Creating Alerts/Saving Searches in NoveList

When Do I Use This feature?
You can save a search that answers a frequently asked question so that you don't have to start over every time you get that question. For example, a search for mystery and suspense books by British authors can be set up and saved. You can also keep up to date with popular authors or genres by using a saved search to set up an alert. Then NoveList will send you an e-mail every time a new book meeting your search criteria is added to the database. Any search can be saved as an alert.

Scenario
Mary Cassell, a librarian, is frequently asked to find mysteries by British authors. Based on this FAQ, she creates the search that will find authors by their nationality and find mysteries. She decides to save it so that she can refer to it later because this combination of topics is popular with her readers. She also decides to create an Alert for this search so that she knows when new mysteries by British authors are added to the NoveList database.

Here's How in NoveList:

To Save a Search or Create an Alert:

1. Perform the search that you want to save. Mary used a Guided Boolean search. [Show me her search]
   
2. Click on the Search History link in the left-hand margin, after the results of your search are displayed. [Show me a picture]
   
3. Click on the "Save" link under the Save/Alert column for the search (in Search History) that you want to save. [Show me a picture] Note that all searches that you have performed in this session will be listed in Search History.
   
   NOTE: You will need to sign in to My NoveList in order to save a search or create an alert. IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY LOGGED IN, NoveList will prompt you to sign in to My NoveList at this time. Enter your user name and password and then you will be taken to the Save Search page in My NoveList (as shown in step 4).
   
   
4. Enter the name you want to call the search. Select whether you want to save the search or create an alert. The default is a saved search. [Show me a picture] Click the "Submit" button to save the search. Your search will be saved.

If you Select the Alert Radio Button to Create an Alert for this Search:

1. The Save an Alert page will display. Fill in the required data. [Show me a screen shot]
   
2. Click Submit. The alert will be saved and activated.

When do I create an alert versus save a search?

If you want be able to answer a frequently asked question without having to remember and re-create the search each time (e.g., a search to find cozy mysteries by English authors), you can save the search that best answers the question and simply retrieve and re-run it any time the question is asked.

If, however, you want to be automatically notified by email when new books matching your search criteria are added to the NoveList database, you will want to create an alert. Note that alerts can also be used like saved searches: view your saved alert(s), click on the desired alert name, and it will import into your current search history. Clicking on the search string, which is now a link in your search history, will run the search. Meanwhile, NoveList will continue to automatically run the search monthly and notify you if any new titles matching your criteria have been added to the database.

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