|
Navigation
The Basket function lets you select records to be saved in a temporary buffer. You can add records
to the Basket from the Full view and from the results list. This
option depends on the permission defined in your patron profile and on the library setup.
The Basket is automatically emptied when your session ends.
The Browse search allows you to search the catalog in alphabetical or numerical order, like a
dictionary. Your search, if successful, will result in an alphabetical/numerical list. You can
then browse forward or backwards through that particular list or index. You do not have to use
uppercase.
In a Browse list, you can click a
The Browse List displays the number of records for each entry and indicates whether or not there are cross-references for the entry. Click on an underlined entry to see the associated records for the entry. There are three ways to go to a Browse List:
The catalog records are encoded in the Unicode character set. Unicode allows for the display of a
large range of alphabets and diacritics (also known as accent marks) and special characters.
If Arial Unicode MS is not available to you, other fonts can be used with the Web OPAC. For information on other fonts that support Unicode, see the Useful resources link at www.unicode.org.
The Preferences option lets you set up the display of information on your screen. For example, you
can determine the language of the interface and the language of the thesaurus terms shown to you.
You can also set the order in which records are sorted and you can determine the format in which
records are presented. These actions can be done from the Preferences screen or from the My
Library Card screen (personal profile).
To see a list of available databases, click Database from the menu bar. Your library
determines which databases you are allowed to access.
The e-Shelf is a permanent buffer. This is in contrast to the Basket function whereby sets of
saved records are erased at the end of a session. This option is only available if you are logged
in.
In the Full view of a record, you can see the record in a variety of formats that change the tags
from standard ALEPH tags to name tags or alphanumeric tags. You can also select the card catalog
style.
To save selected records to your e-Shelf, click Add to e-shelf. This option is only available if you are logged in. To save selected records to your basket, click Add to basket. You can also add notes to records saved to the basket. To search for similar records in other databases, click Locate. To use this record for creating an Interlibrary Loan Request for this material from another library, click ILL Request. You can also save the record on your PC or send it by e-mail. To save the record to the server, click Save on server. This option is only available if you have Save permission defined in your patron profile.
The History function allows you to view your search queries, which you saved on your previous
visits to the library. These search queries are saved in a permanent buffer and can be used as
bookmarks for future use. You save your queries in the History buffer from the
Previous Searches screen.
To view Holdings information for a given library:
This function enables you to request material from another library. You can borrow a book or
journal, or request a photocopy of the material. Fill in as much information as possible in the
interlibrary loan screen. Fields with * are mandatory. This option is only available if you are
signed in and have the necessary permission.
The library card screen gives you access to your library circulation records, and allows you to
renew and request items online. It also allows you to specify the display options you prefer for
your Web OPAC sessions.
You can view the results of previous searches, incorporate them into new searches, or combine them
into one result set.
To cross sets with the First Set not Second and Second Set not First operations, choose two sets only.
To place a request on an item:
Booking Items on Reserve in Advance
Many libraries maintain a reserve collection from which patrons can borrow items on a short-term
basis (for example, for one or two hours).
The Special Request function lets you place requests for items that are not found in the Web OPAC,
but are listed in the card catalog. The link for making a special request is displayed in the menu
bar if your patron profile includes permission for placing a special request.
Once you have selected records, you can save them or forward them by e-mail.
The Search function enables you to find records by entering keywords or phrases. To perform any
search, click on Search from the menu bar. There are five different Search types available in Web
OPAC: Basic; Multi-base; Multi-field; CCL; and Advanced Search.
Advanced Search lets you search the database for keywords. You can use pull-down menus to specify
fields and define search mode. The Web OPAC offers various fields such as Author, Subject and
Title. The relationship between these three fields is handled by the logical operator, AND. To
view a list of records, you can click on an adjacent link in the No. of records column.
In this screen, you can choose a field to be searched such as Author, Subject, Publication Year,
System Number and more and types in keywords. Lowercase letters can also find matches of
capitalized words. You can use the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT in the search string. You
can also use AND/OR/NOT as real words (that is, not as Boolean operators) when they are part of a
phrase, as in, for example, TIT=gone but NOT forgotten, or if the operator is
enclosed in double quotes, as in, for example WTI=gone but "NOT" forgotten (NOT is
written in uppercase for the sake of clarity - it can be lowercase in the search query).
A Search request is limited to the number of records the System is set to (for example, 5000). In
addition, the default result display limit and sort limit in the results list window is 1000.
In addition to the Search Hints at the bottom of each Search screen, the following are additional rules for all types of searches: The ? character or * character (asterisk) can be placed at the left, right or middle of a portion of a word, but it can never be used more than once in a text string. The # symbol can be used to find variant spellings in cases where one version of the word has one more character than another version. For example, colo#:r will find both color and colour; and arch#eology will find both archaeology and archeology. The ! character can be used to find variant spellings in cases where a single character may vary. For example, wom!n will retrieve both woman and women. The % symbol, followed by a number, can be placed between two words to indicate that you want the words to appear within a particular distance from each other, irrespective of what order the words appear in. For example, england %3 ballads will retrieve Ballads of England , Ballads of Merry Olde England and England and Her Ballads. The ! character, followed by a number, can be placed between two words to indicate that you want the words to appear within a particular distance from each other, and in the same order in which you type the words. In this case, ballads !3 england will retrieve Ballads of England and Ballads of Merry Olde England but not England and Her Ballads. The -> (hyphen and greater than symbols) can be placed between two words. This indicates that you want to retrieve records that have words from (and including) the first word, through the second word. This search is particularly helpful for limiting a set of records by year of publication. You cannot use to instead of the symbols. Here is an example: 1993 -> 1996
You can use Common Command Language (CCL) to search for words and headings in several different
indexes at once. You must specify the code of the word and the heading indexes to be searched. The
abbreviations used in CCL can be found in the following CCL Code section.
Following are some of the abbreviations used by the Common Command Language:
LCC - LC Class
You can use the Multi-base Search to search more than one database at a time. This lets you retrieve a set of records in your selected databases which match your specified criteria. When you click Go, The Previous Searches list of Search Requests appears.
The Multi-Field Search lets you search more than one word group at the same time. The more fields
you can fill in, the narrower the search.
The list of records appears in the results list window. When you enter a successful search query,
or click on an underlined entry from the browse list, a Results List is displayed. The Results
List can display up to 1000 records. The Results List shows how many records satisfy your query
specifications. Each record in a Results List is sequentially numbered. The search results can be
displayed in different formats.
Creating a subset allows you to work with a group of records selected from a result set. Select
records in the results list, and then click Create Subset. The results list will then
display only the records you have put in the subset. This subset can be treated just like any
result set: records can be selected, added to a list, sent by e-mail, or turned into another
subset.
Filtering results allows you to view a subset of your current search results using defined limits
such as publication year, availability, range of data (alphabetical, numeric, and so on), and the
date the record was added to the collection.
You can rank the results by adding an additional word to the search term/s used in the current
search. Records are ranked according to a formula that takes into account the number of times the
word appears in a record, and the weight given to the word (for example, if the word appears in
the title, it may be given a greater weight).
Refine allows you to broaden or narrow your search strategy by expanding your terminology
or creating subsets of your search. You can modify your search by changing the Common Command
Language. You can also add terms using the drop-down options, or you can execute an entirely new
search.
You can sort records using predefined sort options. Additionally, in the Brief view table, you can
click on a column heading to sort the list (for example, clicking Author sorts records by Author,
then by Year).
|
