Help
This page provides information on searching and browsing the catalogue. For information on how to order material, please see the Order special collections page.
Browsing
You can browse the catalogue by clicking on the following buttons:
- Manuscripts (identified by their classmarks/shelfmarks)
- Works
- People (personal names of authors, translators, scribes, etc.)
- Subjects (Library of Congress Subject Headings identified during cataloguing)
Results can be filtered using the "Limit results by" options on the left, such as by language, century (in the Gregorian calendar), or role (for people).
Searching
For a simple search, type your query into the search box at the top of every page and press enter. You can then filter your search results as explained above.
To search for something specific click one of the four buttons - manuscripts, works, people or subjects - then enter your search terms.
Search tips
Search terms can be entered in all languages and scripts present in the records. For searching in Roman script please use the LC transliteration standard. Diacritical signs may be omitted. For example, instead of Aġbuġa you can search for Agbuga.
You can use additional formatting to more precisely define your search query. These include:
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Quotation marks (")
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You can place quotation marks around multiple words so that only that specific phrase will be found. For example, folk literature (without quotes) produces many more results than "folk literature" (with quotes)
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Boolean operators (AND / OR)
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You can combine words into groups using these logic operators and brackets. For example you could search for dictionary AND (monastery OR monk) which will find only records containing dictionary and either monastery or monk (or all three).
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Plus (+) / Minus (-)
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With the plus and minus you can define which phrases must be found and those which must not be found. For example dictionaries -russian will return everything with containing the word dictionaries except records containing the word Russian.
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Wildcards (*,?)
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You can use wildcard values to match only part of words. A question mark (?) will match a single character while the asterisk (*) will match one or more characters. A search for poe* will match words like poem, poet and poetry. Generally, you don't have use wildcards to account for plural/singular versions, and other common forms of English words, so searching for commentary also matches the word commentaries, and vice versa.
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Combinations
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You can combine these options into a single query, such as (lit* -liturgy) AND english. This will find records containing words beginning with "lit", except for the word liturgy, that are in English.
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