Database Guides : New and Updated Resources

AVON supports some "filtering" and searching by subject terms, which theoretically should provide more accurate search and retrieval than simple keyword searching. In reality, the "subject" terms appear to have not been applied to many of the individual records, so the subject searching and filtering is uneven.  Using the "collections" option is more likely to include results that would otherwise be missed.

Filter

At the top of each search or collection screen, AVON will usually display a filter option.  The first filter option should allow you to choose videos that match one of the top twenty subject headings in those videos. 

Searching

To limit a search to AVON's subject field, type "subject:" (the word subject with the colon) and your subject term.  (If your term has more than one word, put it in quotation marks.

subject:theatre

subject:"social work"

• Multiple keyword searches recommended

Subject terms may not be uniformly applied across the videos, so the "subject:" search feature does not  necessarily retrieve all videos on a topic. The filtering and grouping features are less comprehensive than in the previous AVON platform. Conducting multiple keyword searches is recommended unless or until more robust tools (consistent keywords or subjects, collections and groupings, or search tools) are in place.