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MyNUcat Search Preferences

MyNUcat Search Preferences will be in effect whenever you log in, once you set them. If you have not configured your Preferences yet, you will be prompted to do so the first time you log in. You may change your MyNUcat Preferences anytime thereafter by going to the Search Preferences screen. You can access the Search Preferences screen by clicking the button on the My Account screen after you have logged into NUcat.

There are three sections of the MyNUcat Preferences screen which you may enable: Search Type, Records Per Page, and Special NU Databases.

This feature allows you to select the default search type that will display when you login to MyNUcat. You may select any of the searches from the main Search screen, the Guided Search, or Course Reserve.

To configure or change your default search type, select one of the radio button options (Search, Guided Search, or Course Reserve) as your default search type. The button you select will determine the pull-down menu options available to you. You can only select one type of search.

Next, select the desired options from the pull-down menu(s) next to the search type you have selected. Only options from the pull-down menu for your selected search type will be used for your preferences. The Guided Search offers no additional preferences.

You may choose to display 10, 25, 50 or 100 records per page. NUcat's default display is 25 records per page.

This feature allows you to select which database or databases you will be searching when you login to MyNUcat. In addition to NUcat, you may select one of the Special Northwestern databases. These databases contain information about several special collections created at Northwestern:

Select all databases you wish to connect to upon logging into MyNUcat. You may select multiple databases by holding down the CTRL key while selecting the databases (the Command key for Macintoshes). You may also clear databases from your selection by holding down CTRL while selecting them.

Remember that you will connect to all of these databases (if you select more than one) by default each time login to MyNUcat, until or unless you go to the Special NU Databases page and change them, or change them in your MyNUcat Preferences. To avoid slowing your searches down, only select databases you want to connect to in the course of your normal searching. For special databases you only search once in a while, go to the Special NU Databases page and add those before searching.

When you are finished configuring or changing your search preferences, click the Save button. You will receive the message "Preferences Were Saved OK" indicating that your preferences were saved.