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The issues mentioned here should be largely transparent to users of the service. The vast majority of users of the search service will access it via its primary URL, http://search.cam.ac.uk/, and will need to know nothing further about how the service is provided. Users should only ever be directed to this URL, and this URL should always be the one used in search links and forms.

Users accessing search.cam.ac.uk will (transparently) have one of two sets of search options, depending on whether they have logged in using their Raven credentials:

  • one listing public documents, or
  • one listing both public documents and documents available only within the University, plus the results for their search term on the Lookup directory.

Users have to log in with their Raven credentials to use the index that includes restricted material - users who are not logged in will use the index that lists only public documents. If the search term appears to be a name, logged in users will also be given results from the Lookup directory.

Note that this may cause some confusion, since results for the same search may vary with authentication status, and when investigating search problems it may be important to identify and use the same criteria as the person reporting the problem.

The service uses browser cookies. To use it browsers must accept cookies from the host 'search.cam.ac.uk'. These cookies contain information used to manage searching, and will be deleted when you quit your web browser.

Last updated: April 2021