Diocese of Hamilton

Basic Search Overview



  • You can enter any words that will help you find the item that you are looking for
  • The order that you enter these words does not matter
  • All words entered will have to exist for a match
  • Case does not matter, nor do punctuation or diacritics
  • Choose a more focused search by using the drop-down selector at the end of the input field to search against all Keywords, or all Titles, or all Authors or all Subjects


For example, if you are looking for the book “Cat in the Hat”, it does not matter if you type in “Hat the in Cat” as your search term; Basic Search will find "Cat in the Hat" regardless.

It will also find the same item if you type in "hat cat in the", "Cat Hat In The" or "Càt Hàt In Thé".


Searching against the various sub groupings


Choose to search Keywords, Titles, Authors or Subjects by left-clicking on the down arrow icon at the right hand end of the Basic Search entry field:



Four sub-groupings are currently supported: (All) Keywords, Titles, Authors or Subjects. For example, if you want to find items related to vegetarian cooking, you could enter search term "Vegetarian Cooking" and further select the "Subjects" sub-grouping.




Don't hesitate to ask your librarian for help in determining what Subjects to look for!



About Us

The Bishop Farrell Library & Archives is open to the public in order to facilitate and promote a greater understanding of Catholic faith and history. The Library collection provides easy access to titles on topics such as marriage, parenting, liturgy, scripture, prayer, social justice, and vocations. The Library is open to ALL!

Our Contacts

698 King St. West, Hamilton, ON, L8P 1C7

905-528-7988 ext. 2270