Do punctuation and accents (diacritics) matter when searching HOLLIS?

Generally, you can include or omit punctuation marks and diacritics, and your search results will be the same. There are some exceptions:

  • You may observe slightly different behaviors in Basic Search and Advanced Search as compared to Starts with/Browse. For example, in Search, a hyphen and a space are considered the same, while in Browse they are not.
  • Certain symbols that carry lexical meaning, such as ampersand (&), are searched and matched.
  • In rare cases, there may be a mismatch in the underlying unicode value that your computer uses as compared to HOLLIS - find unicode troubleshooting tips in our FAQ, How can I search HOLLIS using a non-Latin script
  • You may find significant exceptions when searching with non-Latin scripts and their romanized forms

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

Service Alert:
  • We're experiencing difficulty with our Research Appointment Request form (under "Meet"). For now, please click on "Email" and describe for us: 
    •  your Harvard affiliation
    • the project you'd like help with
    • whether it's for a particular class, faculty member or department

 

 

Chat

 

Monday-Thursday 9am-9pm
Friday 9am-5pm
Saturday Closed
Sunday 12-7pm

Chat is intended for brief inquiries from the Harvard community.

Meet

Talk to a librarian for advice on defining your topic, developing your research strategy, and locating and using sources. Make an appointment now.

These services are intended primarily for Harvard University faculty, staff and students. If you are not affiliated with Harvard, please use these services only to request information about the Library and its collections.