Search Help and Troubleshooting
Help topics and troubleshooting information for our search tool.
If you don’t see your answer here, please contact us.
- Access resources off-campus
- Loading issues with search
- Searching the catalog for books and more
- What do the “Everything” drop-downs mean?
We also provide specialized expertise for your research needs. Get research help
Access resources off-campus
You will be asked to log-in with your CougarNet when trying to access materials off-campus.
Use the Off-Campus Bookmark to log-in with your CougarNet and seamlessly access Libraries content.
Loading issues with search
Search sometimes has loading issues. You may see a never-ending diamond loading prompt.
The recommended solution is to clear your browser cookies and/or cache.
Steps to clear data on each of the leading browsers:
If clearing your browser cache or cookies doesn’t help, please contact us.
Searching the catalog for books and more
Our catalog includes all holdings owned by the library, including:
- Physical library books
- E-books
- Blu-ray, DVD, and other video
- CDs and other audio
Search UH Libraries catalogs
Search each library catalog directly:
Search all UH System catalogs at once
By default, our search engine searches the 3 largest UH system universities: UH, UH-Clear Lake, and UH-Downtown.
- Use library search with keywords, titles, author names, and more
- A list of search results will load
- Locate the left-hand drop-down menu on the search bar
- Select “Library Catalog” from the options
- Select the magnifying glass to search again
- A list of only catalog results will load
- These results are for the catalogs of UH, UH-Clear Lake, and UH-Downtown
Search for books and e-books
Catalogs usually include non-book items, like DVDs or CDs
To limit your results to just books, both physical and digital:
- Use library search with keywords, titles, author names, and more
- A list of search results will load
- Locate the Resource Type filter to the left of the results
- If there are physical books in your search results, “Books” will appear as an option within that filter. Select “Books”
- Your results will filter to only include books, both physical and digital
Follow these same steps to filter any other resource type (e-books, dissertations, videos, etc.).
Limit search to physical books
To limit your results to physical books held in a library:
- Use library search with keywords, titles, author names, and more
- A list of search results will load
- Locate the Availability filter to the left of the results
- If there are physical books in your search results, “Held by library” will appear as an option within that filter. Select “Held by the Library”
- Your results will filter to only include physical books
Limit search to e-books
To limit your results to digital e-books:
- Use library search with keywords, titles, author names, and more
- A list of search results will load
- Locate the Availability filter to the left of the results
- If there are e-books in your search results, “Available online” will appear as an option within that filter. Select “Available online”
- Your results will filter to only include digital e-books
Filter search results by library
By default, our search engine will search the 3 largest UH system universities:
- UH (includes 4 library locations)
- UH-Clear Lake
- UH-Downtown
Filter search results to a specific library in the UH system:
- Use library search with keywords, titles, author names, and more
- A list of search results will load
- Locate and select the Library filter to the left of the results
- A list of libraries that are included in your results will be shown
- Select a library from the list
- Your results will filter to only include those from the library you selected
Select multiple libraries at once:
- Hover above the list of libraries in the Library filter
- Checkboxes will appear to the left of each library name
- Select the checkboxes for the libraries to filter by
- Select “Apply Filters” near the bottom of the filters list
- Your results will filter to only include those from the libraries you selected
What do the “Everything” options mean?
The search bar has two drop-down options that are set to “Everything” by default.
These are used to limit or expand your search to include or exclude certain things.
First option: Physical/electronic
This option includes Everything, Library Catalog, and Articles+.
Everything: Searches both physical and electronic materials
Library Catalog: Searches catalogs (the items we own). This is mostly physical materials (books, CDs, DVDs, etc.).
Articles+: Search articles, electronic books, online videos, etc. Most are available online through subscriptions. Other online items may appear as well, hence the “+” (plus mark)
Second drop-down: Sources
Sources change depending on if you’re searching Everything, Library Catalog, or Articles+.
Sources for “Everything”
Everything: Search everything, including our repositories of local research and digitized library collections.
UH Digital Library: Search only in the UH Digital Library, a collection of materials documenting the University of Houston, the City of Houston, and the State of Texas, as well as other historically and culturally significant materials.
UH Institutional Repository: Search only in the UH Institutional Repository, the scholarly output and creative works produced by the UH community provided freely and open access.
Sources for “Library Catalog”
UH Libraries catalog: Searches all UH library catalogs at once, including UH-Clear Lake and UH-Downtown.
You can use this option to limit your search to any of the UH campus libraries, including:
- M.D. Anderson Library (main library)
- Architecture, Design, & Art Library
- Music Library
- Health Sciences Library
- Special Collections
- O’Quinn Law Library Catalog
Or, to the other UH universities in our system:
- UH Clear Lake Catalog
- UH Downtown Catalog
Sources for “Articles+”
There are no additional sources for Articles+, as all results come from a central index.