SOLO - Search Oxford Libraries Online: Coverage

Search Oxford Libraries Online (SOLO) is the search and discovery tool of the major collections of the libraries of the University of Oxford

What is the coverage of SOLO?
What will I find in 'Search Everything'?
What will I find in 'Oxford Collections'?
What will I find in 'Articles'?
How do I search for specialist materials?

SOLO covers:

• The physical holdings of the majority of libraries within the University of Oxford including the Bodleian Libraries and most college and departmental libraries
• The University's collections of e-books, e-journals, articles online and databases available from our publisher subscriptions
• Records only of the materials which the Bodleian Libraries receive via electronic Legal Deposit (eLD). To view the content of electronic Legal Deposit you need to move to the ELD SOLO Browser  situated on the desktop of Bodleian Libraries terminals in all Bodleian Libraries reading rooms. (Note this excludes quick search terminals) 

• Research papers and theses deposited in the Oxford University Research Archive (ORA)

The default is ‘Search Everything’. Use the dropdown to select other search options including individual libraries.

Search Everything

Is a combined search of 'Oxford Collections' and 'Articles' and the records of electronic Legal Deposit material. 

 Oxford Collections 

'Oxford Collections' is the best option to use when searching for a specific item in Oxford's printed or online* collections (excludes electronic Legal Deposit material). It searches:

1. Printed and Physical Holdings

'Oxford Collections' searches the vast majority of the printed and physical holdings of the Bodleian Libraries and most Colleges and other libraries affiliated with the University of Oxford.  At the moment it does not search:

• most manuscript collections (with the exception of theses) held in Bodleian Libraries. Please see the Special Collections information about catalogues and finding aids covering the Bodleian's manuscript collections. 
• the John Johnson Collection of printed ephemera

2.  Online books, journals and databases

'Oxford/Collections' searches the electronic holdings of the Bodleian Libraries including our world class collections of subscription e-journals, e-books and databases.

BrowZine: Streamlined access to online journals licensed by the Bodleian Libraries directly from SOLO,  the BrowZine website or Chrome extension is available to all readers with a Single Sign On 

*Please note that when you search for journals and databases in the 'Oxford Collections' option you can only search by journal or database title. You can not search within the journal or database itself. For example, in 'Oxford Collections' you can search for the journal Nature but you can not search for articles within Nature.  Similarly you can search for the database JSTOR but you can not search for articles within JSTOR. If you want to search for articles within journals and databases from SOLO use the 'Articles' option instead.  You can search for e-books by author, title or subject headings, but again you can not search within e-books, e.g. for chapter titles or specific words, using 'Oxford Collections'.

3. Items scanned as part of the Oxford Google Books Project

'Oxford Collections' searches scanned versions of (mainly 19th century) library materials digitised as part of the Oxford Google Books project.   

4. Oxford University Research Archive (ORA)

'Oxford Collections' searches research papers and theses by members of the University of Oxford,  which have been deposited in the Oxford University Research Archive.

Articles 

The Articles option searches for journal articles and papers from a variety of sources across subject disciplines.

Searching with articles provides a broad search engine type search which is comparable to Google Scholar including millions of journal articles and subscription resources, covering the majority of content available. It includes articles from the Oxford University Research Archive (ORA)

Results will be seen by all readers, but some of the articles are not available to readers without a Single Sign On.

If you need to complete a thorough literature or systematic review, you are advised to consult specialist databases in your subject area or to seek help from your subject librarian

Specialist materials

At the moment SOLO does not search:

• most manuscript collections (with the exception of theses) held in the Bodleian Libraries
• the John Johnson Collection of printed ephemera

 Please see the Special Collections information about catalogues and finding aids covering the Bodleian's manuscript collections. 

Live Chat is available: 

• 9 am to 7pm Monday to Friday term time. 
• 9 am to 5pm Monday to Friday in vacation.