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All questions are sent to librarians at the National Library of NZ and the Alexander Turnbull Library. During weekdays we will try to call or email you back within 24 hours.

 

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Search cheat sheet
AND ven diagram

AND

Most website search tools assume an ‘AND’ between search terms. A search for:

       cabbage tree

will get results that contain all of your words. This narrows the search and is the same as searching for:

       cabbage AND tree

OR ven diagram

OR

To get results that include at least one of the search terms insert an ‘OR’. This widens the search and is the same as asking for any of these words:

       cabbage OR tree

Phrase

To search for words that match an exact order, enclose with quotation marks or use the exact match button if available:

       “cabbage tree”

NOT ven diagram

NOT

To exclude an unwanted term from results, insert a ‘NOT’ in front. This narrows the search:

       cabbage NOT tree

       cabbage -tree

More tips
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Search smarter
Search many website top curve image

  Search many websites

! Choose websites to add to your search. Each website opens a new tab or browser window.
   

Articles & websites
Heritage texts
  • Te Ao Hou for Māori Affairs magazine, 1952 - 1976
  • NZETC for full-text books, manuscripts and journals*
  • Ranfurly for the NZ Governor General's private papers and photos, 1897 - 1904
Research papers
Images & multimedia
Reference
NZ library catalogues
  • Publications NZ to search all published NZ books, music, films, magazines and journals
  • TAPUHI to search NZ manuscripts and unpublished material
  • Worldcat to search all library holdings in NZ*

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*Not National Library websites. With thanks to the NZ Electronic Text Centre; the Ministry for Culture and Heritage (for Te Ara, DNZB, NZ History Online); the NZ Parliamentary Service (for Hansard); Te Taka Keegan, Mark Apperley, Ian H. Witten, and other members of the New Zealand Digital Library Project team (for Māori Newspapers)