Why don’t quotes (for a phrase search) always work the same way?

In general, HOLLIS will search for exact verbatim matches to the words you put inside quotation marks. Please note:

  • You cannot use wildcards (* or ?) inside the quotation marks.
  • If the last word of your phrase is a stop word (i.e. a common word such as was, or, it, of, on, with), it will be omitted. This is a known issue.
  • Phrase searching disables HOLLIS’s alternate spellings feature (i.e. a phrase search for “archeological dig” will not match to records that contain the phrase archaeological dig).
  • Your search phrase may be matching to text that is indexed for search but not displayed in the record, such as a subject cross-reference or full-text metadata.

Have another HOLLIS question? Our HOLLIS User Guide provides an overview of HOLLIS's features and functions.

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