Search allows you to locate any published content across your textbook quickly, without having to navigate chapter by chapter. This guide explains what search includes, how to use it, and how to manage it for your course.
Overview
Introduction
What Blended Library Search Includes
How to Use Search
Navigating After Using Search
Turning Search On or Off
FAQs
1. Introduction
Search is available to both instructors and students, and it is on by default for all textbooks. As an instructor, you can use search in two places:
The Control Center — search directly while reviewing or managing your textbook.
The Blended Library (student view) — from the Control Center, click View in Blended Library to enter the textbook as students see it. Search is available here too, so you can verify how content appears and behaves from the student perspective.
2. What Blended Library Search Includes
Search in Blended Library covers all published content in your textbook. Results may include content from chapters other than the one you started your search from.
Search includes:
Chapters
Assignments
Pages
Video segments
Note: Search does not include assessment content. Quiz and exam questions are not searchable.
3. How to Use Search
There are two ways to use search as an instructor, each serving a different purpose.
3.1 Search in the Control Center
Search in the Control Center is designed to help you navigate your textbook's structure quickly.
Open your Control Center.
Select the Course Structure tab under Course Management.
The Search Bar appears at the top of the content list.
Type the name of the module, chapter, exam, assignment, or quiz you're looking for.
The results will display the Entire Module that contains the matching content, so you can see exactly where it sits within your textbook structure.
Tip: This search works best when you know the name of what you're looking for. It searches titles rather than the content itself.
3.2 Search in the Blended Library (Student View)
The Blended Library search is a more detailed search and the same one students use. Rather than searching by name alone, it looks up words and concepts within the content itself, making it easier to locate specific topics without browsing through chapters and pages individually.
You can access the Blended Library in two ways:
Via the Control Center
Open your Control Center.
Select the Course Structure tab under Course Management.
Click View in Blended Library to enter the student-facing textbook view.
Use the Search Bar to enter a keyword, concept, or topic.
Via your LMS (Canvas/Blackboard)
Select the relevant course in your LMS.
Open any BT content link embedded in the course.
This will open the BT page — select the search icon in the top right corner.
Once in search, you can filter and narrow down results in 5 ways. The Blended Library searches across:
Chapters — locates chapters by name or content.
Pages — finds specific pages within a chapter that discusses the topics or includes the term being searched.
Video segments — takes you to the segment in a video where the topic or word appears.
Quizzes & Assignments — locates the name of the quiz or assignment (not the individual questions within them).
Note: Use this view to check what students can find and how results appear before directing them to use search. Results will pull from any published content across the textbook where that term appears.
4. Navigating After Using Search
To get back to the original chapter you opened, you can:
Use your browser’s Back button to return to where you were.
Or, navigate back to the chapter through the link in your LMS.
5. Turning Search On or Off
If you’d prefer to hide search in your textbook, you can do so from the Control Center:
Open your Control Center
Navigate to Course Structure
Open Course Settings
Scroll down and select Hide Search
Note: Hiding search removes it for both instructors and students in that textbook. There is currently no option to disable search for students only — turning it off applies to all users in that textbook.
6. FAQs
Can students see all content through search, including unpublished chapters?
No. Search only returns published content. If you want to restrict access to certain content, consider unpublishing it.
Does search include quiz and exam questions?
No. Assessment content is not searchable for either instructors or students.
Can I turn search on or off for students only?
Not at this time. Search is managed at the textbook level and applies to all users.