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Simple v. Advanced Searches
Almost everything you need
to search for can be found quickly using the Simple Search.
Advanced Search is for very specific searches.
Below are a few features of the Simple and Advanced Searches.
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Choice of Full Text, Creator/Photographer,
Title, Subject, Description or Call Number for Searches
An Advanced
Search can be made on creator/photographer, title, subject, description or call
number data, as well as on the full text; to select a search field, click on the appropriate button below the search box. A Simple
Search is always made on the full text.
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Single Word Searches
The entry of a single word will yield identical results for almost every type of (simple or advanced) search; the possible exception is the Case-Sensitive search.
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Phrase Searches
In this context, a phrase means two or more consecutive words. The Phrase search is used for the Simple Search; it is also an option of the Advanced Search, for convenience.
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Combination
Searches
You
can combine search terms by using & for AND, | (pipe) for OR, &! for NOT.
| Symbol
|
means |
Action
|
| & |
AND |
Finds only documents containing
all of the specified AND words. children & parks finds
documents containing children and parks.
|
| | |
OR |
Finds documents containing
at least one of the specified OR words. children | parks
finds documents containing children or parks. The found
documents could contain both, but do not have to. |
| &! |
NOT |
Excludes documents containing
any of the specified NOT words. children &! parks finds
documents containing children but not parks. |
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Proximity
Searches
This may be especially
helpful when some, but not all, the words of a search term are available. For example,
edward king of great britain will retrieve Edward VII. King of Great Britain.
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Case-sensitive
Searches with Default Truncation
The search term can be truncated at either or both ends. This may be especially
helpful for searches on names of people or places. For example, Stereoscopic
View Co will retrieve Stereoscopic View Company.
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Too
Many Hits
If your search retrieves
too many records:
- Choose more specific search words.
- Use browse lists
for Subject, Names, Places, or others. Important
terms, used in the bibliographic records of the collection, are on the lists and will link to records containing those terms.
- Use the
Subjects lists in the bibliographic record display. Each of the subjects
will link to a list of records containing that subject.
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Too
Few Hits
If your search retrieves
too few records:
- Choose less specific search words or use synonyms.
- Use browse lists
for Subject, Names, Places, or others. Important
terms, used in the bibliographic records of the collection, are on the lists and will link to the records containing those terms.
- Use the
Subjects lists in the bibliographic record display. Each of the subjects
will link to a list of records containing that subject.
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No
Results
If you do not find
materials that you think should be included:
- Choose words that might have been
in greater use when and where the collections were created.
- Try older language such as Indian for Native American or filling station for gas station.
- Try alternate
spellings such as Gipsey for gypsy.
- Use the names
of towns, landmarks, bridges, and buildings (e.g. Niagara Falls,
Sleepy Hollow).
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Stopwords
Some very common
words, such as conjunctions, articles and prepositions (e.g. and,
not, the) are ignored.
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Accents/Diacritics
Accents/Diacritcs are not required.
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Punctuation
Punctuation is not required.
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Case
Case of letters
(i.e. uppercase or lowercase) is ignored unless you choose case-sensitive searching
on the Advanced Search screen.
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Results
Listings
Results reflect descriptions of image groups, not descriptions of individual images.
Each page shows
the keywords you entered, how many matching records were found, and
how many pages of records were returned. At the bottom of each page
are navigational buttons which allow you to move among Results pages.
Click on a title
or on View Images to view the images described by the record.
Click on View Catalog Record to see full bibliographic information.
To get back to the images, click on the Back button in your browser or select
the link in the Library catalog.
Collection-level
cataloging provides economical research access to similar kinds
of resources.
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Navigating the Image Pages
The group's first image page contains up to twelve index images; if there are more than twelve index images, there are more index image pages.
Each of the group's index images links to several other views of the image. It is possible to:
-
view any item as a stereo pair (in 3-D with an appropriate viewer);
- enlarge it for detailed inspection;
-
"turn it over" to read printing or writing on the back.
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