How to use the catalogue?
Browse the collection
You can browse our collection by visiting the collection browser page. This page allows you to browse all the collections and items we hold. You may find it easier to find an item by using the search, see below for details on how to use the search.
There are two
main ways to search the catalogue, simple and advanced searching.
Simple search
A simple
search can be made using the basic search box at the top right hand corner of
the home page.
This is a
simple ‘any text search’. You can
type in words or numbers. The search
will look in all the fields in the catalogue to find matches.Where more
than one word is entered the default is an AND search. This means that the catalogue will
search for records that contain all of the words you have entered.
The simple
search is useful for a basic search. If you are looking for something specific
or if you want to reduce the number of items found then you may need to use the
advanced search.
Advanced search
You can make an advanced search by visiting the advanced search page.
The advanced search enables you to choose and combine fields to search in. You can be more precise about the
results that you get from your search. In the advanced search you can search the following fields.
- Any text
- FindingNo
- Author
- Title
- Date
- Level
- Type
- Place
- Subject
Refine search
criteria
The search fields ‘Any text’ ‘Author’ and ‘Title’ give you the option to ‘refine search
criteria’. If you use this option
you can change the default search criteria. There are three ways to refine the search option:
With all the
words
With at least
one of the words
Without the
words
Any text
This field
works in the same way as a simple search.
FindingNo
‘FindingNo’
is an abbreviation of ‘Finding Number,’ which is the unique number you will need
when ordering documents. For
archives this is the archival reference number and for books it is the class
number of the book.
If you
already know the FindingNo for a collection or item you can use it here.
Author
Enter
either full name or surname to search for author.
Title
Enter
the title of item here to search the title field of entries in the catalogue. This is useful for searching for the
titles of books in the local studies collection.
Date
Enter
the date or date range of what you are looking for. The catalogue understands
various date formats. However, the
simplest way to narrow your search is to enter a year or range of years. You can use days and months, but note
that all months must be abbreviated to the first three letters of the month eg.
5 Jan 1782.
Level
This option
allows you to search for different levels in an archive collection such as
‘collection’, ‘section’, ‘series’, ‘item’ or ‘piece’. You can select a level by using the
arrow in the right hand side of the box and using the drop down menu. This option is most helpful for
searching for summaries of collections and excluding individual documents. For example, choosing ‘collection’
will allow you to browse the collections. Choosing ‘item’ will find records of individual items that you can order
up and view.
Place
This uses a
controlled list of place names.
Records will only be found when they have been indexed using a place name term. All summary descriptions of
collections have been indexed to place name. This option is helpful if you want to search for significant collections
of records for a particular place.
Subject
This uses a
controlled list of subject terms.
Records will only be found when they have been indexed using a subject term. All summary descriptions of
collections have been indexed using a subject term.
Type
This option helps you search for a local studies book by selecting Local Studies/Book. This is the way that you can just search for a book without also searching the archive collections..
Booking a viewing
You can simply drop-in to the research room but to ensure that you have a seat and avoid disappointment we recommend you book online. Visit the book a viewing page for more information.