How Do I Search the Catalogue?
There are two main ways to search the database: simple and advanced search.
Simple search
The simple search is accessed via the “Google-style” search box on the Home page. By default, the simple search will search across the Title and Description fields. Where more than one term is entered, the default is an AND search.
Advanced search
The advanced search enables you to perform “Any text Field” searches, and also to search specifically on certain fields.
By default, a search will look for the word or words you have entered. However, you can choose to change the default search criteria by clicking the “Refine Search Criteria” option. There are three ways to refine the search option:
- With all the words.
- With at least one of the words.
- Without the words.
Search Tips
You may use the asterisk "*" to truncate your search terms. e.g. "politic*" (which would bring up politics, political, politically...)
To search for an exact phrase, enclose the phrase in inverted commas, e.g. "editorial files".
Date field
- Enter a year (e.g. 1911) or a date range (e.g. 1911-1914). Please always enter the date with four digits.
- Please note that the catalogue will retrieve records having date ranges overlapping with and in proximity to those you enter.
- As a short cut you can enter the start year followed by a hyphen to retrieve all records from that date to the end of the decade e.g. 1910- will find everything where the date field in the record includes dates in the range 1910-1919