Boolean operators "OR" and "NOT"

NOT to exclude results (with contains or starts with)

I was recently hoping to do OR and NOT searches related to our Auction Catalog holdings. We would use this functionality to inform future collection development (acquisitions and weeding) decisions.

Material type – Name = Auction Catalog 

AND

Instances – Resource Title   contains  books

NOT

Instances – Resource Title contains engravings

no

Saint Louis Art Museum

Some of the situations where I want a Boolean NOT are addressed with the “in” and “not in” operators. It would be nice to have the “in” and “not in” operators for more data fields. If we had more “not” operator options, would that alleviate the need for NOT as a Boolean? I want “does not start with” and “does not contain” operators. While I have the wish list out, I’d also like “ends with” and “does not end with”

NOT start with

NOT contain

no

Missouri State Library

Creating inventory lists for collection management. We want to get call numbers that are only the single letter Subclass, Ex: B and not BC, BD, etc.

Location IN (Clapp Stacks, Clapp Oversize)

AND Holdings -- Call Number starts with B

NOT Holdings -- Call Number starts with BC

NOT Holdings -- Call Number starts with BD

etc

no

We could broadly export the entire B class and use spreadsheets to isolate the B subclass, but if the collection is very large and need lots of data columns exported it can render the file unusable in spreadsheet software because the of the # of cells.

Wellesley College

OR in combination with contains

Address variations

In a similar vein, I’d like to list user records with what are the same address, but entered in different ways.

This would ideally also be combined with other criteria, like status of active.

Government divisions sometimes move to other buildings and we have to update our records for everyone affected. I’d like this flexibility with other address fields as well.

Address 1, Address line 2 contains 301 W High St
OR 301 West Hight Street
OR 301 W High Street
OR 301 West High St

no

Missouri State Library

Department name variations (via address)

If Lists or Bulk edit ever allow querying the address fields from user records, I’d like to pull together variations of department names or multiple department names. These are currently in Address 1, Address Line 1.

Ideally, I’d like to be able to combine this with other criteria, like status of active.

Sometimes we need to assemble information for individual agencies or count or edit accounts we have for that agency. I’d like to use this to help populate the department field for our user records.

Address 1, Address Line 1 contains DPS OR Department of Public Safety
OR MONG
OR Missouri National Guard

no

if the departments were in “Department names” field (rather than addresses), the IN operator could be used

Missouri State Library

OR in combination with starts with

MODOT uses multiple barcode types. They start with RD, ED, or 00. As lists of loan records do not currently allow me to limit based on item location or library, this is the closest approximation I know of. If OR was an option, I could pull all those together in one list. Since AND is currently the only option, I have to run three separate lists. Even if I could OR them together, this is still limited because I often want to add criteria to apply to that set of MODOT barcodes, but I can't nest them, either. (Though a better solution to this scenario might be to allow search criteria based on item location.)

Query loans by:

Barcode starts with RD
OR
Barcode starts with ED
OR
Barcode starts with 00

no

Missouri State Library

We had 2 missing call numbers in some item records of over 100 items.

Some of our patron barcodes got mixed in this collection so we were not sure if the barcodes began with 2 or 3 on these particular items.

We only needed to find a small number of items, but a case where or would be helpful.

Instance HRID =
AND
Effective Call number is empty
AND
Item barcode starts with 3
OR barcode starts with 2

no

Jefferson College

Creating a shelf list based on call number ranges

Effective location = X

AND

Effective call number starts with AB

OR

Effective call number starts with AC

No

EBSCO Training Team

Querying a range of instance date 1 values

For this example, we would need to use OR because “greater than or equal to” is not present for the instance date

Goal: (location = stacks) AND ((year = 2024) OR (year = 2025) )

Open

no

William Woods University

OR in place of IN to broaden results

We would use OR searching to identify materials in both the Rock 2nd floor Circulating and Rock 2nd floor Oversize locations

We would use OR searching to identify items with either the DVD or Blu-Ray material format

Location = Rock 2nd floor Circulating
OR
Location = Rock 2nd floor Oversize

Material = DVD
OR
Material = Blu-Ray

yes

location and material fields both support use of ‘IN’

Location IN (Rock 2nd floor Circulating, Rock 2nd floor Oversize)

Material IN (DVD, Blu-Ray)

Rockhurst University

I was trying to update expiration date until I had time to do the full query for new students and faculty.  I need OR in order to update the expiration date for both groups.  Otherwise I need to do Bulk Edits

Patron group - Name equals WC Faculty
OR
Patron group - Name equals WC undergraduate

yes

Patron group supports use of ‘IN’

Westminster College

Targeting loans by location: MODOT uses multiple barcode types. They start with RD, ED, or 00. As lists of loan records do not currently allow me to limit based on item location or library, this is the closest approximation I know of. If OR was an option, I could pull all those together in one list. Since AND is currently the only option, I have to run three separate lists. Even if I could OR them together, this is still limited because I often want to add criteria to apply to that set of MODOT barcodes, but I can't nest them, either.

Item location at checkout equals X
OR
Item location at checkout equals Y
OR
Item location at checkout equals Z

yes (for location/library)

item location and item library at checkout can both be queried using the IN operator (as of Sunflower) MODFQMMGR-676: Add item effective location at check out to the loan entityClosedPreview

Query loans by:
Item location at checkout IN (X, Y, Z)

Missouri State Library

Creating a list of specific instances, holdings, or items based on known identifiers to download information about corresponding records.

Instance HRID equals X

OR

Instance HRID equals X

OR

Instance HRID equals X

Holdings HRID equals X

OR

Holdings HRID equals X

OR

Holdings HRID equals X

Item barcode equals X

OR

Item barcode equals X

OR

Item barcode equals X

No

EBSCO Training Team

(dog AND big) OR little

matches:

• big dog

• little dog

• little cat

does not match:

• big cat

(dog AND big) OR (little AND cat)

matches:

• big dog

• little cat

does not match:

• little dog

• big cat

dog AND (little OR big)

matches:

• big dog

• little dog

does not match:

• big cat

• little cat