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How to Search for a Systemwide Policy

The CSU Policy Library is the university's repository for all systemwide policies that establish oversight, guidelines, and procedures for nearly every aspect of the 23 campuses and the Office of the Chancellor. The library is available to all CSU employees as well as the general public and searching for a specific subject or policy can be done in several different ways.

  1. Access the CSU Policy Library. Logging into the library is not necessary for searching policies. Only policy owners should log into the library to create new or update existing systemwide policies. Note: the CSU Policy Library contains only systemwide policies. Campus-specific policies are maintained by each campus.
  2. Enter your search terms or criteria in the search bar located at the top right of each page. You do not need to separate the search terms with punctuation.
  3. Click the result from the search suggestions if your desired policy is displayed.
    4. main search field

  4. If your policy is not displayed in the suggestions, a) click "See all results"at the bottom of the suggestions, b) click the Search icon on the right side of the search bar, or simply hit Enter on your keyboard.
    a)screenshot of search results

    b) search icon

  5. Locate the desired policy on the search results page.
    screenshot of search results page
  6. Click the hyperlink title of the policy to open the document and access the full text.
  7. The CSU Policy Library also offers the opportunity to filter the search based on

    Title, Area, Owner, or Codes.

    screenshot of policy results with filter options
  8. To filter your query for results where search terms are found only in the policy Title,
    1. Click the Policies tab at the top of the page and select Policies by Title.
    2. Add any terms you want to search for in the title of the policies in the search field.
    3. Click the Search icon on the right side of the search bar.
  9. To locate approved, active policies in a specific Area or Areas,
    1. Click the Policies tab at the top of the page and select Policies by Area.
    2. Click the desired area check box.
    3. Click Search at the bottom left of the search filter.
    sreens shot of policy area filters sreens shot of policy area filters
  10. To locate approved, active policies with a specific Owner,
    1. ​Click the Policies tab at the top of the page and select Policies by Owner.
    2. Select an owner's name by checking the desired box. You may choose more than one.
    3. Click Searchat the bottom left of the search filter.
    sreens shot of policy owner filters sreens shot of policy owner filters

  11. To locate approved, active policies with a specific Code,

    1. Click the Policies tab at the top of the page and select Policies byOwner.
    2. Select a code by checking the desired box. You may choose more than one.
    3. Click Search at the bottom left of the search filter.
    sreens shot of policy code filters sreens shot of policy code filters

  12. Locating active policies with an Exact Text Match.
    When using any of the search options for active policies, entering terms surrounded by quotes will return all results with that exact phrase or term in the text of the policy, in addition to applying your chosen filter.

    For example, when searching for Travel Reimbursement using the Title filter, entering the phrase "Travel Reimbursement" surrounded by quotes will return all documents with that exact phrase within their title.

    sreens shot search field
    Note: Exact match searching will not work on partial words or numbers and will not correct any typos.