Resources - Search

As part of ongoing sustainability efforts, the University of Oklahoma has transitioned to an enhanced online search tool that replaced the Norman campus’s paper phone book.

OU has discontinued the annual printing of 12,000 of the 250-sheet directories, which reduces the University’s paper waste by over 3 million sheets each year.

The updated online search combines existing web and people look-up tools into a single search function and also adds the ability to search individuals by Academic department.

Results are organized into two separate tabs. Searchers can click the tabs to navigate back-and-forth between web site or individual results that include the search criteria. The third and fourth tabs feature A-Z academic department and administrative department listings. Future updates may enable search for these tabs as well. 

Directory search now integrates seamlessly with the OU Homepage at www.ou.edu and improves user access. Individuals can type search criteria into any OU Home search box to display results in each of the two tabs. The search tool is also available at search.ou.edu. Most mobile phones with Internet connection can look up directory information using this tool.

With the recent oZONE student system implementation, students can now manage personal contact information online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Faculty/Staff utilize OU’s HR system to update directory information. Combined with the real-time power of online search, these systems will help improve the overall accuracy and relevance of available information.

The university's effort to improve search has led to a change in the way web searches are submitted from outside page forms. Currently, searches are submitted directly to the Google Appliance. The search form included in the Global Header previously provided by Web Communications points to the Google Appliance. These should be updated by downloading a new version of the Global Header from Web Communications.

The Google Appliance is to no longer receive queries directly. Search.ou.edu, google1.ou.edu and www.ou.edu/search will redirect to www.ou.edu/ousearch.html, which is the new search home page. There is an api with which to query the appliance for results directly. However, this is not recommended. There is also an api with which to query the results for the other tabs. This is available for specialized purposes such as mobile phone application development. Interested parties should direct these inquiries to Web Communications.

Form based queries should be submitted to www.ou.edu/ousearch.html with the following two parameters: type and q. Type may have one of four values: web, people, dept, or adminoffice. Each of those represents one of the different types of searches now available. Q is the query term. Web search accepts pretty much any search term. People search accepts full names or substrings. Dept search will only return results for official Department names. Adminoffice search is available for specialized searches. Inquiries regarding that option should be directed to Web Communications.