Denver Public Schools Libraries
Library Catalog Help
Help Topics
Searching the Catalog
LION uses 1-box searching, powered by Encore. You no longer need to specify whether you are searching for books by title, author, subject or keyword- simply enter your search terms and a list of results will be compiled of any items in the catalog that have your terms in their records. So if you search for the word "king", the results list would include books about the King of England, books written by Stephen King, books with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the title, etc.
Refining Your Search Results
In this example, results for the search term "king" are displayed. As you can see, the search engine found books with "king" in the title field, the author field, and the subject field. By clicking any of those links, the results displayed to the right will be limited to the field you selected.
Similarly, the results can be refined by the type of items retrieved by the search query. In this example, the were books, videocassettes, DVDs, books on tape, etc- all with "king" found in their bibliographic record. Thus if you were only looking for books, you could limit the results displayed by clicking on that link.
The facet called "Collection" refers to the school catalog where the items were found. The same ability to refine the search results can be applied here- so that if you only wanted to see results found at your school you would simply click on the link with your school's name.
Other ways you can refine your search results are by the language of the items and the publish date. You can also refine the results by more than one facet at a time- so if in this examples you only wanted results where "king" was found in the author field, where the format was a book, and where the language was English- you would simply need to click on the links for each of those respective facets. If the results displayed are too narrow, you can also "opt out" of any of the selected facets by clicking on the "X" by it's name:
Pre-Selecting Facets
If you already know that you want refined search results, you can pre-select those options from your school's search page instead of clicking on the facets in the search results:
Wildcard Searching
Use an asterisk " * " to perform a wildcard search. For example, searching for "inter*" will return results containing the words "internal" and "internet". (The asterisk must follow at least two other characters.)
My LION
From the "My LION" tab in the horizontal menu, you can access your library account to see what books you have checked out, when they are due, if you have any library fines, and also what holds you have placed:
Logging In
When you click on the link in the menu that says "Log In To My Account", you will be taken to this screen where you will need to identify yourself:
All patrons will need to enter their last name. Students will then enter their 6-digit student ID numbers. (Ask your librarian if you don't know your ID number.) Teachers and other staff members will instead need to enter their 9-digit DPS employee ID numbers. (This can be found in your employee record in Lawson.)
Email Notices
If you would like to receive email notices for your checked out library items, click the "Modify Personal Information" link after logging in to your library account:
You will then be prompted to enter your email address:
Your email address will now be displayed when you log in to My LION and you will receive your library notices at that address.
Online Databases
Denver Public Schools subscribes to a variety of online databases that can be accessed by students and teachers. The list of databases changes each year, and there are frequently trials of new databases available in the spring. To see the current list of databases, click here.
When you hover your mouse over any of the links to different databases, a pop-up will appear with information about that resource- including a summary, grade level, and whether you can access the resource from home:
Logging In
If you are trying to access the databases at your school, you should not need to log in. Please contact your librarian if you are prompted to log in while at your school.
When you try to access the databases from home, you will need to verify that you are either a DPS student or staff member. To do this, you will be prompted to log in the same way as if you were logging in to your library account:
All patrons will need to enter their last name. Students will then enter their 6-digit student ID numbers. (Ask your librarian if you don't know your ID number.) Teachers and other staff members will instead need to enter their 9-digit DPS employee ID numbers. (This can be found in your employee record in Lawson.)
Research Pro
Research Pro searches simultaneously across multiple databases, websites, and catalogs selected by the library to find full-text articles, abstracts, images, books, and other resources. Research Pro passes your search request to the target resources you select, so the search will be interpreted by each of the target resources. Research Pro will retrieve results from the resources you select - you can then see which resources have the most information relevant to your work. Research Pro is a useful way to get an overview of your subject and orient yourself to some of the resources available.
Research Pro Search Tips
By default, Research Pro performs a simple search across the default resources the library has selected for you. You can always select other groups of resources or individual resources to search.
Simple search queries are passed to each target resource exactly as they are typed in to retrieve results based on the default settings of each target database (e.g. searched as keywords or phrase), and results are displayed on a separate tab for each resource (e.g. sorted by relevance or date). You can view results from each of the different databases simply by clicking on the database name in the tabs on the left side of the results page, or click the "All Resources" tab to view all results interfiled.
The Research Pro advanced search lets you combine up to 3 search terms from different search indexes using Boolean operators for more complex searches.
Combine your terms by selecting the Boolean operators AND, OR, or NOT using the radio buttons to the right of the search term boxes. You can change the way your search terms are nested using the "Construct Search As" options below the search term boxes.
Research Pro will send the search terms exactly as the user has typed them, so you can take advantage of any truncation and wildcard symbols supported by the target resources you have chosen.
Note: the truncation and wildcard symbols used vary from one database to another, so your search may be interpreted incorrectly by a resource that does not support the symbols you have included.
Contact the Library Services Helpdesk
If you have any questions, comments or concerns about LION, please contact the Library Services helpdesk at either 720-423-8130 or at ers_helpdesk@dpsk12.org. The helpdesk is staffed Monday-Friday from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm.