UMD Discover allows you to discover resources and materials in various formats in the UMD and University System of Maryland (USMAI) collections. Filters are available to refine your search by location, format, and many other criteria. If you have used UMD's prior interface, WorldCat UMD, you will be familiar with Discover's core features such as a single search box, and faceted limiters.
UMD Discover searches and provides the discovery of the UMD and University System of Maryland (USMAI) collections as well as many other libraries around the world. You will be able to find a wide variety of the Library’s collection of scholarly resources including books, e-journals, conference literature, technical reports, and other digital and print content.
Note that, unlike UMD Libraries' previous search interface (Worldcat UMD), UMD Discover does not include the vast catalogs on resources available through libraries beyond the University of Maryland system. If you do not find what you need in UMD Discover, you can expand your search by clicking on the WorldCat link provided within UMD Discover and request the items you need through our Interlibrary Loan Service (we'll find you a copy if one is available!)
To find additional resources, or for more focused researching, use the link to our specialized database - Database Finder - and/or contact your subject specialist.
Labeling Items to Organize your Favorites
UMD Discover allows you to organize your favorited items with labels to indicate specific topics, projects, or papers relevant to the item. In your Favorites, your existing labels are found on the right hand side of the screen, including an Unlabeled designation for any currently unlabeled items you have favorited.
To assign a label or create a new label, first select the items you wish to designate by clicking the numbered box to the left of each item in your favorites list. Then click “Add Labels” at the top of the page.
Then, you can designate the selected items to an existing label, or create a new label. Items can be assigned multiple labels, and they will appear when searching for any of their assigned labels.
Jun 20, 2024
Saving Searches
In addition to saving individual items, UMD Discover also lets you save searches, preserving the search terms and filters used. Once you have selected the filters you wish to apply to your search (seen in “Active Filters” on the left), select “Save Query.” When you save a query it can be found in your Favorites, just like your saved items.
Additionally, when saving a query you can Turn on Notifications for the query (found in a pop up bar at the top of your webpage). This feature will notify you when new materials are available that meet the same criteria, allowing you to keep up to date on new literature relevant to your searches of interest. You can also turn on notifications for a search at any time by going to your Favorites, then selecting Saved Searches, and using the bell icon.
UMD Discover does a pretty good job of finding what you need when you simply type relevant terms. However, some searching situations call for more advanced techniques such as phrase searching, wildcard characters, and Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT). Ex Libris, the company that makes the software driving UMD Discover offers a comprehensive overview of how these techniques work. The following is a brief summary.
1. Use quotation marks to search for a specific phrase.
2. Note that even if you do not use quotation marks, UMD Discover will attempt to find results that match your search terms in complete phrases, and will weigh those results more heavily.
3. Quotation marks can be useful for:
a) forcing UMD Discover to treat your search terms as a phrase
b) separating your search terms into multiple phrases
c) using with Boolean operators
1. The Boolean operators are AND, OR, and NOT.
2. Note that in UMD Discover, these terms must be capitalized.
3. Using AND will tell UMD Discover to find all your search terms. (If you do not use any Boolean operators, UMD Discover will first try to find your search terms as a phrase and then will look for all of them as if you used AND between all your terms)
4. Using OR will expand your search to find either of your connect search terms. (use parentheses to group your search terms when using OR)
5. Using NOT will limit your search by excluding terms.
1. UMD Discover uses the wildcard characters ? and *
2. Use the ? to replace any single character (wom?n will search for both woman and women)
3. Use the * to replace multiple characters. This is typically used at the end of a word (break* will search for breakfast, breaking, and breakdance)
4. You cannot use a wildcard character at the start of a word.
