Help

Entering dates

You may limit your search to a date range of your choice. The default values displayed in the date boxes in the search screen reflect the maximum date range for the databaes you are searching. The form will not allow you to replace these with dates o utside of this range. You may, however, replace these with dates reflecting a smaller range of years. For example, if the database contains citations for items published between 1800 and 1900, you would not be able to search for anything from 1950. You could search for items published between 1850 and 1860 (for example) by replacing the default values in the date boxes.

Wildcard Searches

This system searches exactly for what you type. To search variations and the plural of a word, include an asterisk * at the end of the word. For example, war*, will look for wars, warrior, warm and so forth. The simple term war will look only for the word war.

Sorting and sort thresholds

By default, records are sorted by author, last name first. If there is no author, the results are sorted alphabetically by title. For results sets up to 1000 records, you may change the sort to a chronological or reverse chronological sort by using the pull down menu in the upper right-hand corner of your results screen. This feature will not work with results sets larger than 1000 records. If you have more than 1000 records in your result sec tion you will see a message that says "threshold exceeded" in place of the sort menu.

Downloading and emailing records

You may save records and either email them to yourself or download them as an html file.

To save records: Click on the "add to bookbag" link following the record.  Your bookbag will stay with you for a period of time, usually
at least 2 hours.  You can do different searches and continue to add to the bookbag. The bookbag can hold up to 500 records. You may view your bookbag at any time by clicking on the "view bookbag" link in the navigation bar at the top of the main window.

Clear your bookbag at anytime by viewing the bookbag and then clicking on the "erase bookbag" button.

To email your saved records: Click on the "email records" button. You will be presented with a form that asks for your email address. Simply fill it in and then click on the "email records" button.

To download your saved records: Click on the "download records" button. The records will be downloaded to your browser
as plain text.  If you browser has a helper application configured for plain text the record will appear in the helper application otherwise it will appear in the main window of your browser.

Records will be emailed or downloaded in the long  display format.

Short and long displays/Brief anf full record views

On both the results screens and on the bookbag you have the option of viewing a short or long display of records. The default is a short view. The short view is the author, title and citation (publishing information). The long display is the full bibliographic record and contains whatever information is available in the database (such as subjects, notes, holdings).