access to licensed electronic resources (e-books, e-journals, e-articles) from outside is possiblefor members of the University of Erfurt, in particular for students and employees via Shibboleth or VPN.

Information on the copy in the library can be found in the "Details" section:

  • Location, signature and the respective availability, with the option to order or reserve
  • Services, e.g. scanning service and information on an electronically available full text(link resolver)

At the bottom of the full display you will find various symbols that can be used to further process the hit:

  • Use of a QR code and a permalink
  • Sending the hit to an e-mail address (registration required)
  • Download of the hit (PDF)
  • Printout of the hit
  • Export to reference management programmes and Excel
  • Feedback on this hit to the library staff

Under the"Related" tab you can find related publications such as journal volumes, articles or parts of a series.

E-Book
Electronic journal
Book from the closed stacks
Ordering from the closed stacks
Journal volumes in tab "Related"

My account (Library account login)

Log in with the number of your library card or your student identity card (thoska) and your personal password.

All information about the library account

Settings

Settings tab
In the Settings tab, you can specify whether you want to save various functions on your device. These include: your user account login details, your favourites list data records and your search history.

Additional settings
Select language: German or English by clicking on the respective flag icon.

Expert search

Other internal search keys

Other internal search keys

  • author                             author, e. g. author("strittmatter, peter")
  • corporation                    corporation, e.g. koerper(Leibniz-Archiv)
  • doi                                    DOI, Digital Object Identifier, z.B. doi(10.4017*)
  • format                              format, publication form, e.g. format(Journal)
  • genre                                genre, e.g. genre(essay collection)
  • id / ppn                            PPN, internal record number
  • isn                                     ISBN or ISSN, e.g. isn(26294982)
  • language / sprache        language, z.B. language(English). Großer Anfangsbuchstabe und in englischer Form zwingend.
  • prov                                  provenance, e.g. prov(Erfurt public library)
  • publisher                         publisher, e.g. publisher(Herder)
  • series                               series, e.g. series(reclam)
  • signature                        shelf-mark, e.g. signature(DW 4000 S918). Search terms are case sensitive.
  • location                           location, e.g. location(LBS). Search terms are case sensitive.
  • subject                            keyword, e.g. subject(Business Psychology)
  • topic                                classification system and notation, e.B. topic(rvk DP 3100)

The search keys can be used in German and English.

It is possible to combine search keys, e.g. format(Journal) isn(26294982).

Truncation characters such as * can be used, e.g. signature(DP 3100*).

Several search terms can be searched for simultaneously, separated by ",". Hits with one term as well as with the other will be found, e.g. location(MAG, A1MAG) or author(meier, müller).

If there is a space between the search terms, hits are found in which all terms occur, e.g. author(schiller goethe).

Search in collections

Search key: collection Search terms (case sensitive!):

  • OLC
  • GVK
  • medline
  • JSTOR
  • NL
  • springer
  • ÖVK
  • DOAJ
  • elsevier
  • Gutenberg
  • CTG

Example: Collection(springer)

Note:
Some collections can be found in the local (default) search space: NL, JSTOR, OLC and GVK - all others only in the advanced search space "Advanced search
in all libraries" .